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Ace, King, Knave
Betsy-Ann is a gambler dealing in gin and stolen goods, living with a grave-robber in Georgian London. Sophia is a demure Bath heiress married to the charismatic Edmund Zedland. But neither of their men is what he seems…
512 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2013
17 people are currently reading
613 people want to read
About the author
Maria McCann
81 books178 followersMaria McCann is an English novelist. She was born in Liverpool in 1956 and worked as a lecturer in English at Strode College, Street, Somerset since 1985, until starting work with Arden.
Her first novel, As Meat Loves Salt, was released in 2001. The story focuses on the relationship of two men, Jacob Cullen and Christopher Ferris, and is set during the English Civil War. They desert their posts in Cromwell’s New Model Army to establish a farming commune in the countryside. The novel was well received by readers and critics and has recently been championed by Orange Prize winner Lionel Shriver, but failed to attract what one could call widespread attention.
McCann also contributed a short story titled Minimal to the anthology New Writing 12 published by the British Council in 2005.
Her second novel, The Wilding, was published in February 2010 . Set in England in the 1670s, it is the story of a young cider-presser, Jonathan Dymond, his dark family secrets, and the young beggar woman he tries to help.
Source: Wikipedia
Her first novel, As Meat Loves Salt, was released in 2001. The story focuses on the relationship of two men, Jacob Cullen and Christopher Ferris, and is set during the English Civil War. They desert their posts in Cromwell’s New Model Army to establish a farming commune in the countryside. The novel was well received by readers and critics and has recently been championed by Orange Prize winner Lionel Shriver, but failed to attract what one could call widespread attention.
McCann also contributed a short story titled Minimal to the anthology New Writing 12 published by the British Council in 2005.
Her second novel, The Wilding, was published in February 2010 . Set in England in the 1670s, it is the story of a young cider-presser, Jonathan Dymond, his dark family secrets, and the young beggar woman he tries to help.
Source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
January 1, 2015
I really wish Goodreads allowed half stars, because this is really more of a 3.5 for me.
Maria McCann wrote one of my very favorite books, As Meat Loves Salt, a book that both impressed and emotionally affected (and let's be honest, traumatized!) me so deeply that I knew I would read every novel she wrote. While she is absolutely masterful at vivid, detailed, realistic historical fiction, both The Wilding and this book disappointed me when viewed next to my first encounter with this author.
That said, I enjoyed Ace, King, Knave a bit more than The Wilding, and it did keep my attention most of the way through. As usual, McCann's grasp of the historical era (and ability/willingness to get down in the gutter and wallow into every dark, dirty, gruesome detail of human nature and life) is absorbing. I never grew as captivated by the characters (although I was fond of Betsy) or as emotionally connected to the story as I did with her other novel. I still would have probably rated it four stars, but in my opinion it wound down by the end, lost steam and made for a rather dull finish. That seems especially true when I recall the emotional powder keg of horror/shock/pity (a very Aristotelian catharsis, actually) that concluded As Meat Loves Salt.
Maria McCann wrote one of my very favorite books, As Meat Loves Salt, a book that both impressed and emotionally affected (and let's be honest, traumatized!) me so deeply that I knew I would read every novel she wrote. While she is absolutely masterful at vivid, detailed, realistic historical fiction, both The Wilding and this book disappointed me when viewed next to my first encounter with this author.
That said, I enjoyed Ace, King, Knave a bit more than The Wilding, and it did keep my attention most of the way through. As usual, McCann's grasp of the historical era (and ability/willingness to get down in the gutter and wallow into every dark, dirty, gruesome detail of human nature and life) is absorbing. I never grew as captivated by the characters (although I was fond of Betsy) or as emotionally connected to the story as I did with her other novel. I still would have probably rated it four stars, but in my opinion it wound down by the end, lost steam and made for a rather dull finish. That seems especially true when I recall the emotional powder keg of horror/shock/pity (a very Aristotelian catharsis, actually) that concluded As Meat Loves Salt.
April 8, 2016
I am really struggling to review this book. In many ways, I think it probably deserves more than three stars because the research is excellent, the period details subtle yet effective, and the use of French and Cant to distinguish and highlight the differences between Betsy-Ann and Sophia's (the two female protagonists of this novel) social classes are all very good.
I found this book an uncomfortable and somewhat upsetting read. Of course, part of this story's focus is the underclass of 18th century London, and there really is no way to sugar coat that: the author really does get down in the gutter and describes the lives of whores, grave robbers, card sharps and thieves well. It is well done, but it was quite shocking and some of the threads were upsetting- . This is certainly not a book for the faint of heart. This, however uncomfortable, would not have taken anything away from my rating or review, because life is not always sunshine and rainbows. I cannot knock a book for being realistic to the time and place of its setting.
At the same time, for me this book did have its problems. While the use of French and Cant was effective for the story, it was also quite distracting, especially early on in the novel. It took me a long time to get into this story because I found I had to check the appendix to see what on Earth the characters were saying to one another. By the time I was in the final third of the novel this was no longer a problem, but I never felt I had fully engrossed myself in this story because of the problems at the beginning.
The ending of the story is what finally made me settle on a three star rating- it was a bit of an anti-climax, to be honest. The author seems to spend a lot of time building up to something that never quite takes off. It's all very sudden, one second everyone is in place and something huge seems to be about to happen, then the next it's all over and everyone goes home.
Having said that, this is not a bad book and I may well read it again one day.
I found this book an uncomfortable and somewhat upsetting read. Of course, part of this story's focus is the underclass of 18th century London, and there really is no way to sugar coat that: the author really does get down in the gutter and describes the lives of whores, grave robbers, card sharps and thieves well. It is well done, but it was quite shocking and some of the threads were upsetting- . This is certainly not a book for the faint of heart. This, however uncomfortable, would not have taken anything away from my rating or review, because life is not always sunshine and rainbows. I cannot knock a book for being realistic to the time and place of its setting.
At the same time, for me this book did have its problems. While the use of French and Cant was effective for the story, it was also quite distracting, especially early on in the novel. It took me a long time to get into this story because I found I had to check the appendix to see what on Earth the characters were saying to one another. By the time I was in the final third of the novel this was no longer a problem, but I never felt I had fully engrossed myself in this story because of the problems at the beginning.
The ending of the story is what finally made me settle on a three star rating- it was a bit of an anti-climax, to be honest. The author seems to spend a lot of time building up to something that never quite takes off. It's all very sudden, one second everyone is in place and something huge seems to be about to happen, then the next it's all over and everyone goes home.
