To Dance at the Palais Royale
HarperCollins Canada
Set in Toronto in the 1920s, To Dance at the Palais Royale follows Agnes Maxwell as she sails from Scotland on her seventeenth birthday to join her older sister in domestic service in Toronto. When her employers’ son returns from university for the summer, Aggie’s quiet life is transformed by the adventures of his friend Rose, a lonely young socialite. Later, Aggie helps a young, affluent Jewish wife to learn English and discovers she’s capable of embarking on adventures of her own.
Awards
Geoffery Bilson Award for Historical Fiction
The Ann Connor Brimer Award
The Violet Downey Book Award, IODE National Chapter
The Mr. Christie Book Award (Silver Medal)
The Canadian Library Association Young Adult Book Award (Honour Book)
Why I Wrote This Book
To Dance at the Palais Royale is loosely based on my mother’s family’s immigration to Canada. My grandfather was a coal miner and my grandmother raised eleven children. In 1928, my mother’s two oldest sisters left Scotland alone to come to Canada as teenage domestic servants and, a few months later, a third sister followed when she turned seventeen. When I was finishing my undergraduate degree, I interviewed my mother’s family about their immigration. My book is not their story but it’s certainly shaped by the history of their lives.
Toronto was an exciting city in the 1920s. I wanted to write a book that was historically accurate but lighthearted and adventurous while giving readers a sense of the social, economic and religious restrictions that shaped the lives of people who lived there in the early Twentieth century. This was the first novel I tried to write and the second to be published.
Reviews for To Dance at the Palais Royale
“ From the coal mines of Scotland to the ritzy wood-panelled drawing rooms of the Jewish merchants of Lower Spadina, McNaughton brings to life the promise and excitement of turn-of-the-century Toronto. She’s a seductive writer, drawing the reader deeply into Aggie’s World, which is never without a glimmer of hope.”
— The Toronto Star
“The story has a good balance between accuracy and excitement. McNaughton's images are vividly realistic while still communicating the romance and gentility of days gone by. Liberal doses of social commentary enhance the plot and add depth to what is already an engaging coming-of-age tale.”
— School Library Journal