Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club: Book One (Alison Goodman, HarperCollins)

High-society orphan, 18-year-old Lady Helen, is to be presented to the queen when the disappearance of a housemaid sees her drawn into the shadows of Regency London. Here she learns that hidden demons roam the world and that she is herself more than human. Fighting her nature and her attraction to her mentor, the mysterious and dangerous Lord Carlston, Helen is forced to make a decision that may save her life, yet doom her world. Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club is an elegant novel that blends well-researched historical elements with engaging prose. While readers familiar with gas-lamp fantasy will not find any surprises, it still has a lot to offer—as Alison Goodman’s ability to draw the reader into the story is masterful. This book is marketed as YA (presumably on the basis of Goodman’s previous success with the ‘Eon’ books), but despite the coming-of-age narrative and PG violence and romance, it doesn’t feel like a YA novel; the protagonist and the characters she interacts with behave as adults in adult contexts. Having said that, comparisons could be made to the work of Gail Carriger, particularly her ‘Custard Protocol’ and ‘Finishing School’ series, so there is clearly a place for books transcending age delineations.

Tehani Wessely is a teacher-librarian, publisher and literary awards judge

Category: Reviews