2014 historical adventure, second of its trilogy. Margaret Fitzroy
helped to uncover a Jacobite plot at the court of the Princess of
Wales, but that
doesn't mean anyone actually likes her. And an unwanted engagement has
resurfaced…
This book was hard work at times. Margaret has exactly two
friends, neither of whom is readily accessible and one of whom is very
prone to fantasising, and all her other interactions with people are
transactional: I must get one up on you so that you do something for
me (or don't do something to me). Everyone is scrambling for
position and trying to associate themselves with ascendant stars.
About three quarters of the way through the book, our heroine says to
one of those friends:
"I'm trying," I said, aware that once again I was making no sense.
"But there are too many problems and they keep piling up. I'm
running from one to the next, hoping to get them sorted out, but no
one will give me any answers, and everything I do seems to make
things worse."
and Zettel has done a superb job of portraying this atmosphere of
desperation, where one is nearly powerless and the few things one can
do serve only to keep one's head above water for another few moments.
But it's not fun; if I had a child who'd got excited about spying
and I wanted to discourage them, this is a book I'd give them.
Things do perk up towards the end, but I'm afraid I found this book
more of a slog than is really compatible with my reading enjoyment.
Even so, it was good enough that I'll still give the last one a go at
some point.