Shannon's Library

LET’S GET EXCITED ABOUT THIS BOOK!

When the insufferable headmistress of St. Etheldreda’s School for Young Ladies and her odious brother drop dead from poison during dinner one night, it’s up to the seven plucky students to both cover up the murder and to solve it! If they fail, they will most certainly be separated from each other and sent back to their unpleasant homes. Do these undaunted young women have the wits and the courage to pull off the deed? Read this fun book to find out! And after reading the book and my full review below, leave a comment. I’d love to know which of these seven girls you loved the most. They all made me laugh but I have a soft spot for Dour Elinor Siever, the necromanic of the group!

Shannon’s Rating — PG

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LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS BOOK!

Do you judge a book by it’s cover? I do.  All the time. Well, the cover of “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place,” by Julie Berry does not disappoint! The illustrations of the seven girls in the sisterhood, the cup of poisoned tea and the dead body laid out on the ground…perfect!

 “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place” has been described as a middle grade Victorian murder mystery. Let’s talk about middle grade novels for a minute. A middle grade novel is classified as a book geared towards readers between the ages of 8-12. I’m always surprised by how many adults don’t even consider reading middle grade novels. I guess they think they are just for kids and wouldn’t interest them. Most adults make an exception for this with the Harry Potter books. The Harry Potter books are officially classified as a children’s series, but I personally think it evolves into more of a young adult series by the end. (But that’s a discussion for another day…) Regardless, I think adults sometimes miss out on exceptional books because they have a mindset against books marketed and classified as middle grade novels. “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place” is just such a book. In fact, I would venture to say older teens and adults would enjoy this book much more than 8-12 year old’s. It’s Victorian setting, it’s witty banter and it’s casual attitude towards murder lend it to being more entertaining for older readers than those in the middle grades. After all, two murders take place within the first few pages of the story.

The story takes place in 1890 at Saint Etheldreda’s School for Young Ladies. Seven girls have been sent to live there by their families for various, unkind reasons. Most young ladies during this era were raised to be seen and not heard. But the girls in this story are quite the opposite of these normal societal expectations. In the Author’s Note, Julie Berry said she wanted “to write a story about a gang of clever, loyal, scandalous maiden friends,” and she did just that! In the front of the book, there are illustrated portraits of each of these girls. I love that we are immediately introduced to these characters and can start getting a feel for each of their personalities from the very first page. The differing personalities of these seven friends are central to this novel. In fact, it’s such a huge part of the story that each of their names is proceeded with a descriptive adjective. The girls are; Smooth Kitty Heaton (the clever ringleader), Disgraceful Mary Jane (the beautiful and gregarious flirt), Stout Alice Brooks (the portly actress), Dull Martha Boyle (the shy introvert), Dear Roberta Pratley (the kindhearted soul), Pocked Louise Dudley (the intelligent scientist), and Dour Elinor Siever (the necromaniac). When I hosted this novel at a book club years ago, I printed out the miniature portraits of these seven girls. I had each of my friends pick out which character and personality they most identified with and we incorporated that into the discussion. It was such a fun way to talk about the book and how each of these spunky, unique characters fit into the plot. And it was both fun and surprising to see how my friends matched themselves up with these eccentric characters!

As I already mentioned, within the first few pages of “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place,” two murders take place. The stern headmistress of the school and her odious brother suddenly drop dead during dinner. The seven girls immediately start plotting how they can cover up what happened, keep the school running and avoid being sent back to their unpleasant homes. These girls decide that they have found a sisterhood with each other and will fight to protect it at any cost.

“We have all gotten along so beautifully here.” Dear Roberta sighed. It’s something of a miracle, really. We aren’t simply boarding-school mates. We’re like a family.” “We’re better than family,” Disgraceful Mary Jane corrected. “Families are full of aunts and brothers and parents. We’re sisters.” “I always wished for a sister,” Dull Martha said. “Me, too,” said Dear Roberta. “Not me,” Dour Elinor confessed. “But I don’t mind your company.” Pocked Louise sat up. “None of us here has a sister at home, have we?” she said slowly. “I never realized that before. Not a single one of us.” “That’s why I hate to leave.” Dear Roberta had begun to cry. “We have our own sisterhood.”

And so begins the adventure of seven plucky girls attempting to both cover up and solve the mysterious murders. Along the way there will be missing wills, hidden fortunes, gold elephants, chemistry experiments, ingenious disguises, and of course, distractingly handsome young suitors. The girls will discover that it is sometimes easier to commit a murder itself than to try to cover one up. Smooth Kitty laments that in a small town where everyone knows each other’s business, “ironically, the guilty could get away with murder, but the innocent couldn’t get away with innocently covering it up.  There was no justice in the world, or at lease none in Ely.”

If you’re still on fence about whether or not to read this delightful murder mystery novel, Julie Berry has a cute, animated preview of “The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place” on her website, http://www.julieberrybooks.com.

After all, some of us need to see the preview of a movie before deciding to watch it. If you’re one of these types of humans, watch the little preview and let it convince you to read this charming book. And, yes, I just described a book all about murder as charming!