This book was really slow to get into, the two main characters, Fletcher and Elizabeth, are both dread penny authors which are serial novels, coming out one chapter at a time in a magazine or newspaper or sold for a penny. And it switches between their POV as well as reading their dreadfuls. It was an interesting storyline, their dreadful stories mirrored what they were going through in real life.
It wasn’t until I was halfway into the book that I got really interested and wanted to see where the story was going until I got to the point that I couldn’t put it down. The speech of the lower class felt real and believable. I wish there were more romance but I don’t feel like this story is a romance, more of a Victorian historical fiction/suspense about social injustice of low class children at the time.
I haven’t read much Victorian fiction to know if that’s true for the rest or if its just how Eden approaches it. But having finished the story and loving how it ended, I wish there were an epilogue, to know how Elizabeth’s school is going. Will she lose patrons, etc.
Eden is a genius at mixing multiple storylines and is very meticulous with research. She is able to adequately create a believable world and cast of characters.
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