Title:

Rooftoppers

Author:

Katherine Rundell

Category:

Literature

Rating:

Date Reviewed:

April 27, 2025

ooftoppers is Sofie's tale. When the Queen Mary sank, an infant baby girl was found floating in a cello case - she was the last passenger rescued from the doomed ship. A kind man named Charles Maxim spotted the floating cello case and hauled it aboard the lifeboat. Since there was no one to claim the baby girl, Charles decides to care for her himself. Not knowing her name, he calls her Sophie and takes her home to England, where she will be raised according to his eccentric standards.

Miss Eliot from the National Childcare Agency does not approve of Sophie's upbringing. Miss Eliot is outraged at the random food served at meals, by Sophie wearing trousers instead of a decent skirt, and by the fact that Charles homeschools Sophie instead of sending her to an established academy. Miss Eliot is also distressed that Sophie refuses to accept reality - although she was just one year old at the time of the ship's sinking, Sophie claims to have memories of her mother playing a cello. Sophie believes her mother will find her one day, but Miss Eliot replies in acid tones that there were no females passengers who survived the tragedy.

By the time of Sophie's twelfth birthday, Miss Eliot has seen enough. It is clear that the eccentric Charles Maxim is unsuitable for raising a girl to be a respectable adult. Sophie will be taken away and placed in a home where she can learn to be a proper woman. In frustration, Sophie runs to her room and smashes the cello case in a moment of rage...and makes an interesting discovery. Inside the cello case is a name and address in Paris. Might that be a clue as to whom Sophie's mom might have been?

Charles and Sophie must flee the English officials who wish to remove Sophie from his care. They will run to Paris. Even though the chance is remote that Sophie's mom might be alive, it is still remotely possible, and one thing Charles has taught Sophie is "Never ignore a possible."

For reasons never explained, the Paris officials do not want to share information in their files from the sinking of the Queen Mary, not even letting Charles see the passenger list. This puts in motion the rest of the plot, which results in Sophie meeting the Rooftoppers. There is gratuitous fight on the rooftops then seems out of place with the rest of the story, but otherwise Sophie's adventures in Paris are fun.