Having said that, this is not a bad book and I may well read it again one day.
January 19, 2014
I came to Maria McCann’s latest novel with rather mixed expectations. I loved her first novel As Meat Loves Salt, which I found startlingly good at points, although the plot tailed off towards the end. Her second novel, The Wilding, I got on with rather less well. I abandoned it somewhere around halfway through.
Ace, King Knave fell somewhere between these two poles, for me. I found it an impressive achievement, and I was never in danger of not finishing it. On the other hand, I did not find it as original or exciting as As Meat Loves Salt, for reasons I will go into below.
On the positive side, Ace, King, Knave is an enjoyable and extremely well-written novel, containing a powerful, Hogarthian evocation of eighteenth-century London. Or rather of two eighteenth-century Londons; the plot is constructed in such a way as to counterpose an upper world of (somewhat fragile and illusory) gentility with a brutal teeming netherworld of crime and exploitation. To make the contrast sharper, McCann differentiates the two cultures linguistically. The protagonists of her polite world speak standard Augustan English, while the cardsharps, graverobbers, pimps, and whores of her underworld speak a thieves’ cant, which is pretty much impenetrable at first encounter (“autem mort,” anyone?), though it’s not too difficult to pick up the meaning of it contextually as you read it. (There’s also a glossary if you’re impatient). Even the geographic setting of the novel is Janus-faced; London is London only to the upper-class characters in the book (its “gentry-coves” and “gentry-morts”), while it is Romeville to the motley “canting crew.”
In some ways, especially the quality of the prose, Ace King Knave reminded me of Andrew Miller’s Casanova in Love, which I read recently and which has a similar setting. McCann’s London is more visceral and malodorous, however—of all the novels I have ever read, this is in the top rank of those I am glad I did not encounter in an Odorama version.
The plot of Ace, King, Knave I found a little creaky. It relies heavily on coincidence, and its moments of revelation may be glimpsed laboring diligently round the corner from quite a distance away. The characters are fine, though I found the contrast between the two chief female protagonists, Sophia Buller (in the London corner) and Betsy-Ann Blore (in the Romeville corner) a little schematic. There’s a slight whiff of the edifying about the novel in general, in fact, that detracted slightly from its pleasures for me. The theme of the abuse and exploitation of women, high and low, is effectively handled, as is that of slavery, in the person of Titus/Fortunate. But that’s all reasonably familiar territory—depressing, rather than revelatory to read about. I didn’t really find myself jolted at any point.
Ultimately, I think that it the reason why I would rate As Meat Loves Salt quite a way above this novel. There were points in As Meat Loves Salt where I felt I was being taken into genuinely unexpected territory. I can’t say any more without risking a spoiler, but anyone who has read it will know what I mean …
Ace, King Knave fell somewhere between these two poles, for me. I found it an impressive achievement, and I was never in danger of not finishing it. On the other hand, I did not find it as original or exciting as As Meat Loves Salt, for reasons I will go into below.
On the positive side, Ace, King, Knave is an enjoyable and extremely well-written novel, containing a powerful, Hogarthian evocation of eighteenth-century London. Or rather of two eighteenth-century Londons; the plot is constructed in such a way as to counterpose an upper world of (somewhat fragile and illusory) gentility with a brutal teeming netherworld of crime and exploitation. To make the contrast sharper, McCann differentiates the two cultures linguistically. The protagonists of her polite world speak standard Augustan English, while the cardsharps, graverobbers, pimps, and whores of her underworld speak a thieves’ cant, which is pretty much impenetrable at first encounter (“autem mort,” anyone?), though it’s not too difficult to pick up the meaning of it contextually as you read it. (There’s also a glossary if you’re impatient). Even the geographic setting of the novel is Janus-faced; London is London only to the upper-class characters in the book (its “gentry-coves” and “gentry-morts”), while it is Romeville to the motley “canting crew.”
In some ways, especially the quality of the prose, Ace King Knave reminded me of Andrew Miller’s Casanova in Love, which I read recently and which has a similar setting. McCann’s London is more visceral and malodorous, however—of all the novels I have ever read, this is in the top rank of those I am glad I did not encounter in an Odorama version.
The plot of Ace, King, Knave I found a little creaky. It relies heavily on coincidence, and its moments of revelation may be glimpsed laboring diligently round the corner from quite a distance away. The characters are fine, though I found the contrast between the two chief female protagonists, Sophia Buller (in the London corner) and Betsy-Ann Blore (in the Romeville corner) a little schematic. There’s a slight whiff of the edifying about the novel in general, in fact, that detracted slightly from its pleasures for me. The theme of the abuse and exploitation of women, high and low, is effectively handled, as is that of slavery, in the person of Titus/Fortunate. But that’s all reasonably familiar territory—depressing, rather than revelatory to read about. I didn’t really find myself jolted at any point.
Ultimately, I think that it the reason why I would rate As Meat Loves Salt quite a way above this novel. There were points in As Meat Loves Salt where I felt I was being taken into genuinely unexpected territory. I can’t say any more without risking a spoiler, but anyone who has read it will know what I mean …
December 30, 2014
12/30/14: Well, is it as good as As Meat Loves Salt? No, but it also seems inappropriate, not to mention unfair, to compare them to each other. I think Ace, King, Knave is a trickier book than it seems, and a good one; it didn't all work for me, but the things that don't totally work make it worth a look, too.
I liked a great deal. There are basically two viewpoints in the book, Sophia Buller (the respectable young woman) and Betsy-Ann Blore (the 30ish prostitute). McCann pulls off the rather tricky balancing act of letting them sound like individuals from different classes and of different temperaments, but also like they come from the same time and place and writer's pen. Their perspectives and personalities clash quite a bit, of course, and this clash invigorates the narrative and sheds light on the conditions of the time. I found both of them to be well-constructed, complex, and compelling.
Fortunate, the youngish slave, is not so successful, I found. He takes up much less space in the novel's narrative - maybe this is the reason he is less compelling? He doesn't get the opportunities to breathe that Sophy and Betsy do. This makes him into more of a plot device than a character, and that really is a shame and a waste. His potential, and his peripheral role, are nearly enough to make you worry about him, but mostly he feels like he belongs to another novel.
This reminded me of a lot of other books. Not because it is derivative, but because it is quite a Thematic novel, and other novels have also picked up on the kind of themes and issues AKK probes. I'm thinking of Fingersmith, for example, and The Observations. It is a bit like Bring Up the Bodies, I guess - except it's actually more like An Experiment in Love and Beyond Black.
