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A review by shelfofunread
The Housekeepers by Alex Hay
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
If I had to sum up Alex Hay’s debut novel, The Housekeepers, in a single line, it would be this: Downton Abbey meets Ocean’s Eight, with a dash of Sarah Waters’s Fingersmith added for good measure. Sold already?!
If the premise of didn’t send you immediately running off to your bookshop or online bookseller of choice, however, then hopefully the rest of my review might convince you that this assured debut is well worth your time and attention.
Set in London in 1905, The Housekeepers opens with the recently bereaved Miss De Vries is planning the party of the season at her lavish Park Lane home. With her suspiciously wealthy father now dead, Miss De Vries knows that it is vital that she makes a successful (and lucrative) marriage in order to protect the family ‘interests’. Downstairs, the equally shrewd and ambitious Mrs King is being shown the door. But whilst her tenure as housekeeper at Park Lane might be over, her connection with the house – and with the De Vries family – most certainly is not. Turning to the well-connected (in certain circles, at least) Mrs Bone, and aided by former and current staff members of Park Lane, Mrs King is planning the heist of the century. On the night of Miss De Vries’s ball, she’s planning to take the house and expose the De Vries name for what it really is.
As with it’s movie counterpart, The Housekeepers does a fantastic job of combining drama and comedy. The whip-sharp dialogue between the various members of the all-female heist crew – and the shifting power dynamics at work between them all – was probably my favourite part of the book, although I also enjoyed watching all of the moving parts come together as the heist progressed. And as with Ocean’s Eleven, what good heist movie would be complete with a few on-the-night mishaps!
There are, however, some surprisingly deep themes underlying all the heist capers. Without giving away any spoilers, the connections between several of the key players in the heist – Mrs King, Mrs Bone, Winnie, and Alice in particular – and the De Vries family and fortune are considerably more complex than they might first appear. Each of the women involved in the heist has their own reasons for risking it all and getting involved in the scheme, and some of these touch upon social issues such as poverty and sexual exploitation. Whilst these more dramatic elements are, for the most part, well integrated, there were one or two moments where the shifts in tone felt somewhat jarring, as well as a couple of personal storylines that felt somewhat extraneous.
That said, the characters are certainly varied enough to be interesting in and of themselves. My particular favourites were down-on-her-luck actress Hephzibah and the ‘Janes’, a pair of expert planners with a gift for machinery. The narrative alternates primarily between the perspectives of Mrs King, Mrs Bone, Winnie, Alice, and Miss De Vries which was, especially at the start of the book, somewhat disconcerting. Just as I felt I was getting to know one character, I’d be whisked into the head of another! I also didn’t really warm to any of the POV characters. They’re all very interesting in their own ways but I guess I just didn’t really like any of them all that much. And whilst unlikeable characters certainly aren’t a dealbreaker for me when reading a book, it would have been nice to have at least one perspective that felt like a variation. As it was, although I enjoyed the ‘voice’ of the novel as a whole, the individual voices of each character didn’t always come across strongly to me.
That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy The Housekeepers, however. Indeed, I think it’s a very impressive and assured debut. Although it does take a few chapters for all the pieces on the chessboard to be arranged, the pace really picks up once the heist planning is set in motion and it rattles along nicely despite the occasional digression into a subplot or character backstory. Although the storyline is somewhat fantastical, I never felt that it jumped the shark completely. Rather, like all good heist movies, it provided just enough twists and turns to keep things unexpected and entertaining. It is also clear that Alex Hay has done their research when it comes Edwardian London life. The streets, houses, back alleys, and shops came to life vividly on the page as did the people who inhabit them!
Overall, The Housekeepers is a cracking (insert groan for bad pun here) debut that would make the perfect fast-paced holiday read. With a range of interesting characters and some surprisingly deep themes underlying all the strategic capering, this would also make a fantastic book club read.
NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher and to NetGalley UK for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
If the premise of didn’t send you immediately running off to your bookshop or online bookseller of choice, however, then hopefully the rest of my review might convince you that this assured debut is well worth your time and attention.
Set in London in 1905, The Housekeepers opens with the recently bereaved Miss De Vries is planning the party of the season at her lavish Park Lane home. With her suspiciously wealthy father now dead, Miss De Vries knows that it is vital that she makes a successful (and lucrative) marriage in order to protect the family ‘interests’. Downstairs, the equally shrewd and ambitious Mrs King is being shown the door. But whilst her tenure as housekeeper at Park Lane might be over, her connection with the house – and with the De Vries family – most certainly is not. Turning to the well-connected (in certain circles, at least) Mrs Bone, and aided by former and current staff members of Park Lane, Mrs King is planning the heist of the century. On the night of Miss De Vries’s ball, she’s planning to take the house and expose the De Vries name for what it really is.
As with it’s movie counterpart, The Housekeepers does a fantastic job of combining drama and comedy. The whip-sharp dialogue between the various members of the all-female heist crew – and the shifting power dynamics at work between them all – was probably my favourite part of the book, although I also enjoyed watching all of the moving parts come together as the heist progressed. And as with Ocean’s Eleven, what good heist movie would be complete with a few on-the-night mishaps!
There are, however, some surprisingly deep themes underlying all the heist capers. Without giving away any spoilers, the connections between several of the key players in the heist – Mrs King, Mrs Bone, Winnie, and Alice in particular – and the De Vries family and fortune are considerably more complex than they might first appear. Each of the women involved in the heist has their own reasons for risking it all and getting involved in the scheme, and some of these touch upon social issues such as poverty and sexual exploitation. Whilst these more dramatic elements are, for the most part, well integrated, there were one or two moments where the shifts in tone felt somewhat jarring, as well as a couple of personal storylines that felt somewhat extraneous.
That said, the characters are certainly varied enough to be interesting in and of themselves. My particular favourites were down-on-her-luck actress Hephzibah and the ‘Janes’, a pair of expert planners with a gift for machinery. The narrative alternates primarily between the perspectives of Mrs King, Mrs Bone, Winnie, Alice, and Miss De Vries which was, especially at the start of the book, somewhat disconcerting. Just as I felt I was getting to know one character, I’d be whisked into the head of another! I also didn’t really warm to any of the POV characters. They’re all very interesting in their own ways but I guess I just didn’t really like any of them all that much. And whilst unlikeable characters certainly aren’t a dealbreaker for me when reading a book, it would have been nice to have at least one perspective that felt like a variation. As it was, although I enjoyed the ‘voice’ of the novel as a whole, the individual voices of each character didn’t always come across strongly to me.
That isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy The Housekeepers, however. Indeed, I think it’s a very impressive and assured debut. Although it does take a few chapters for all the pieces on the chessboard to be arranged, the pace really picks up once the heist planning is set in motion and it rattles along nicely despite the occasional digression into a subplot or character backstory. Although the storyline is somewhat fantastical, I never felt that it jumped the shark completely. Rather, like all good heist movies, it provided just enough twists and turns to keep things unexpected and entertaining. It is also clear that Alex Hay has done their research when it comes Edwardian London life. The streets, houses, back alleys, and shops came to life vividly on the page as did the people who inhabit them!
Overall, The Housekeepers is a cracking (insert groan for bad pun here) debut that would make the perfect fast-paced holiday read. With a range of interesting characters and some surprisingly deep themes underlying all the strategic capering, this would also make a fantastic book club read.
NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher and to NetGalley UK for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Mental illness, Classism, Sexual violence, and Trafficking