What I'm Reading: The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman
Adventure, a dash of romance, and the Regency era – all the ingredients, in my purely objective opinion, for an exciting read.
I’m a HUGE fan of Alison Goodman’s Lady Helen trilogy and I’ve been impatiently awaiting the release of her new book, The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies. Although this new series features no fantasy element, I hoped the adventure side of things would spice things up instead. And great news – it did!
The story begins with our protagonist, Gus – or Lady Augusta – in Vauxhall Gardens with her twin sister, Julia. It is near midnight and they are about to meet with a man blackmailing their friend, so they can exchange a valuable necklace for compromising letters. Needless to say the meeting doesn’t go quite as planned, but they still come away successful.
The novel is split into three separate cases.
This very much sets the scene for later conflicts. Our heroines, Lady Augusta and Lady Julia, are two spinsters (that is, they’re 42 years old – ancient for 1812, when the story is set) with independence, means, and a desire to help other women. The book is split into three parts: three separate cases, almost mini novellas, which include rescuing a friend’s goddaughter from her violent husband; helping their butler save children from a brothel where they have been trafficked; and extricating a woman from a madhouse, where she has been sent on false pretenses by her brother who doesn’t approve of her lesbian relationship.
The latter is the younger sister of Lord Evan Belford (not the brother that sent her to the madhouse, to be clear). We meet him in the first case, as a highwayman who attempts to rob Gus and Julia’s carriage. He has been exiled from England for the last twenty years, sent to Australia for killing someone in a duel, and has returned as a fugitive to rescue his sister.
There is, of course, more to the story of the duel as Gus soon realises, and that becomes its own mystery running in the background across the three separate cases. He’s the perfect love interest for our heroine – dashing, rugged, and fully appreciating her intelligence, courage and independence. Swoon.
Thanks to my sis for getting it signed at the book launch while I was in Italy!
Unlike other books I’ve read set in the Regency era, this one explores the darker side of the period, exposing what went on in madhouses and brothels, and behind the closed doors of people’s homes. We see just how helpless most women are in society; they are usually under the control of either their husbands or fathers/brothers, and it is often these men who are close to them who betray them.
It’s a lively cast of characters, each one vibrant on the page. Gus is clever, determined, independent – but we see her softer side when she interacts with her twin, often checking in on Julia or checking her own impulses. Julia is the kinder sister; she finds it easier to align with society’s expectations, though she still has her own backbone and is certainly not a pushover.
One of Gus’s motivations for going on these adventures is to distract Julia from the death of her fiance about a year earlier, and from a diagnosis of breast cancer. Julia is more at peace with the diagnosis, turning to her faith for reassurance; we learn that Gus, however, has stopped believing in God as a result, a much bigger deal in those times than it is today. This adds a current of tension that runs throughout the story, as we see Gus grapple with her faith and conflict emerge between the sisters on how to treat the cancer.
True to character, Julia is often the one trying to ease tensions between Gus and their younger brother, Duffy. He is an infuriating character who is an accurate portrayal of men’s views at the time (and unfortunately still some today), constantly butting heads with Gus with his disregard for his sisters and his views of women as inferior and less intelligent. It’s clear throughout the book that Gus had a great relationship with her father, who raised her like a son and gave her an equal education, which led to Duffy feeling resentful and second-best. I loved when Julia stands up to Duffy on behalf of her sister towards the end of the book – it’s just one of those satisfying, fist-pumping moments!
…so it’s dedicated to all of us then. To all women, actually.
It’s difficult to read this book and not think of parallels to present day. Women past the age of forty are often still dismissed or underestimated; there are still strong expectations from society for women to want marriage and children, although that is slowly changing; gay relationships are still not accepted by some members of society; and domestic violence is still very much an issue in Australia.
Despite dealing with some heavy issues, however, there is plenty of banter, humour, romance and adventure to make this a fast-paced, fun read with some very high stakes. There is one mystery left remaining at the end of the book, which will hook readers (like myself) straight into the second book of the series once it’s released. Until then, happy reading!
