The Women of Nell Gwynne's

Courageous and attractive, Lady Beatrice is the much-admired daughter of her soldier papa. She impetuously follows him to his latest post--only to realize that he, and everyone else at the encampment, will shortly be killed. She manages to rescue herself from the carnage, but at the expense of her innocence. Too damaged to be considered genteel any longer, too practical to die tragically in the gutter, Lady Beatrice decides to turn her disgrace into an asset. She becomes an excellent prostitute--but at Nell Gwynne's, she becomes an even better spy.

This tale is set in the Company series, but it's enjoyable even without all that backstory. Lady Beatrice is a wonderful, believeable character, and her fellow whores are interesting without show more being caricatures. The plot itself is too rushed, and there wasn't any resolution--this feels like the opening to a novel, rather than a novella. Sadly, Kage Baker's untimely death this year means we'll never see what further adventures Lady Beatrice might have had. show less

This steampunk novella about the very, very smart employees of an upscale whorehouse is slight but fun. The ladies of the night are actually spies for the government, servicing diplomats and politicians in order to preserve early-Victorian England from its enemies. They are outfitted with gadgets that would make James Bond drool. In this adventure, they are assigned to uncover the secrets behind what appears to be an antigravity device that an English peer is auctioning off to the highest bidder, no matter what country he is from. Naturally, murder ensues; naturally, the women must figure out whodunit. It’s quite the romp. (Sadly, Kage Baker died of cancer in late January 2010. I will miss her witty, smart writing very much.)

The women of Nell Gwynne's is an adventure/espionage novella with steampunk aesthetic. It failed to entertain me.

The plot sounds appealing enough, though: a young Victorian Lady lives through war, gang rape and a siege in India, which is why she is then shunned by her family and her former social circles. She takes up the profession of higher-class prostitute and is recruited by a secret espionage organisation (the titular women of Nell Gwynne's) who train spy prostitutes; their James Bond gadgets are advanced steampunk technology. That's a great setup for a spy series!

Unfortunately, this novella did not really appeal to me. The writing was terrible, for one: too much telling and not enough showing; it was as if Baker was trying to show more describing a film to me. That is partly due to the novella being burdened with too much plot: it has to set up the main character's back story, take us through her recruitment, and give us her first real mission, which comes with a number of red herrings and a useless whodunit subplot (which requires the introduction of too many temporary characters).

This should either have been an entire novel, where Baker would have the space to deal with all of this appropriately, or the main character's first mission should have been much more straightforward. Either way, large portions of this novella could do with a rewrite and some expanding. The ideas are there, it's just that Baker positively rushes past a great many of them, and so there is no time to build up proper tension. show less

One last romp with Kage Baker. This novella follows a new hero - the Lady Beatrice from her traumatic youth to a steampunk adventure with her co-workers from Nell Gwynne's. It's short but fun.

The Women of Nell Gwynne’s
Kage Baker
Subterranean Press
ISBN: 9781596062504
Publication Date: June 30, 2009
122 pages
Illustrated by J. K. Potter

“The Women of Nell Gwynne’s” is a Victorian steampunk murder-mystery with characters and locations reminiscent of a Dickens novel. Nell Gwynne’s is a high-class bordello in London that caters to Parliament, nobility, and the aristocracy. While servicing these distinguished men the women of Nell Gwynne, a highly unusual group of whores, attempt to uncover and collect political secrets for use by their employer the GSS, a super-secret scientific agency that protects the Crown.

While attending a diner party held by a British nobleman, Lady Beatrice and her fellow ladies-of-the-evening, show more uncover a scheme to sell anti-gravity technology to the highest bidder. After the various groups retire to their bedrooms for a night of frolicking the host is found murdered and the women take it upon themselves to investigate. As well they should. Mrs. Corvey, the madam, and her stable of working girls are no ordinary whores. They are strong, smart, capable, and not above kicking some high-brow ass when needed.

This compact and well-written novella is filled with intrigue, turn-of-the-century dialogue, steampunked technology, murder and mystery and sets up a universe that will hopefully become a recurrent one in Baker’s universe of strange and exciting times and places. An enjoyable, entertaining, and quick read I, for one, hope to see more of “The Women of Nell Gwynne’s” soon.

4 out of 5 stars

The Alternative
Southeastern Wisconsin

http://thealternativeone.blogspot.com/ show less

The prostitutes at Nell Gwynne’s house are carefully selected women of many talents. Few know that their clients include not just the upper crust of London society, but The Gentlemen’s Speculative Society, who pay mainly, not for pleasures of the flesh, but for secrets and spycraft. Their payments to the madam seem to include technology which really seems to have no place in 19th-century Britain. When the Society arranges a job where the women are hired as entertainers at a very private auction, a (literal) bedroom farce ensues.

This novella is a lightweight sort of steampunk story. The plucky young gel grows up as a tomboy overseas under the indulgence of her British military officer father. While being evacuated from Afhanistan she is kidnapped, raped, and eventually escapes back to England only to be rejected by her mother and siblings. She takes up the trade of the courtesan and is eventually recruited to work Mata Hari-style for the eponymous bordello Nell Gwynne's, associated with the Gentlemen's Speculative Society. Once there she engages in the work of the house as well as a bit of blackmail and eventually espionage, infiltrating the home of traitorous British Lord and saving the day for Dear Old England.

The story moves along rather quickly, and is show more actually quite light on what I've come to expect as the hallmarks of steampunk: excessively purple prose and obsessive details of outlandish, anachronistic or impossible technology. In fact, aside from being a bit shorter, it probably isn't that much different in substance from the average James Bond film from the Roger Moore era. Its not bad, but I wouldn't have sought it out or read it if I hadn't received a promotional copy, and I'm not inclined to look for any other offerings. show less