I am so happy to have been able to read this sequel pretty soon after reading the first one. I don’t think I could have waited a whole year. The first book – The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter – was absolutely amazing, so I had very high hopes that Europen Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman would be the same.

Mary Jekyll’s life has been peaceful since she helped Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson solve the Whitechapel Murders. Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, Justine Frankenstein, and Mary’s sister Diana Hyde have settled into the Jekyll household in London, and although they sometimes quarrel, the members of the Athena Club get along as well as any five young women with very different personalities. At least they can always rely on Mrs Poole.

But when Mary receives a telegram that Lucinda Van Helsing has been kidnapped, the Athena Club must travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rescue yet another young woman who has been subjected to horrific experimentation. Where is Lucinda, and what has Professor Van Helsing been doing to his daughter? Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, and Justine reach her in time?

Racing against the clock to save Lucinda from certain doom, the Athena Club embarks on a madcap journey across Europe. From Paris to Vienna to Budapest, Mary and her friends must make new allies, face old enemies, and finally confront the fearsome, secretive Alchemical Society. It’s time for these monstrous gentlewomen to overcome the past and create their own destinies.

I have been eagerly anticipating this book ever since I finished reading The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter. I love books that re-tell moments in history – or fictional history in this case – such as the Stalking Jack the Ripper series by Kerri Maniscalco.

 

“I stop listening when academics start mixing their Greek and Latin roots, that never leads anywhere productive.”

– Theodora Goss, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman

 

One of the things that made me a bit wary of this book was that the audiobook was 24 hours long. Yup. A whole day. I don’t have the physical copies of this series (although I really want them!) so audiobook was my only option. 24 hours. That’s crazy. But I knew that I would love the story, so I also knew that I would enjoy those 24 hours. As per The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter, I loved the narration for European Travel. Kate Reading does SUCH AN AMAZING job of voicing all of the characters, so it’s really easy to differentiate between the whole host of characters that there are in the novel.

Because of the book being 700-odd pages long, it was only natural for me to listen to some points of the book and think ‘does this bit need to be included?’, but then something would happen and I would be like ‘ahhh yes… it did need to be included.’ So honestly, I don’t think anything could have been edited out. I’m also really glad that Goss kept to the same way of telling the story. It’s a pretty standard prose narrative, but the story is interrupted at regular intervals with conversations among the members of the Athan Club as a meta-narrative. This is actually because Catherine has ‘written’ the novel, and once she has finished, the other main characters read the story and add in their thoughts or they discuss what happened. It actually adds such a unique perspective to the story, as it adds another dimension to the novel and we understand the relationships between the characters a lot more.

 

“Do not dismiss what you do not understand,”

― Theodora Goss, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman

 

You can just tell that Goss is having so much fun writing these novels. I know that I would, anyway! I’m such a geek, especially when it comes to classic horror/fantasy novels, so obviously there’s no surprise that I loved it when Count Dracula was introduced. His arrival was kind of set up in the first book due to Renfield being a character, but we get to see A LOT of Dracula in the second book AND I AM SO HAPPY. He was such an amazing character. Because of the introduction of Dracula, it was only right for Goss to introduce Jonathan and Mina Harker, and also introduce Van Helsing and his daughter, Lucinda van Helsing.

I just love what Goss is going with these books. She’s completely playing with the tropes that classic literature has laid out. In European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Goss integrates real historical characters such as Sigmund Freud (WHOM I ABSOLUTELY LOVED SEEING PSYCHOANALYSE DIANA AND MARY!!!), and then there were the ongoing references to Suffragette movement… I just loved how she portrayed women as strong throughout the entire thing. Yes, they needed saving, yes they were emotional and flawed, but they were strong, both individually and together as a brilliant friendship group. All of these things make this book – and this series – an absolute delight to read.

 

“DIANA: Well, how was I supposed to know that? MARY: Maybe because we mentioned it over and over again? DIANA: You’re assuming that I listen.”

― Theodora Goss, European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman

 

I’m going to wrap this review up now because it’s getting way too long. But I’m just going to quickly talk about the ending. It ended on such a fantastic cliffhanger and set up the atmosphere and the concept for the third book very well. I’m interested to see where Goss takes the storyline in relation to Alice, and how she fits in with everything.

Overall, this was a superb book and a superb sequel. I can’t wait to read the third book!

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