A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
We read this for my book club and we all just loved it and can hardly wait to get started on book 2 in the series. We are definite Veronica Speedwell fans. Of course, Stoker is no slouch either!
Veronica Speedwell is a Victorian era young woman who has just been set free. As a foundling, she has been cared for by the Harbottle sisters, Lucy and Nell. She has lived a very quiet life, although she moved fairly often. As her life centered around her "aunts" and her quiet homelife, she never really made friends anywhere and spent the last few years caring for her aunts. Her only escape was her life as a Lepidopterist - a scientist who studies butterflies. She saved her money and traveled around the world finding rare specimens to sell to collectors. She also found several interesting specimens of the opposite sex for her own gratification - but never an Englishman and never in England.
As Veronica buries her last tie to England, her Aunt Nell, and prepares to leave to begin her own life, someone ransacks their cottage. A German Baron comes to her rescue and offers to transport her to London. He surprisingly knew her mother, and tells her she is in danger. This seems highly unlikely to Veronica, but she is happy for the free transport to London, as that is where she planned to start her next adventure. The baron leaves her with a man named Stoker, a natural scientist and taxidermist, who seems to have left his real name behind him, along with a shady past. Veronica doesn't realize it, but her next adventure will be taken with Stoker as they dodge the police and try to discover why, exactly, Veronica is the most dangerous person in England.
I loved the writing in this, the first book in the series. Veronica is a fun, funny, curious, logical, non-romantic character who is game for almost anything. It takes quite a bit to convince her the murder of the baron and the danger she and Stoker are facing is due to her own unknown history. Stoker is the kind of anti-hero that quickly becomes attractive and looks to be someone we want Veronica to stick with.
Many years ago there was a series on Masterpiece Theater called Lily, about a woman named Lily Langtry. I believe this was used by Deanna Raybourn as her inspiration for Veronica's mother. So, knowing this story, I did not find Veronica's true identity as too surprising. However, the circumstances still were enough different to make it quite intriguing. The resolution of the mystery was very well-done and Veronica and Stoker will live to make it into book two in the series. The book kept me watching my clock when not reading to see when I would next be able to steal a bit of time to get back to the story. Life is more fun when you are reading a book that keeps calling you back to it. This one would not leave me alone and I can hardly wait to get started on book 2, which was just published in January 2017.
The book has some very strong feminist overtones, which I loved, and the characters are witty, brave and curious. We can see a romance possibly building between our two main characters and this will be fun to see played out in the future books in the series. Definitely a satisfying read and one I can recommend.
View all my reviews
