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A review by radioreading
Lying With Lions by Annabel Fielding
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Set in Edwardian England, this story follows the main character Agnes Ashford who has been hired as the Bryant family’s archivist. During her cataloguing of the family’s history, she uncovers a secret, one that pulls her deeper into a web of mysteries surrounding the family. Desperate to keep her place among the family, along with her growing connection with Lady Helen, Agnes becomes an invaluable tool to help the family keep their secrets.
From the instant Lady Helen entered the novel I was drawn in, much as Agnes was, and I really enjoyed getting to see their relationship unfold over the course of the novel. I was curious to see, given the time period it was set in, whether this relationship would be described merely through subtext or more outright and I was happy to say it was the latter. Both Agnes and Lady Helen are very dynamic characters so it was fun to see how they interacted with each other and how their individual motivations impacted their relationship throughout the course of the novel.
While I loved how the plot unfolded, I found the pacing sometimes too slow and sometimes too quick which disrupted my enjoyment of the story at some points. However, I feel this may be a reflection of my unfamiliarity and disinterest with certain aspects of historical fiction and not a reflection of the quality of the story. Other than that, I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a good sapphic historical fiction.
Set in Edwardian England, this story follows the main character Agnes Ashford who has been hired as the Bryant family’s archivist. During her cataloguing of the family’s history, she uncovers a secret, one that pulls her deeper into a web of mysteries surrounding the family. Desperate to keep her place among the family, along with her growing connection with Lady Helen, Agnes becomes an invaluable tool to help the family keep their secrets.
From the instant Lady Helen entered the novel I was drawn in, much as Agnes was, and I really enjoyed getting to see their relationship unfold over the course of the novel. I was curious to see, given the time period it was set in, whether this relationship would be described merely through subtext or more outright and I was happy to say it was the latter. Both Agnes and Lady Helen are very dynamic characters so it was fun to see how they interacted with each other and how their individual motivations impacted their relationship throughout the course of the novel.
While I loved how the plot unfolded, I found the pacing sometimes too slow and sometimes too quick which disrupted my enjoyment of the story at some points. However, I feel this may be a reflection of my unfamiliarity and disinterest with certain aspects of historical fiction and not a reflection of the quality of the story. Other than that, I would highly recommend it for anyone looking for a good sapphic historical fiction.