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Loading... Point of Honour (edition 2005)by Madeleine E Robins
Work InformationPoint of Honour by Madeleine E. Robins
Gaslamp Fantasy (67) Loading...
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Belongs to SeriesSarah Tolerance (1) Notable Lists
On the mean streets of Regency London, a truly different adventure-with an unforgettable heroine In a Regency London that isn't quite the one we know, young women of family whose reputations have been ruined are known as the Fallen. Young Sarah Tolerance is one such: a daughter of the nobility who ran away with her brother's fencing-master. Now that the fencing-master has died, everyone expects her to earn her living as a whore. But Sarah is unwilling. Instead, she invents a new role for herself, and a new vocation: "investigative agent." For Sarah, with her equivocal position in society, is able to float between social layers, unearth secrets, find things that were lost, and lose things too dangerous to be kept. Her stock in trade is her wits, her discretion, and her expertise with the smallsword -- for her fencing-master taught her that as well. She will need all her skills soon, when she is approached by an agent of the Count Verseillon, for a task that seems routine: reclaim an antique fan he once gave to "a lady with brown eyes." The fan, he tells her, is an heirloom; the lady, his first love. But as Sarah Tolerance unravels the mystery that surrounds the fan, she discovers that she--and the Count--are not the only ones seeking it, and that nothing about this task is what it seems. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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I really enjoyed this! It’s a nice mash-up of Austen/mystery noir/historical romp—gowns! murders! escapes on horseback!—which was exactly what I was in the mood for. The lead character, Sarah Tolerance, is methodical and practical and skilled with a sword, but Madeleine Robins doesn’t fall into the trap of having her be Not Like the Other Girls or Ahead of Her Time. There’s a matter-of-fact reference, for instance, to her sitting and darning a basket of socks which I appreciated, because of course a woman living in straitened circumstances in the 1810s would be doing that herself! I also respected the fact that Robins followed through on the emotional costs of the plot.
There are a couple of wobbles with the language, though less than you normally find in Regency pastiches; other issues with the history are minor and easy to handwave as a result of the historical divergence. Overall, great fun and I will definitely be trying to track down the second book in this series. ( )