Of Swords and Parasols

Set in 1910 and early 1911, Consequeces of Sin is about Ursula Marlow, an Oxford educated heiress who is involved in the suffragette movement. When her friend Winifred calls her in the middle of the night to say there’s a dead woman in her bed, Ursula rushes over, enlisting the services of a family friend and solicitor, Wrotham. Later, it’s revealed that the dead woman is Winifred’s lover, Laura, and that the two women had spent the previous evening at an opium den, where they had quarreled, leading to Winifred’s becoming the prime suspect.

Soon, however, Ursula begins to suspect that Laura’s death is actually tied to an expedition to Venezuela that their fathers, and several other men, had been involved in over twenty years earlier. At the same time, her father increases his insistences that Ursula give up her “hobbies” and focus on marrying well, doing everything he can to cut her out of investigating. Soon, Ursula finds her friends being quietly spirited out of the country, and learns that her father plans to do the same with her, and realizes that the children of the expedition members are being targeted.

The feel of the Edwardian period is very strong in this book, with most of the attention being on society’s attitudes towards women and the suffragette movement. Because of this, and despite some lighter and humorous moments, much of the book is on the bleak side, and many of the male characters are often difficult to like, as there’s no fluffy hints of modern acceptance thrown in. As a result of this, I have rather mixed feelings about the romance between Ursula and Wrotham. While it’s well done and makes perfect sense, her views on the subject are relatively revolutionary, while his are very much the conventional, conservative views of a man of his class and time. “I respect and admire you and believe you are intelligent, but do not believe women have a place in such matters [read: anything related to business or any of the professional world of their class] and you should focus on womanly pursuits.” (Paraphrased from various conversations in the book, of course.)

A very good book, but the bluntness regarding the time period and gender roles of the times and attempts to break free of them my turn some readers off.