REVIEW
The Outcast Girls by Alys Clare
A World’s End Bureau Victorian Mystery #2
Interesting, intriguing, and informative this was a book
well worth reading. It worked well as a standalone story although at some point
I may want to read the first book in the series.
What I liked:
* Lily: investigator, nurse, returned from India, business
owner, compassionate, good friend, intriguing
* Felix: investigator, good friend, outgoing, caring, warm
hearted, interesting
* The unflinching look at treatment of women in India by the
British troops – I learned from this story and then learned more after
researching the topic a bit more.
* Marigold: sweet, intelligent, a wonderful child, strong,
caring, capable – hope she gets the medical help she requires
* The writing, twists, and turns
* The way the investigation transpired
* The flashback to Lily’s past and why she gave up nursing
and left India
* Some of the supporting characters that I want to know more
about
* That my suspicion about the missing girls was not quite
spot on
* The relationship between Felix and Lily as they worked
together
* Tamáz: not much said about him in this book – would like to know
more about him
* That it felt of the time and historically accurate
* All of it really except
What I didn’t like:
* The things I was meant not to like including issues in
India, the reason girls went missing, coverups, the way girls were regarded in
the school…
* Being reminded of how cruel some can be
Did I enjoy this book? After I got into it, I did
Would I read more in this series? I believe I would
Thank you to NetGalley and Severn House for the ARC – This is
my honest review.
4 Stars
BLURB
Private investigators Lily Raynor and Felix Wilbraham
get more than they bargain for when they take on a case in a girls’ boarding
school, in the latest World’s End Bureau Victorian mystery.
London, 1881. Lily Raynor, owner of the World’s End Investigation
Bureau, is growing increasingly worried. Work is drying up, finances are tight
and she cannot find enough for her sole employee, Felix Wilbraham, to do. So
when schoolteacher Georgiana Long arrives, with a worrying tale of runaway
pupils, it seems like the answer to her prayers. The case is an interesting
one, and what could be less perilous than a trip to a girls’ boarding school,
out in the Fens?
Disguised as the new Assistant Matron, Lily joins the Shardlowes School staff,
while Felix - suppressing his worries about his cool, calm employer - remains
behind. But there are undercurrents at Shardlowes, and the shadowy, powerful
men who fund the school’s less fortunate pupils loom larger as Felix’s own investigations
unfold. Felix can’t shake off his fear that Lily is in danger - and soon, his
premonitions come frighteningly true …
