I’m sitting here writing this review and ready to melt into my chair at 6:30pm(ish) because we are currently experiencing a heat wave in my town. My darling little AC is chugging away and doing its best, but I am more than ready for some cooler weather. A girl can dream!
I read Alison Goodman’s The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies well over a month ago, and I’ve clearly taken my sweet time getting to the review. Story of my life! I’m glad to finally be talking about it though, and thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Pub for this free digital copy in exchange for an honest review. This book is out now!
TBSoIML (even the abbreviation is long!) was both awesome and infuriating. Awesome, because I love historical mysteries featuring badass female characters sticking it to “the man”…but infuriating because this is Regency England, the main character Lady Augusta is a 42-year-old “spinster,” and men are the WORST. Special mention goes to Lady Augusta’s (and her twin, Lady Julia’s) brother, whom I hate with a fiery passion. FIERY PASSION. Honestly, whenever he opened his mouth (especially in the second half of the book) I became enraged. I’m familiar with Regency laws and rules enough to understand that women have very little power…but the way their brother continually attempted to exploit that, and his heavy-handedness made me want to throw him in a river.
While a main point of this novel (in my opinion) is women sticking up for and saving women, in spite of their lack of power and autonomy in many ways, I’m happy to inform you that there are some men who also support the cause. One is a servant in Lady Augusta’s household and one is a highwayman fleeing the law but…I mean support is support, right? I don’t want to give too much away, but this book, in the words of the Almighty Shrek, is “like an onion.” There is a lot going on and there are a lot of layers.
This novel is broken up into three separate “cases” that are not completely interrelated but flow into each other well. While I obviously don’t have a complete understanding of Augusta’s (Gus’s) situation, I empathized with her need to be more than people think she is, and to make the world a better place for women. I get frustrated by what women have to go through in 2023, so I can only assume my frustration would be magnified by a million during the Regency. I have read a lot of Regency novels that are “fluffy”, which is absolutely not a bad thing, but absolutely not how I would describe this book. It deals with some heavy topics, and deals with them well. Insert an intriguing romantic interest and lots of action, and you have a lovely, layered novel that definitely sets up for another book.
One of my only complaints: the title is a mouthful. It’s also good though, so feel free to ignore me on that one.
Happy Reading Friends!
The Bookish Bird 