Author: Sarah Zettel
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Rating: WORTHY!
DISCLOSURE: Unlike the majority of reviews in this blog, I've neither bought this book nor borrowed it from the library. This is a "galley" copy ebook, supplied by Net Galley. I'm not receiving (nor will I expect to receive or accept) remuneration of any kind for this review. Since this is a new novel, this review is less detailed so as not to rob the writer of their story, but even so, it will probably still be more in-depth than you'll typically find elsewhere!
Despite the unfortunate initials of this novel's title (PoS!), I loved the title page which said,
Being a true, accurate, and complete account of the scandalous and wholly remarkable adventures of Margaret Preston Fitzroy, counterfeit lady, accused thief, and confidential agent at the court of His Majesty King George 1.My dearest hope going in was that this novel would live up to that adorable billing in every way (even though the accused thief bit isn't true!).
I'm not a fan of historical romance, which is why I found myself liking this novel. The story is a real pleasure to read. It's not only believable, but gripping, interesting, with a sharp tang of sly humor running through it, and it drew me right in. It moves very quickly, and nothing is wasted. Just when I thought a trope romance guy was going to enter the fray and drag things down into the mud, he was dispatched with admirable expediency: indeed his very fate was essential to the tale to move it along.
I had only one mild issue with it in the first one hundred pages, but with what novel are there no issues? The issue was merely the use of American spellings and idiom, and even having said that, I'm forced to wonder, with regard to idiom, whether modern American English might possess of itself more authenticity than modern English English for a tale such as this, set as it is three hundred years ago. I'll leave that to the experts to resolve because it certainly isn't worth agonizing over in a novel which is as well written as this one has proven itself to be.
Our doubty protagonist, Margaret Fitzroy ("Peggy"), born in the year 1700, is a sixteen-year-old when we meet her, a spirited woman whose father left her family half her lifetime ago, which betrayal subsequently resulted in the deterioration of her mother to the point of death (so we're told - I have some doubts, I confess!). I strongly suspect that we will revisit this incident at a later point in Peggy's history. In the meantime, she was taken in by an uncle who was resentful of it to say the least, and Peggy found herself on easy street, becoming spoiled and not entirely as appreciative of what she had as perhaps she ought to have been.
She grew to be best friends with her cousin Olivia, both girls being well-educated and having rather wild and dramatic imaginations; then it all came crashing down when Peggy was informed that she had been betrothed to Sebastien. This was immediately post-ceded by "the incident" which was beautifully written. Suddenly, Peggy finds her life in ruins. She is quite literally on the street. Fortunately for her circumstances, an unusual encounter with a rather mysterious gentleman at a ball she had attended the night before has provided the only option which remains to her. She avails herself of this opportunity, although she does not see it so at the time, and this is how she becomes a spy in the court of King George 1st under a false name, posing as the Lady Francesca.
What more do you need for me to tell you in order for you to want to go get this novel and start reading immediately?! I blew through the first one hundred pages, expending zero effort in the doing, and fully expected to see off the remaining 262 without having to get up out of my seat.
So Peggy is trained and goes to court where interesting discoveries galore lie in wait for her which I will not share, although I long to! Another rather tropish guy puts in an appearance, but until I finished the novel I chose to reserving judgment upon him. In terms of court life, we're spared too many tedious details. The only thing I found curious there (curious in a bad way) was the mention of Frideric Handel. Given the German origin of the Princess (Caroline) whom Peggy meets, why is he not referred to as Georg Friedrich Händel? Who knows?! Actually there is one other major curiosity: How does Peggy get away with posing as a completely different person? That, I felt was stretching things a bit far, so you have to agree to let that slip by if you want to really enjoy this!
Having just completed the less-than-stellar The Friday Society, I have to say that Zettel walks all over Adrienne Cress in her ability to convey a sense of period, but without using a lot of antiquated or stilted language to do it. If you want to write an historical novel, yet make it truly accessible to today's young audience, take some pages out of Zettel's novel. No, don't do that, she'll sue you for plagiarism. Instead, learn from her, and try to emulate her example with your own original material!
My first real disappointment in this novel came in chapter twelve where we're treated to a paragraph-long description of Peggy's attire. I don’t care what she's wearing unless it has some direct relevance to the plot! I'm not one who is impressed by an author who is proudly dedicated to crowing about how much period research she did. I don’t know this period, so Zettel could slip things by me which I would not catch. Unless she tossed in something really anachronistic, I woudn't notice, and there's no reason why I should. I don’t care. I'm about character and plot, not about frills. Two sentences, if you really insist, to set her attire in place and then let’s go! Please!
But while I'm on this topic, I have a question: why would a woman who lives in that era, who has been raised in that era knowing no other era, make so many remarks about her attire, and in particular, her stays? I don't buy that approach at all. Admittedly I have a really serious problem with first person PoV novels, but that's a whole other essay! Peggy's period in history may well be something new to us as twenty-first century readers of this fiction, but it was nothing to her. She was habituated to it and had no reason to constantly remark upon the peccadilloes of it. The only reason she would do so is because the author wanted to show off, and that turns me off. I found it to be nothing other than a frequent reminder that I was reading historical fiction, which in turn made it more difficult for me to become engaged by the story. Please, if you're going to write historical fiction, stay with the fiction and avoid the friction! This applies especially if you're going to write it from a contemporary perspective, and even more especially if this is a first-person perspective. Write it realistically and not as though our narrator is a twenty-first century visitor to that era! It doesn't work!
I'm not convinced that a woman living in Peggy's era would have thoughts which included phrases along the lines of 'dropped dead', but that's the kind of thing I'm personally willing to let go right on by if it's not combined with other problems in the same small section of the novel! I was rather disappointed, given Peggy's confusion during her Molly's monologue, that she did not think to ask Abbot (now posing as another maid) to explain a few things about Lady Francesca's personal history. Indeed, why were these things not shared with Peggy beforehand? Things like this are far more likely to trip her up than the other material she was taught. Fortunately, Molly seems like she's going to be an ally. This is why Peggy ought to confide in her that she's not exactly compos mentis and needs a little help, which should not come in the form of a poker she picked up as a defensive weapon in the hallway! Why would there be a poker in the hallway? There are no fireplaces in the hallway! Remember, the only water in the forest is the river, hence the River Song….
My second real disappointment also arrived with chapter twelve - that of another trope male romantic figure, Matthew Reade (yes with an 'e'!) who at first glace appeared to be some sort of an artist, but as I mentioned, I was willing to let this go and see how it played out. I was hoping that Zettel would really pull out some magic from that point onwards, otherwise I should perforce be required to dispossess this goodly novel of my favor.
Fortunately for my budding relationship with Zettel, she did pull out some magic. Matthew turned out to be no trope at all, and the story really took off. I thoroughly enjoyed this and was thrilled by how Zettel handled the romance which wasn't really any kind of romance - not yet - which was why I enjoyed it so much. I approve of Matthew. I was happy to read the novel to the end and sad that it ended, but this is to be the start of a series, and I'm definitely on board with it. Notwithstanding my criticisms above, I recommend this novel. The story was engrossing, the characters charming, and the villains realistic. Be prepared for plot twists and double-twists, for fun and durring-do (and don't), but most of all, just sit back and enjoy Peggy - an up-and-coming main character with pluck, loyalty, bravery, and a healthy dose of humor. Can't go wrong. This is a worthy novel!