Some other things I liked a lot:
Sophia has an unglamorous and pretty gross health problem, and she is embarrassed by it. But it doesn't rule her life or impact her sense of self-worth very much.
McCann is good at making virtue attractive, but also at conveying the occasional rigidity of virtue (this was also true of AMLS, I think).
There aren't exactly surprises in the plot, this is mostly the kind of book where things feel inevitable, but there are some unexpected and graceful things in some of the characters' pasts.
As a study in thwarted potential - Betsy is so smart! - and social inequity, this is great.
McCann likes gross stuff. This was true in AMLS, it's true here. People are gross. They used to be even grosser. Everything that happens in this book is covered in a layer of shit and coal dust and smoke.
12/28/14: So far, I think fans of Frog Music and The Miniaturist (books I was basically admiring, but also Laodicean, about) would dig this one.
I liked a great deal. There are basically two viewpoints in the book, Sophia Buller (the respectable young woman) and Betsy-Ann Blore (the 30ish prostitute). McCann pulls off the rather tricky balancing act of letting them sound like individuals from different classes and of different temperaments, but also like they come from the same time and place and writer's pen. Their perspectives and personalities clash quite a bit, of course, and this clash invigorates the narrative and sheds light on the conditions of the time. I found both of them to be well-constructed, complex, and compelling.
Fortunate, the youngish slave, is not so successful, I found. He takes up much less space in the novel's narrative - maybe this is the reason he is less compelling? He doesn't get the opportunities to breathe that Sophy and Betsy do. This makes him into more of a plot device than a character, and that really is a shame and a waste. His potential, and his peripheral role, are nearly enough to make you worry about him, but mostly he feels like he belongs to another novel.
This reminded me of a lot of other books. Not because it is derivative, but because it is quite a Thematic novel, and other novels have also picked up on the kind of themes and issues AKK probes. I'm thinking of Fingersmith, for example, and The Observations. It is a bit like Bring Up the Bodies, I guess - except it's actually more like An Experiment in Love and Beyond Black.
Some other things I liked a lot:
Sophia has an unglamorous and pretty gross health problem, and she is embarrassed by it. But it doesn't rule her life or impact her sense of self-worth very much.
McCann is good at making virtue attractive, but also at conveying the occasional rigidity of virtue (this was also true of AMLS, I think).
There aren't exactly surprises in the plot, this is mostly the kind of book where things feel inevitable, but there are some unexpected and graceful things in some of the characters' pasts.
As a study in thwarted potential - Betsy is so smart! - and social inequity, this is great.
McCann likes gross stuff. This was true in AMLS, it's true here. People are gross. They used to be even grosser. Everything that happens in this book is covered in a layer of shit and coal dust and smoke.
12/28/14: So far, I think fans of Frog Music and The Miniaturist (books I was basically admiring, but also Laodicean, about) would dig this one.
November 30, 2013
Eighteenth century London is vividly recreated in this charismatic story about the fortunes, and multiple misfortunes, of a trio of disparate people. There is the newly-wed Sophie who is married to the charismatic Mr Zedland, who keeps her own secrets well hidden. A former bawdy prostitute, Betsy- Anne Blore who runs her second hand goods shop with an enviable entrepreneurial skill, and also Fortune, who is the Zedland’s mismanaged slave.
On the surface, the lives of these three people should never intertwine, but Maria McCann has, with great panache, weaved together a story which will gradually reveal the heaving hotchpotch of the great, and it must be said, the mightily unwashed of 1760s London. From the gin-soaked alleys, which are reminiscent of a Hogarth engraving, through to the genteel drawing rooms of the English upper class, no stone is left unturned, and as these proverbial stones are uncovered, a shocking story of vile corruption, and filth at the highest level, is revealed.
Ultimately, this is a good romp through Hanoverian England. As always the author manipulates the narrative with considerable ease, blending authenticity with dramatic storytelling. Littered throughout is a colourful vocabulary which infuses such a tangible realism, that I felt like I had spent time wandering London, with a set of wastrels, vagabonds, prostitutes and grave-robbers.
If you like colourful and realistic historical fiction then I am sure that this will appeal enough to warrant giving it a try.
On the surface, the lives of these three people should never intertwine, but Maria McCann has, with great panache, weaved together a story which will gradually reveal the heaving hotchpotch of the great, and it must be said, the mightily unwashed of 1760s London. From the gin-soaked alleys, which are reminiscent of a Hogarth engraving, through to the genteel drawing rooms of the English upper class, no stone is left unturned, and as these proverbial stones are uncovered, a shocking story of vile corruption, and filth at the highest level, is revealed.
Ultimately, this is a good romp through Hanoverian England. As always the author manipulates the narrative with considerable ease, blending authenticity with dramatic storytelling. Littered throughout is a colourful vocabulary which infuses such a tangible realism, that I felt like I had spent time wandering London, with a set of wastrels, vagabonds, prostitutes and grave-robbers.
If you like colourful and realistic historical fiction then I am sure that this will appeal enough to warrant giving it a try.
July 13, 2014
Sophia is married to Edmund Zedland and Betsy-Ann was the lover of Ned Hartry. When Edmund takes Sophia to London, it appears that Ned and Edmund may actually be the same man.
I am not one for spoilers but I have to say, this book took such a terribly long time to go anywhere, that I can't remember what I should and should not reveal. In either case, fear not, it won't ruin the story for you - there isn't one!
This terribly long and tedious novel is set in Victorian London. Sophia is a young lady who is madly in love with her new husband, Edmund. After the wedding, Edmund and Sohia repair to Bath where Edmund has business to conduct. Sophia becomes suspicious that he is out all the time and when they suddenly need to go to London, she starts to worry about what Edmund's business really is.
Meanwhile, Betsy-Ann is the common law wife of Sam Shiner who won her in a card game from Ned Hartry. Betsy-Ann has had enough of Sam, so when she sees that Ned has returned she resolves to tell his new wife exactly who Edmund Zedland really is.
The trouble is, by this time, I could not care less. The book is so long and repetitive and there are just pages and pages where nothing happens. Sophia's mysterious "weakness" is mentioned once in passing and then has no bearing on the story at all. All the characters are completely depressing and miserable and have no redeeming features at all; I didn't like any of them and I didn't care about any of them. The back cover calls this book "exuberant" and "vibrant". I am very much afraid that after promising much, this novel delivered very little of the sort.
