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The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

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The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

By: India Holton
Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Cecilia Bassingwaite belongs to a very prestigious circle of women: The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels.

Yet this is no ordinary Victorian lady's society—as it's full of pirates, thieves and ne'er-do-wells.

These women spend their days pickpocketing and blackmailing their way around the country all before it's time to sit down for tea.

But when Cecilia meets Ned Lightbourne her world is set to change forever.

Because he's a paid assassin and she's his next hit.

Under the employment of the dastardly Captain Morvath—who wants to rid the world of these Lady Scoundrels—Ned knows he has one job to do.

But when he lays eyes on the feisty, beautiful Cecilia he's faced with a conundrum: does he kill her or fall in love with her?

Bridgerton meets Peaky Blinders in this swashbuckling tale of scoundrels and society, crime and crumpets. As these enemies turn to allies and might just fall in love along the way....

©2022 India Holton (P)2022 Penguin Audio Fantasy Fiction Friendship Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Romance Paranormal Funny Witty Feel-Good
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I loved the story characters and the awsome premise. Victorian england but make it pirates 🙀👍

What a creative premise!

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I know that Audible is an American company but, do they have to inflict Webster's simplified English on all of us? I would like to know what percentage of authors actually write leaped, instead of leapt; or kneeled instead of knelt, even spoilt, or rooves. All because of the US market. What percentage of Audible's English reading market is outside of the US and able to understand these basic English words?

Only spoilt by Audible policy

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This book is a riot. Chivalry, Piracy, Victorian era manners and Scoundrels all wrapped up together and you never know if it's going to come from the men or the women. Lady Pirates with high standards what out England if they decide to fight for the Suffragettes.

Lots of fun

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I expected historical romance, possibly a bit quirky. But this story is definitely fantasy. Not the dragons and knights type, but rather set in a world where pirates are women who fly their houses about the country, pilfering (rather than plundering) and leaving the child rearing to their husbands whilst they attempt to assassinate one another. I guess it’s good fun once expectations are adjusted. And puts the novel adjacent to Queen Victoria Vampire Slayer or Pride and Prejudice and Zombies rather than Bridgerton or Outlander.

Besides struggling with the genre, I also struggled with overuse of paraprosdokian as the main comic device and the central character’s unwavering determination to if not live by the book (of rules of proprietary) to evaluate everything by Victorian rules of proprietary, rules that literary no one in her life follows. I’m not sure if it’s an attempt to have her excessively contentious as a personality trait or something else.

The book is also heavy references to other works - besides quoting well known authors - the personality and dynamic between many of the characters borrows heavily from Oscar Wilde’s plays, pirates flying a building is straight out of Monty Pytgin’s meaning of life, the aversion everyone has to Morveth’s poetry and his determination to read it is exactly how Vorgon poetry is received in Hitchhikers…. …I’m sure there are others I’m not recalling or may be unfamiliar with.

On the up side there are some very enjoyable action sequences and the feminist references does make me think about how the pirate woman use their liberation - or at least ability to levitate structures to be fiercely themselves rather than attempting to venture into traditionally male domains.

A bizarre fantasy but not unenjoyable

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It wasn’t what I expected but I was definitely not disappointed. It was a grown up, lighthearted tale with lots of great female characters. Great story. Very well narrated. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

Surprisingly quirk and entertaining

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Never-ending dry humour. Good momentum. Very suitable narration! An unusual story which is refreshing.

Funny and different

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Good story with fabulous narration!!

So left field, has a couple of saucy bits. Looking forward to reading the next one

Such good fun 😉

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I think this is a new favourite book; it was so fun and brilliantly written. It gave me many amused snorts (so very unladylike but alas unavoidable) and was immensely engaging. I’m off to see what else India Holton has available. Tally Ho!

We are currently experiencing technical difficulties (hahahaha)

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I really enjoyed the playfulness of this story it’s it’s laugh out loud moments. Looking forward to the next one.

Refreshing, fun and clever

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Loved the whole idea of this book. Brilliantly written and acted. Rollicking good time. Looking forward to listening to the next book by India Holton.

Hilariously good yarn

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