The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy
The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy
by Mackenzi Lee
5 out of 5Synopsis
In this highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Felicity Montague must use all her womanly wits and wiles to achieve her dreams of becoming a doctor—even if she has to scheme her way across Europe to do it. A must-have for fans of Mackenzi Lee’s extraordinary and Stonewall Honor-winning novel.
A year after an accidentally whirlwind grand tour with her brother Monty, Felicity Montague has returned to England with two goals in mind—avoid the marriage proposal of a lovestruck suitor from Edinburgh and enroll in medical school. However, her intellect and passion will never be enough in the eyes of the administrators, who see men as the sole guardians of science.
But then a window of opportunity opens—a doctor she idolizes is marrying an old friend of hers in Germany. Felicity believes if she could meet this man he could change her future, but she has no money of her own to make the trip. Luckily, a mysterious young woman is willing to pay Felicity’s way, so long as she’s allowed to travel with Felicity disguised as her maid.
In spite of her suspicions, Felicity agrees, but once the girl’s true motives are revealed, Felicity becomes part of a perilous quest that leads them from the German countryside to the promenades of Zurich to secrets lurking beneath the Atlantic.
Review
Lady Felicity Montague wants to be a doctor, and she will do anything to achieve this. Even take up with a pirate and crash an ex-best-friend's wedding, for the chance to work with her idol.
I loved the first book in this series, and was thrilled to get a copy of this book as a Christmas present (thank you baby sister - we'll skim past the fact I emailed her with links to books on my reading list last month...)
This book picks up a while after the adventurous Grand Tour in "The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue". Felicity's brother and his lover are deliriously happy, which only leaves Felicity feeling dissatisfied.
Felicity has been offered a simple life, with simple work suitable for a woman; and there's always the option of bowing her head and returning to her life as a noble's daughter. But Felicity doesn't want simple. She has an above average intelligent, and an endless drive and ambition - she wants a career as a doctor, and won't settle for anything less. She wants to pave the way, and have her name in the history books, as someone of merit.
After she is shunned by all the schools and universities, Felicity decides to take a drastic step, and cross continents to track down her idol, Dr Alexander Platt. There's only one problem - he is about to marry Johanna - Felicity's oldest friend, but they fell out when their lives went in drastically different directions.
With the questionable help of female pirate Sim, Felicity sets off to Germany to make her future.
I really enjoyed this story. It's another mad and entertaining adventure, filled with good humour.
It portrays the difficulties of not fitting into the expected caste of being a woman in this era. How you don't just have to be good and have ambition - you have to be twice as good, and still fight for what is yours. Something that still resonates today.
Each of our female trio have their own struggles, have their own desires. They each want to prove something to the world.
Johanna and Sim are amazing characters, and hold their own. They're not afraid to do what is necessary, in their very different ways.
The three women together bring out the best n each other, and force the others to look at their themselves in an honest light. I think one of my favourite parts, is when Johanna puts Felicity in her place - saying that she is allowed to like dresses and science and adventure. What you wear doesn't change who you are.
I would definitely recommend this series, and I'm a little miffed now that both the Montague siblings have had their story. What do I read next?
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