An audacious heist set amidst the sumptuous glamour of an Edwardian ball. The Housekeepers follows a gang of fesity women who are determined to fix moral injustices around them. It had me hooked from the first page.
Park Lane, 1905: Miss de Vries is planning a ball. Although she is meant to be in deep mourning after her father’s death, she is desperate to get out in the world. As part of her planning, she instructs her family lawyer to open negotiations for a marriage settlement.
Meanwhile, downstairs, housekeeper Mrs King has been suddenly dismissed, despite years of loyal service, after being seen sneaking into the gentlemen’s quarters at night.
Far from being upset at her dismissal, this is all part of Mrs King’s plan. She is seeking revenge – and she has a colourful cast of recruits to assist her, including a black market queen, an actress, a seamstress, and Mrs King’s predecessor, who knows more about the secrets in the Park Lane house than anyone.
Upstairs is a glamorous and exotic world, but there’s an undercurrent of something rotten beneath the glitter. In a world where men hold all the power, sometimes women need to take things into their own hands.
Reviewed by Melinda Woledge
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born in in 1987 and grew up in London, Cambridge and Cardiff. I studied History at the University of York and later worked in magazine publishing and the charity sector. I’ve always been a voracious reader, starting on E. Nesbit and Enid Blyton and later graduating to crime and historical fiction.
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, producing short ‘novels’ in exercise books from the age of six! In 2020 I started writing The Housekeepers, which would go on to be my debut novel published in 2023.
I live in South East London with my husband. Do sign up to my newsletter, where I share more about what I’m thinking about and working on, including a sneak peek into the writing and publishing of my books.
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