I am not one for spoilers but I have to say, this book took such a terribly long time to go anywhere, that I can't remember what I should and should not reveal. In either case, fear not, it won't ruin the story for you - there isn't one!
This terribly long and tedious novel is set in Victorian London. Sophia is a young lady who is madly in love with her new husband, Edmund. After the wedding, Edmund and Sohia repair to Bath where Edmund has business to conduct. Sophia becomes suspicious that he is out all the time and when they suddenly need to go to London, she starts to worry about what Edmund's business really is.
Meanwhile, Betsy-Ann is the common law wife of Sam Shiner who won her in a card game from Ned Hartry. Betsy-Ann has had enough of Sam, so when she sees that Ned has returned she resolves to tell his new wife exactly who Edmund Zedland really is.
The trouble is, by this time, I could not care less. The book is so long and repetitive and there are just pages and pages where nothing happens. Sophia's mysterious "weakness" is mentioned once in passing and then has no bearing on the story at all. All the characters are completely depressing and miserable and have no redeeming features at all; I didn't like any of them and I didn't care about any of them. The back cover calls this book "exuberant" and "vibrant". I am very much afraid that after promising much, this novel delivered very little of the sort.
December 3, 2013
After two very different novels set in 16th century England, Maria McCann has something different again with her third; a gripping story of secrets and lies, set some years later, in the 17th century.
It tells of two very different women.
Sophia Buller was the only child of a country gentleman. Her parents were eager to see her married, but they knew that their daughter was plain, they knew that she had an unfortunate ‘little weakness, and so they knew it wouldn’t be easy. But the handsome, charming Edward Zeeland began to pay court to Sophia; and when he proposed she was utterly thrilled. Married life was not what Sophia had hoped it would be. She found herself in a shabby house in an unfashionable district; her husband was away for most of time, leaving her stranded at home with uncommunicative servants; and when he was home Edward wasn’t the husband she had hoped her would be, expected he would be, at all.
Betsy-Ann Blore had a very different life. She had been a prostitute, but she had managed to establish herself as a buyer and seller of …. well lets say second-hand good. Sam, her husband, was a cardsharp, but he had run into trouble, and so he joined up with Betsy-Ann’s brother Harry and his crew of resurrectionists. He hated it; he drank and he sank into depression. She hated it too and, though she could see no way out of their situation, she held on to hope; she practiced the skills of a cardsharp, and she dreamed of Ned Hartry, the handsome, charming scourge of the card-tables, and the greatest love of her life.
The two stories are very different, and the differing styles, the differing use of language – as different as the two women – is very, very effective. Two lives, lived very differently, in the same time, in the same time came to life, and the world about them, rich with detail, was so wonderfully. Everything lived and breathed, it really did.
At first I found it easier to empathise with Sophia, who was so naïve in so many ways, and who was so very unprepared for what was to happen, but the more I read the more I warmed to Betsy-Ann who had such spirit, who did everything she could to improve her situation. It wasn’t easy, and the difficulties, the restrictions, faced by women in the 17th century were clearly illuminated.
There was a moment when Sophia compared her situation to that of Clarissa Harlowe – and she was right, though I should say that this is a very different story,
The plot was very cleverly constructed, and it moved apace – everything I learned about Sophia and about Betsy-Anne I learned on the fly – and that kept the focus on the story and not the period details, wonderful though they were.
The two stories are linked – of course they are – and they come together beautifully in the latter part of the book. And there’s another strand too, the story of Fortunate, a young slave in the Zedland household. There he’s renamed Lucius, and later in the story he is known as Lucky. His different names – and his descriptive names for others around him – highlight the themes of identity, disguise and self-determination that underpin the story. And, though his story is a little underdeveloped her has a significant part to play.
Though the story had weaknesses – the pace dipped in one or two places, Sophia’s ‘little weakness’ was a needless distraction, and the ending was a little too neat – it was compelling, it was vivid, and I was swept along.
And I’d say that ‘Ace, King, Knave’ worked as a historical entertainment, and it worked as a thought-provoking, serious study of the period too.
I wonder what Maria McCann will write next …
It tells of two very different women.
Sophia Buller was the only child of a country gentleman. Her parents were eager to see her married, but they knew that their daughter was plain, they knew that she had an unfortunate ‘little weakness, and so they knew it wouldn’t be easy. But the handsome, charming Edward Zeeland began to pay court to Sophia; and when he proposed she was utterly thrilled. Married life was not what Sophia had hoped it would be. She found herself in a shabby house in an unfashionable district; her husband was away for most of time, leaving her stranded at home with uncommunicative servants; and when he was home Edward wasn’t the husband she had hoped her would be, expected he would be, at all.
Betsy-Ann Blore had a very different life. She had been a prostitute, but she had managed to establish herself as a buyer and seller of …. well lets say second-hand good. Sam, her husband, was a cardsharp, but he had run into trouble, and so he joined up with Betsy-Ann’s brother Harry and his crew of resurrectionists. He hated it; he drank and he sank into depression. She hated it too and, though she could see no way out of their situation, she held on to hope; she practiced the skills of a cardsharp, and she dreamed of Ned Hartry, the handsome, charming scourge of the card-tables, and the greatest love of her life.
The two stories are very different, and the differing styles, the differing use of language – as different as the two women – is very, very effective. Two lives, lived very differently, in the same time, in the same time came to life, and the world about them, rich with detail, was so wonderfully. Everything lived and breathed, it really did.
At first I found it easier to empathise with Sophia, who was so naïve in so many ways, and who was so very unprepared for what was to happen, but the more I read the more I warmed to Betsy-Ann who had such spirit, who did everything she could to improve her situation. It wasn’t easy, and the difficulties, the restrictions, faced by women in the 17th century were clearly illuminated.
There was a moment when Sophia compared her situation to that of Clarissa Harlowe – and she was right, though I should say that this is a very different story,
The plot was very cleverly constructed, and it moved apace – everything I learned about Sophia and about Betsy-Anne I learned on the fly – and that kept the focus on the story and not the period details, wonderful though they were.
The two stories are linked – of course they are – and they come together beautifully in the latter part of the book. And there’s another strand too, the story of Fortunate, a young slave in the Zedland household. There he’s renamed Lucius, and later in the story he is known as Lucky. His different names – and his descriptive names for others around him – highlight the themes of identity, disguise and self-determination that underpin the story. And, though his story is a little underdeveloped her has a significant part to play.
Though the story had weaknesses – the pace dipped in one or two places, Sophia’s ‘little weakness’ was a needless distraction, and the ending was a little too neat – it was compelling, it was vivid, and I was swept along.
