The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels

Trigger warning: murder of a parent

Cecilia Bassingthwaite is a teenage pirate-in-training in Victorian-era England.

My first impression of this book was that the writing style is delightful. The author writes as if you are reading an account from a confidante or are a part of their story. This immediately sucks you into the action and makes the reading experience incredible. The chapter titles are long sometimes humorous snippets of events contained therein without giving too much away.

The world the characters inhabit is an England filled with pirates and assassins, where houses of the pirates can fly to different locations like ships in the air. The titular Wisteria Society is a gang of pirates who have very few rules. Assassination attempts between the ladies abound, and the Queen herself is the head of a pirate clan.

Our main protagonist, Cecilia Bassingthwaite, is a nineteen-year-old pirate in training who is ready to join the Wisteria Society as a full member, rather than remaining an unimportant junior member. When an assassin is hired to kill her, she takes this as a sign that she has arrived and is miffed when the Society doesn't immediately admit her.

Cecilia lives with her overbearing aunt who cautions her against things like the Great Peril (freckles) while training her in both piracy and ladylike behavior. Her mother (also Cecilia, called Cilla) died in mysterious circumstances that are revealed later in the novel.

Cecilia's father is an evil pirate and the main villain of the story. Shockingly, her assassin isn't a villain at all, but her love interest. She's thrust into an adventure with her would-be assassin when the ladies of the Wisteria Society and their battlehouses are taken by her deranged father.

Recommended for fans of historical fiction, adventure stories, pirates, and the Victorian era. Readers of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters will find this modern update charming.

India Holton is a former teacher living in New Zealand.

Series: Dangerous Damsels, #1

Publisher: Berkley

Length: 336 pages

Release Date: June 15, 2021

I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.