"Madam, I am a butler. Do you truly believe that I do not know how to dispatch a house guest if required? [loc. 4611]
In which T Kingfisher -- the author whose work I've read most since January, and not only because she's so prolific -- takes Regency romance, the Grimms' 'The Goose Girl', and an unpleasant experience with a horse as a pre-teen, and whips them up into a frothy, terrifying, funny, brutal novel which I absolutely loved.
Cordelia is fourteen, and is pathologically attuned to her mother's moods, which are unpredictable and dangerous. Sometimes Evangeline (the mother) will take control of Cordelia's body: she calls this 'obedience'. To Cordelia, it is like being a corpse. She whispers her secrets to her only real friend, their horse Falada, and plans to run away with him some day.
For a number of reasons this proves impractical, especially when her mother decides (after a mysterious death in the neighbourhood) to marry Squire Chatham, a wealthy bachelor who lives in a city near the coast. Cordelia, of course, will accompany her. And Cordelia's narrative begins to alternate with that of Hester Chatham, the Squire's unmarried sister, fiftysomething and waking one night with a presentiment of Doom.
Several familiar Regency-romance tropes eventuate (and are transformed or inverted), including a house party, a fearsomely professional butler, a shocking revelation in the morning newspaper, and a murder. Less familiar, perhaps, is Cordelia's sheer ignorance of how to be a guest: she offers to help with household tasks, and doesn't really know how to treat Alice, her assigned maid. Luckily Alice is kind, brave and observant, and so are Hester and her guests Imogene and Penelope. Which is a blessing, because Cordelia is going to need all the help she can get to thwart her mother's plans and achieve any kind of happiness.
There's a lovely secondary plot about romantic second chances, and plenty of characters well into middle age; there is some diversity of race and sexuality, mentioned in passing; and there is poor Cordelia, still sometimes hoping for her mother's love.
Animal lovers will be cheered to know that Falada, who in the original fairytale is slaughtered and his head nailed above the gate, has a rather different fate here. Though not everyone is happy about it.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 06 AUG 2024.
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