And I’d say that ‘Ace, King, Knave’ worked as a historical entertainment, and it worked as a thought-provoking, serious study of the period too.
I wonder what Maria McCann will write next …
February 2, 2016
You can also find my review of Ace, King, Knave on my speculative fiction book blog.
Ace, King, Knave is a historical novel set in 1760s London. The main protagonists are two women: Betsy-Ann and Sophie. The third viewpoint character is a fifteen year old black slave boy, called Titus / Fortunate.
At the start of the novel, Betsy-Ann is a street peddler, selling second hand goods, fencing the odd stolen knick-knack, while squirrelling away her most valuable and treasured possessions in hidden hidey-holes in the flat she shares with Sam Shiner. Sam is not legally her husband, although she has gotten used to using his surname instead of hers. When Sam tells her that he is getting into business with her brother, she is mortified: her brother is a rough, violent sort, and his business is graverobbing. The work leaves its mark on Sam - he starts to rely heavily on alcohol, and the smell of the dead follows him home. As Betsy-Ann's domestic life becomes more troubled, she recalls the road that led her to that little flat in London.
Sophie, meanwhile, is a young woman of nobility and upper class. Her story starts with romance and courtship and the road to marriage. Sophie initially finds it all so very blissful, but marriage soon starts to be oddly isolating. Her husband, Ned Zedlander, is busy all day (how strange for a nobleman to have so much to do!), and keeps her away from society, peers and family, much to her growing frustration.
Historical novels tends to have a more stately pace than the speculative fiction ones I usually read. Ace, King, Knave is no exception. A lot of energy is invested in worldbuilding and using authentic phrases in dialogue. The characters all seem perfectly convincing. As a piece of writing, Ace, King Knave shows great craftsmanship and attention to detail. It is a very accomplished work.
However, for all its impressive qualities, the story is quite bleak. Not, perhaps, quite as grim as Maria McCann's debut masterpiece As Meat Loves Salt, but neither is it the playful romp that the description and cover of the book led me to expect. Gamblers and graverobbers, women protagonists searching for the truth: I expected something with a bit more of a spring in its step when I bought the book. I also hoped for the plot to be rather more empowering of its women & slave protagonists than it was. I guess I'm too used to fantasy novels imagining better versions of the past, whereas this historical novel takes historical authenticity very, very seriously.
Ace, King, Knave is an excellent work of literary, historically accurate fiction, but less satisfying as a piece of entertainment. It was never a chore to read, but it left me feeling empty and hollow inside, which wasn't what I had expected when I picked it up.
Ace, King, Knave is a historical novel set in 1760s London. The main protagonists are two women: Betsy-Ann and Sophie. The third viewpoint character is a fifteen year old black slave boy, called Titus / Fortunate.
At the start of the novel, Betsy-Ann is a street peddler, selling second hand goods, fencing the odd stolen knick-knack, while squirrelling away her most valuable and treasured possessions in hidden hidey-holes in the flat she shares with Sam Shiner. Sam is not legally her husband, although she has gotten used to using his surname instead of hers. When Sam tells her that he is getting into business with her brother, she is mortified: her brother is a rough, violent sort, and his business is graverobbing. The work leaves its mark on Sam - he starts to rely heavily on alcohol, and the smell of the dead follows him home. As Betsy-Ann's domestic life becomes more troubled, she recalls the road that led her to that little flat in London.
Sophie, meanwhile, is a young woman of nobility and upper class. Her story starts with romance and courtship and the road to marriage. Sophie initially finds it all so very blissful, but marriage soon starts to be oddly isolating. Her husband, Ned Zedlander, is busy all day (how strange for a nobleman to have so much to do!), and keeps her away from society, peers and family, much to her growing frustration.
Historical novels tends to have a more stately pace than the speculative fiction ones I usually read. Ace, King, Knave is no exception. A lot of energy is invested in worldbuilding and using authentic phrases in dialogue. The characters all seem perfectly convincing. As a piece of writing, Ace, King Knave shows great craftsmanship and attention to detail. It is a very accomplished work.
However, for all its impressive qualities, the story is quite bleak. Not, perhaps, quite as grim as Maria McCann's debut masterpiece As Meat Loves Salt, but neither is it the playful romp that the description and cover of the book led me to expect. Gamblers and graverobbers, women protagonists searching for the truth: I expected something with a bit more of a spring in its step when I bought the book. I also hoped for the plot to be rather more empowering of its women & slave protagonists than it was. I guess I'm too used to fantasy novels imagining better versions of the past, whereas this historical novel takes historical authenticity very, very seriously.
Ace, King, Knave is an excellent work of literary, historically accurate fiction, but less satisfying as a piece of entertainment. It was never a chore to read, but it left me feeling empty and hollow inside, which wasn't what I had expected when I picked it up.
November 11, 2014
My thoughts:
This book owes a lot to Harris's list of Covent garden ladies (of ill repute) it's a bawdy, atmospheric trip back in time to the grimy days of 18th century London, when women had two choices, marry for respectability or eke a living ANY way open to you. Between these pages we meet two women, one from each end of the social scale.
Sophia, eager to fall in love has found the man of her dreams and joy of joy, this handsome and rich suitor has proposed, her parents are delighted with this virtually arranged marriage and to her relief haven't put him off by warning him of the shameful little habit she feared would prevent her from ever sharing a marital bed.
Betsy Ann is her social opposite, living amongst thieves and gamblers in the seediest part of Covent Garden she is a country girl brought down by circumstances, she is an ex-prostitute, living with a grave robber, dealing in rotgut gin and practising sleight of hand with cards.
Titus is a young black slave, serving in the household of Edward, Sophias intended. Loyal to his master he resents the new mistress almost as much as she is appalled by his seeming insolence and sloppy, unfortunate speech impediment.
We are also introduced to the Bawdy house run by Kitty Hartry.
These lives come together in a clash of cultures amidst the seething morass of London which contains the seediest of low lifes and those striving to achieve and maintain respectability. Sophia's husband is the lynch pin who holds this disparate bunch together and he proves to be a multi layered character.
This book is provided with an extensive glossary of 18th century terms which are scattered throughout the dialogue like dried up raisins and bitter candy peel in a rich plum pudding. They made it rather difficult reading for me as I just had to keep checking and re-checking to see what they all meant, many of them were coarse and vulgar, they really helped make the narrative seem authentic yet at times I felt the author had used just one or two "dimber cove" too many.
