Vesper Holly is the protagonist in a series of novels by Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Alexander

Lloyd Chudley Alexander was a widely influential American author of more than forty books, mostly fantasy novels for children and adolescents, as well as several adult books...

. She is a young high-society orphan

Orphan

An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...

 from Philadelphia, the daughter of an eccentric wealthy archaeologist who disappeared while on an expedition to the Balkan state of Illyria

Illyria

In classical antiquity, Illyria was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by the Illyrians....

. Vesper is looked after by her guardians, Uncle Brinnie and Aunt Mary.

Vesper is young and wild; not at all the proper Victorian schoolgirl. Alexander describes her as having "the digestive talents of a goat and the mind of a chess master. She is familiar with half a dozen languages and can swear in all of them."

She is the main character in the following books:

• The Illyrian Adventure (1987)
• The El Dorado Adventure (1987)
• The Drackenberg Adventure (1988)
• The Jedera Adventure (1989)
• The Philadelphia Adventure (1990)
• The Xanadu Adventure (2005)

Reception

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

reviewed The Illyrian Adventure favorably, saying "t is the stuff that dreams are made of. I wish I had had this book when I was twelve. I was delighted to read it even now when I'm old."