The blurb is what caught my attention initially - I LOVE Victorian fiction and the premise of a story revolving around the lives of fallen women sounds like a fresh feminist perspective that I would love to read. The tagline on the cover: 'not all who are fallen want to be saved' really seems to exacerbate this because it shows that it's troubling certain stereotypes about women who transgress social expectations. I enjoy the epigraphs from Charles Dickens that root the story in its Victorian history but the writing style of Stacey Halls is engaging and immersive without the density you can expect of Victorian novels (sorry Dickens).
The opening extract introduces Charles Dickens as this unexpected character helping these women in Urania Cottage and we also have the mystery regarding what circumstances have brought Martha there and we get to experience her introduction to London with her.
BUT most intriguingly is the aspect of the blurb that reveals that a millionairess' stalker has just been released from prison and so I would be interested to see how these narratives blend together and how the story is ultimately resolved!
The opening extract introduces Charles Dickens as this unexpected character helping these women in Urania Cottage and we also have the mystery regarding what circumstances have brought Martha there and we get to experience her introduction to London with her.
BUT most intriguingly is the aspect of the blurb that reveals that a millionairess' stalker has just been released from prison and so I would be interested to see how these narratives blend together and how the story is ultimately resolved!