The story unfolds into a lavishly descriptive rollicking bawdy romp through the brothels and gambling dens of Covent Garden. A hugely enjoyable peep through a keyhole so degenerate you'd have to pinch your nose as you lowered yourself to peer through.
It's a vivid and pungent tale told with panache and showcasing the skill of the detailed historical research undertaken.
I must admit to a slight disappointment with the ending, such a boisterous novel seems worthy of somehow a touch more than it finally delivers, but this is just nit picking as the overall story really is gratifying in its own right. A superb celebration of bawdiness and deception.
This book owes a lot to Harris's list of Covent garden ladies (of ill repute) it's a bawdy, atmospheric trip back in time to the grimy days of 18th century London, when women had two choices, marry for respectability or eke a living ANY way open to you. Between these pages we meet two women, one from each end of the social scale.
Sophia, eager to fall in love has found the man of her dreams and joy of joy, this handsome and rich suitor has proposed, her parents are delighted with this virtually arranged marriage and to her relief haven't put him off by warning him of the shameful little habit she feared would prevent her from ever sharing a marital bed.
Betsy Ann is her social opposite, living amongst thieves and gamblers in the seediest part of Covent Garden she is a country girl brought down by circumstances, she is an ex-prostitute, living with a grave robber, dealing in rotgut gin and practising sleight of hand with cards.
Titus is a young black slave, serving in the household of Edward, Sophias intended. Loyal to his master he resents the new mistress almost as much as she is appalled by his seeming insolence and sloppy, unfortunate speech impediment.
We are also introduced to the Bawdy house run by Kitty Hartry.
These lives come together in a clash of cultures amidst the seething morass of London which contains the seediest of low lifes and those striving to achieve and maintain respectability. Sophia's husband is the lynch pin who holds this disparate bunch together and he proves to be a multi layered character.
This book is provided with an extensive glossary of 18th century terms which are scattered throughout the dialogue like dried up raisins and bitter candy peel in a rich plum pudding. They made it rather difficult reading for me as I just had to keep checking and re-checking to see what they all meant, many of them were coarse and vulgar, they really helped make the narrative seem authentic yet at times I felt the author had used just one or two "dimber cove" too many.
The story unfolds into a lavishly descriptive rollicking bawdy romp through the brothels and gambling dens of Covent Garden. A hugely enjoyable peep through a keyhole so degenerate you'd have to pinch your nose as you lowered yourself to peer through.
It's a vivid and pungent tale told with panache and showcasing the skill of the detailed historical research undertaken.
I must admit to a slight disappointment with the ending, such a boisterous novel seems worthy of somehow a touch more than it finally delivers, but this is just nit picking as the overall story really is gratifying in its own right. A superb celebration of bawdiness and deception.
August 12, 2016
Maria McCann's historical novel is in the vein of Fingersmith and The Crimson Petal and the White, following three narrative threads - it's the story of Sophia, a young (duped) bride, Betsy-Ann, a significant figure from her husband's past, and Fortunate, a former slave turned footman, won by the husband in a card game. Like Fingersmith and Crimson Petal, the worlds of underclass vice and criminality intermingle with that of middle class respectability. The period vocabulary is vivid (hogo, autem mort, dimber, nantz) and the unfolding long con against the bride (and the involvement of Betsy-Ann) kept me hooked.
Maria McCann has done her research- 1760s London ('Romeville') is strikingly glamorous, squalid and dangerous. (The food is particularly disgusting.) But the pace was a bit too leisurely for me - Sophia doesn't pry open the drawer in her husband's desk until chapter 23. And I had a problem with the ending - not so much Chekhov's Gun as Chekhov's Duelling Pistols instigating the finale, when the story seemed to be heading towards a more satisfying, revenge-driven, resolution.
February 20, 2014
SLIGHT SPOILERS
I was SO impressed with this book, the style, the tone, the language. Takes a little investment to start off with but the main body of the book is well worth it - meaty, grubby, intriguing - and you really end up worrying about the two main female characters. Great idea, well written.
BUT I only gave it three stars because I felt the ending just didn't satisfy. I know there doesn't always need to be a happy ending and I wasn't expecting one but it just kind of fizzled out... no showdown, no revenge, no real finish apart from the 'baddie' if you like was seen off in an accident and everyone went home.
Still worth reading for the amazing use of language.
I was SO impressed with this book, the style, the tone, the language. Takes a little investment to start off with but the main body of the book is well worth it - meaty, grubby, intriguing - and you really end up worrying about the two main female characters. Great idea, well written.
BUT I only gave it three stars because I felt the ending just didn't satisfy. I know there doesn't always need to be a happy ending and I wasn't expecting one but it just kind of fizzled out... no showdown, no revenge, no real finish apart from the 'baddie' if you like was seen off in an accident and everyone went home.
Still worth reading for the amazing use of language.
August 19, 2024
Hier waren so viele Wörter drin, die ich noch nie gesehen habe, dass ich sehr froh über das Glossar war. Durchgehend gut und interessant, Ende an einer überraschenden Stelle, und nicht ganz so düster wie "As Meat Loves Salt". Ein bisschen wie die realistischere Version eines Georgette-Heyer-Romans.
August 15, 2025
I really like this author. The story is set in 1760s London and the most interesting thing about it is that the writer uses a lot of street talk (cant) from those days. There's a glossary in the back to help out. I found this fascinating!
July 30, 2020
More accurately a 3.5 star.
The ending kinda fizzled out. Started strong and kept my attention until Edmund takes off. None of the characters were fully likeable??
As Meat Loves Salt had me a lot more shooketh than this book but I still enjoyed being in this world that Maria McCann has created and she is such a great writer. I will be reading another of hers next, I think, The Wildling, so I am looking forward to that.
The ending kinda fizzled out. Started strong and kept my attention until Edmund takes off. None of the characters were fully likeable??
As Meat Loves Salt had me a lot more shooketh than this book but I still enjoyed being in this world that Maria McCann has created and she is such a great writer. I will be reading another of hers next, I think, The Wildling, so I am looking forward to that.
