tamaranth | 2022/093: A Restless Truth -- Freya Marske

2022/093: A Restless Truth -- Freya Marske

Women in modern evening gowns exposed more skin than this in public. Even so: the scandalous and experienced Violet Debenham had stopped talking at the sight of her. A thrill of triumph washed over Maud. [loc. 1781]

Second in the trilogy that began with A Marvellous Light, this novel has a very different setting -- the Lyric, a luxury liner sailing from New York to Portsmouth -- but shares some characters, and has the same balance of romance and magical whodunnit. I was very happy to renew my acquaintance with Maud Blyth, sister of the previous novel's protagonist Robin, and Lord Hawthorne, rude and arrogant ex-lover of A Marvellous Light's other protagonist. There are new and fascinating characters, too, most notably Violet Davenport, 'a sophisticated scandal-trap of a girl', and Alan Ross, allegedly a journalist or perhaps a writer of advertising copy, who has a hidden agenda and a chip on his shoulder.

Maud is a delight, naive but determined and stubbornly honest; Lord Hawthorne is somewhat more likeable than in the previous volume; poor Mrs Navenby gets a rather raw deal. There is also an intriguing black opera singer, and a parrot named Damian who is an African Grey. (I'm ashamed to say it took me a while to spot the literary reference). Plenty of (sometimes literally) steamy sex scenes, charming descriptions of Edwardian fashion, and some genuine peril complete the package.

Now I'm really looking forward to the trilogy's conclusion ...

Thanks to Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for the full honest review which'll be appearing nearer UK publication date (10 November 2022).

Fulfils the 'featuring a club' rubric of the 52 books in 2022 challenge, thanks to the Forsythia Club (female magicians).