Jane Austen meets Charles Dickens meets Sarah Waters

5 stars (I’d give 6 if I could)-

This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read in my life. I loved Katie’s first book, The Secrets of Hartwood Hall, but this just affected me in a completely different way. The cast of characters was distinct and so sophisticatedly drawn. All of them felt very REAL, and they had motivations and struggles that rang very true.

The plotting is meticulous and brilliant. For a 450 page book, I thought every page was deserved, and I was never bored by any given character’s POV. Wickenshire feels like a real, breathing place and I sincerely hope Katie writes more novels in this setting.

The theme of gossip throughout this novel is explored with such care and nuance. The responsibilities of those with social status and/or wealth and their influence on the thoughts of those around them are massive.

This story also contains some of the most interesting and nuanced exploration of birth/rank as opposed to material wealth in this period. It reads so well to a modern audience. It simultaneously FEELS like a Victorian novel while also giving the reader the exact right amount of historical context to grasp the complexities that existed in Victorian society without having to come in to the novel knowing that background.

The ending is poignant and equally hopeful, celebratory, and devastating.

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall was fun, well written, and clever. This novel was all of those things with a degree of finesse and maturity that blew me away. The humor, the complex web of characters, and exploration of themes that would’ve been difficult to write about in 1841 make this a must read. It’s truly a shame that this didn’t get picked up by a US publisher.