August 8, 2023
Fun! Great characters whose paths cross in unexpected ways
February 16, 2015
Book review Ace,King,Knave by Maria McCann
Ace,King,Knave is one of those novels that does more than tell a story. It takes the reader from their normal everyday life, and by advanced writing skills, and the use of all of the senses, we are taken elsewhere. In this case, to1760’s London, where the lives of two women, are to be linked. At one extreme is Sophia, a naïve young woman, who has just married the wealthy, and charismatic Mr Zedland. Living in slightly poorer conditions is Betsy-Ann, who lives with a grave robber, deals in second hand goods, and lives of her wits. As they both dig into the smaller details of their lives secrets are revealed. This is one of those novels that revels in the smaller details. It has a pungency and an urgency to it, and the reader can imagine the smells of London Town, and also the characters that people the streets and the story, and although a long book at 486 pages(with a detailed glossary and bibliographic details) these aid the story, rather than detracting from it. This book is a rich story, and will have a wide appeal to anyone with an interest in both history, and storytelling.
Personal Read 3 out 5
Book Group Read 4 out of 5
Ace,King,Knave is one of those novels that does more than tell a story. It takes the reader from their normal everyday life, and by advanced writing skills, and the use of all of the senses, we are taken elsewhere. In this case, to1760’s London, where the lives of two women, are to be linked. At one extreme is Sophia, a naïve young woman, who has just married the wealthy, and charismatic Mr Zedland. Living in slightly poorer conditions is Betsy-Ann, who lives with a grave robber, deals in second hand goods, and lives of her wits. As they both dig into the smaller details of their lives secrets are revealed. This is one of those novels that revels in the smaller details. It has a pungency and an urgency to it, and the reader can imagine the smells of London Town, and also the characters that people the streets and the story, and although a long book at 486 pages(with a detailed glossary and bibliographic details) these aid the story, rather than detracting from it. This book is a rich story, and will have a wide appeal to anyone with an interest in both history, and storytelling.
Personal Read 3 out 5
Book Group Read 4 out of 5
July 22, 2014
An engrossing portrait of C18th London. While not as darkly compelling as As Meat Loves Salt, this is a rollicking read. I was disappointed by the rather convenient conclusion, but this is a historical novel that features two very vivid female characters - the prickly, prudish, sheltered, secretly-romantic Sophie and the bawdy, tough, clever, ended Betsy-Ann - and has a well-developed plot. The character of Fortunate strikes a bad note for me - this slave character may have been included to give a sense of the hypocrisy of c18th England, but he felt like more of a cipher and eventual plot device than a real character, which is problematic when a white author is writing a black slave! Overall, I'd recommend this - McCann's sense of period detail, from vocabulary to setting, is spot-on, and this is a lively introduction to the period for anyone not familiar with it.
December 3, 2015
Engrossing, but didn't quite hit the same heights as Faber et al. I would still recommend to anyone with a penchant for Victoriana.
March 16, 2025
I'm reading and have just read so many bad books, that I threw caution to the wind and opened a rare one by McCann, which isn't something one reads on the side. I no longer knew what it was about, but accidentially it fits with the (supposed) time period of "Babel", so that her skilled prose, so lacking in the superfluous yet still permitting of uncertainty, could wash away some of the bad taste. Now it might get worse (for me, the ending of her eponimous "Salt" took years to get over), but probably not in the writing as such.
ETA: as usual everything is in place and convincing in that lower- to middle-class London she is writing about. I might have known all the cant words in the glossary (mostly from G. Heyer) but McCann is still the only one of the many women who now write modern historicals who gets the feel right and actually gives you some new tidbits that you genuinely read for the first time, not just a mud-fest but as if you were there.
Coincidentially, once again, she also has a POC character as one of the three povs, and without demagoguery she shows how they are all enslaved, by different means but also by the same man. It's such a welcome change to the wiki-like passages from "Babel", and it could be discussed for weeks in book clubs - for whom there are no suggested topics at the back, another sign of quality.
I could and probably should talk at length about how not just men but always money makes slaves of them all, but other reviews surely did that before. I've also read the same stories before, the innocent treated abominably by her seemingly perfect husband and nobody believing or helping her, incl. the sexual abuse, which might be the main theme of the children made into whores regularly (incl. the youngest as supposed cure for syphilis, compare also the graphic novel "Don't-Touch-Me") - but it isn't, as this mistress is further betrayed by brother, lover and fake husband. The last of the three, an African boy, clings to the same man because all others had been worse, and he could easily be in love with Ned himself (dislikes female advances, reminisces about life together like the women do, considers accepting punter).
This was short and I would like to ad quotes at some point. Everything that is well dones is everything that is usually not done. They don't band together. They don't want Ned hurt. ...
In fact, from the moment rather late in the book when I realised the ending (Fortunate's impression of the resurrectionist is revealed), it should have gone differently. The author even said the book had originally featured more card playing (and music). The latter is wise to have been cut, as the songs that are inserted already (typically) don't add to the story. But the card playing is visibly amputated. I didn't need a "The Sting" ending, I'm fine with not much actually happening compared to books more focussed on tension and action. But Betsy teaching Sophie cards - and the title and the book covers - is not a false lead, it's a clear storyline never dealt with. It's fine that . But I'm really saddened not to know what was intended, and if it was too hard to write compared to print making or apple pressing. There is one kind of frustration that is intended, ie. . And then there's the card thing. She rightly judged that the enslavement theme was clearly there without being talked about, but the big bad resurrectionist's actions make no sense other than to serve the scenes.
It's a move away from the male to the "other" pov. Wanting to pick the author's brain is also a good thing, being interested in talking with them. Just be careful, if you've not read her previous (also recommended) novels that despite the plot it's not sensationalist, there is an old-fashioned (?) sensibility shining a strong modern light on 1760, where characters are unable to "only connect" even if they are on the right trajectory. In a very readable language.
FAH-connection: recommend it to Foil or Arms? Historical genre.
ETA: as usual everything is in place and convincing in that lower- to middle-class London she is writing about. I might have known all the cant words in the glossary (mostly from G. Heyer) but McCann is still the only one of the many women who now write modern historicals who gets the feel right and actually gives you some new tidbits that you genuinely read for the first time, not just a mud-fest but as if you were there.
Coincidentially, once again, she also has a POC character as one of the three povs, and without demagoguery she shows how they are all enslaved, by different means but also by the same man. It's such a welcome change to the wiki-like passages from "Babel", and it could be discussed for weeks in book clubs - for whom there are no suggested topics at the back, another sign of quality.
I could and probably should talk at length about how not just men but always money makes slaves of them all, but other reviews surely did that before. I've also read the same stories before, the innocent treated abominably by her seemingly perfect husband and nobody believing or helping her, incl. the sexual abuse, which might be the main theme of the children made into whores regularly (incl. the youngest as supposed cure for syphilis, compare also the graphic novel "Don't-Touch-Me") - but it isn't, as this mistress is further betrayed by brother, lover and fake husband. The last of the three, an African boy, clings to the same man because all others had been worse, and he could easily be in love with Ned himself (dislikes female advances, reminisces about life together like the women do, considers accepting punter).
