Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesley M. M. Blume

Cornelia S. Englehart lives in New York City and is the daughter of a world-famous pianist. Her life should be great, but instead she just finds it lonely. Her mother is never home since she is traveling the world playing concerts in fabulous places that Cornelia is never invited to go to. Her babysitter, Madame Desjardins, is constantly interrupting her reading and asking Cornelia annoying questions. Cornelia’s only way to keep people from bothering her is to scare them off with her extensive and continuously growing vocabulary of words. People tend not to have anything to say back when they don’t understand the words you are using. However, Cornelia quiet life changes as soon as she meets her new neighbor, Virginia Somerset, a glamorous writer who has had adventures all over the world. Through Virginia’s stories, Cornelia soon finds herself in a Souk in Morocco, a Crypt in Paris, painting with Picasso, dining with a Maja in India, and competing in a dog show against the Queen of England.