This was short and I would like to ad quotes at some point. Everything that is well dones is everything that is usually not done. They don't band together. They don't want Ned hurt. ...
In fact, from the moment rather late in the book when I realised the ending (Fortunate's impression of the resurrectionist is revealed), it should have gone differently. The author even said the book had originally featured more card playing (and music). The latter is wise to have been cut, as the songs that are inserted already (typically) don't add to the story. But the card playing is visibly amputated. I didn't need a "The Sting" ending, I'm fine with not much actually happening compared to books more focussed on tension and action. But Betsy teaching Sophie cards - and the title and the book covers - is not a false lead, it's a clear storyline never dealt with. It's fine that . But I'm really saddened not to know what was intended, and if it was too hard to write compared to print making or apple pressing. There is one kind of frustration that is intended, ie. . And then there's the card thing. She rightly judged that the enslavement theme was clearly there without being talked about, but the big bad resurrectionist's actions make no sense other than to serve the scenes.
It's a move away from the male to the "other" pov. Wanting to pick the author's brain is also a good thing, being interested in talking with them. Just be careful, if you've not read her previous (also recommended) novels that despite the plot it's not sensationalist, there is an old-fashioned (?) sensibility shining a strong modern light on 1760, where characters are unable to "only connect" even if they are on the right trajectory. In a very readable language.
FAH-connection: recommend it to Foil or Arms? Historical genre.
March 3, 2020
This is a historical (ish) novel, as it's set in England in the 18th Century , and has some of the language of the time throughout. It's quite well researched, easy to read and and sets the tone nicely.
It focuses on two women and their dealings with one man who turns out to be bit of a con artist.
But it's a bit cliched ( rich woman, poor woman, bit of a cad)and the story went well until it hit a bit of a flat spot towards the end and then rushed to a finish and didn't really reach a conclusion.
Why did Betsy-Ann teach Sophia the 'trick' , they never used it? Why didn't she get her shop or a reward? What happened to Titus and the other bloke, Sam?
It wasn't a good ending, and was a bit daft after all the card shark business, so only a 5 / 10.
It focuses on two women and their dealings with one man who turns out to be bit of a con artist.
But it's a bit cliched ( rich woman, poor woman, bit of a cad)and the story went well until it hit a bit of a flat spot towards the end and then rushed to a finish and didn't really reach a conclusion.
Why did Betsy-Ann teach Sophia the 'trick' , they never used it? Why didn't she get her shop or a reward? What happened to Titus and the other bloke, Sam?
It wasn't a good ending, and was a bit daft after all the card shark business, so only a 5 / 10.
October 21, 2022
I feel like I already went through this with The Crimson Petal & The White in a similar way (this is not really positive): immersive writing and period detail, the plucky (ex)prostitute, the abused and paper-willed gentry wife, the shitty man they revolve around (with a hint of Fingersmith here), and an ending that just feels exhaustingly open-ended considering how much the main characters have had to bear. I know an explicitly happy ending can be out of place with the historical realism aimed for here, but just like with the Faber book, the long, miserable road to the end feels worse for not having deserved catharsis. I just don't think books like this are for me.
September 6, 2017
Beautiful descriptions, interesting plot but some twists I just saw them coming.
The end dragged on a bit, and frankly there was a lot of stunted character growth - it was like reading Charlotte by Wolfe all over again: naive and self righteous characters that are battered and bruised into an even smaller and jaded version of themselves.
The only one i wanted safe was Betsy, and yet who know how she's going to manage.
The end dragged on a bit, and frankly there was a lot of stunted character growth - it was like reading Charlotte by Wolfe all over again: naive and self righteous characters that are battered and bruised into an even smaller and jaded version of themselves.
The only one i wanted safe was Betsy, and yet who know how she's going to manage.
September 25, 2019
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The flavours and sounds of the eighteenth century come through brilliantly, and the story is good. On the downside, I found the slang slightly disruptive, having to keep checking the glossary in the back of the book, but once I got to recognise the more obscure ones I could then get an overall gist of the scene. Despite that, it was heading for five stars until the end, which was a bit of a deflated balloon.
May 17, 2020
Based on the blurb I really felt like this really wouldnt be a book I would enjoy! But they say never judge a book by its cover. Once you get past the language, which did have me googling and searching the glossary a lot at the beginning, you begin to see the two stories unravel towards each other. I thoroughly enjoyed this book although did find the ending a little rushed! Would still definitely recommend!
September 3, 2020
Purchase Ace, King, Knave here for just $8!
Whilst set in 1760s London, this novel feels modern with its tale of marriage, lies and deception. Mixing historical accuracy with dramatic relationships, McCann has written a novel for those that like to get down-and-dirty and want an in-your-face read.
Elisa - The Book Grocer
Whilst set in 1760s London, this novel feels modern with its tale of marriage, lies and deception. Mixing historical accuracy with dramatic relationships, McCann has written a novel for those that like to get down-and-dirty and want an in-your-face read.
Elisa - The Book Grocer
January 18, 2022
Like many I came to this book with high hopes after being so moved by 'Meat loves Salt'. However, after a few chapters I gave up and had a read of some reviews on Good Reads. These confirmed my misgivings that this book was a shallow follow-up and was leading nowhere. I would highly recommend the 'Crimson Petal and the White' by Michael Faber as an alternative novel that deals in the same subject matter but with ten times more originality and imagination.
May 28, 2023
Although I nearly didn’t continue with this one as I had to keep referring back to the glossary, I’m glad I did. Clever how everyone is linked and it makes for difficult reading at the way women were (and still are) treated. Wives kept in a clean bubble at home while husbands go off and mix with anyone- very hypocritical. After a slow start - an excellent read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 4, 2017
First 3/4 were rather boring and I only really enjoyed the last 1/4 which was when literally everything happened all at once. Should have moved the meeting between the two women earlier because it felt rather rushed
March 12, 2020
A good read but found the use of London cant sometimes difficult to follow. Thank goodness for the glossary at the back. Felt it tailed off towards the end it’s quite a long read and it’s almost as if she’d run out of space and needed to get it finished
June 29, 2023
Delicious if not a little improbable that such two women from vastly different social backgrounds would combine their rage to out their joint exploiter. But is was the thought of this as possibility and the potential for liberation that was exciting. I couldn’t put it down!
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