<
SO GOOD!!! SCREAMING!!!
THIS WAS SO GOOD. The mystery was crazy!! I CANNOT believe he's his SON. AND they have his parents??? Crazy. Crazy...!
Dealt with the empire, and various characters' perspective on it, throughout the years. Also dove deeper into LGBT+ issues, and with a diverse array of opinions from various characters on it. All ultimately good, but for me personally, was nice to see some people struggle with it, and it be a layered part of this story.
I think I might just not like romance... I'm not sure. It's written so well and with so much good build up and just really amazing, but my interest always turns to everything else on the page and in the story, so. Something to think about.
SO excited to see Alice again!! I've missed her! And it can be more in-depth, I feel like this would have a greater chance of her POV and I'm so curious as to her thought patterns, and worries. I could like physically feel Inspector Treadles redact his interest in her, and in their marriage; I wonder how it's evolved over the course of the book, where neither really featured. Now we might be able to see it from her perspective... what was that like, know a desire and challenge she faced since she was a child was the source of strife -- or rather, his biases against it -- in her marriage with a man she loved dearly? I hope her company is doing well. SO EXCITED. These characters feel so real to me, it's crazy, like they're really real in a way not many are, in other series... I hope they're doing well.
So nice to see Lady Ingram again... honestly do not understand her thought process. What I got from her so far: 1) LOVE her kids 2) not SUPER interested in money 3) willing to do a lot for spite 4) willing to be on run 5) willing to kill 6) did love her sister (or at least got revenge for her??) 6b) does not seem to like most of her family/her siblings/they did not like her 7) believes in duty (got married) 8) cruel (what she said when she thought Lord Ingram was poor; still beyond messed up like WOW, the antisemitism.) 9) believes in loyalty (?) (kind of) 10) does not seem to desire romance or sex (queen). So. Curious where her story will go.
Also, just realizing, I guess Finch was okay this whole time...
Still miss Henrietta.... she was so mean and also fun. Hope she's okay with her dumb husband <3
So excited for book 5.... This book was amazing. The mystery was so compelling, and the visuals were very striking. And it had evolving conversations and views on really important matters. Also, loved the prose. Also featured people who were very much in love, and also people who had moved past it and still felt great love for one another, and in other cases, were just falling into it; really wonderful to read. :)
The last thing Mrs. Watson cared about now was British interests. There was very little chance of the young maharaja mounting any serious challenge to British rule in India, and every chance that he himself would be ground to dust under that vast machinery.
But Mrs. Watson wasn’t alone in this venture. The Misses Holmes and Mr. Marbleton probably wouldn’t mind, but what about Lord Ingram? He was, after all, an agent of the Crown and had risked his life for that very same. Miss Charlotte turned toward her. “I have spoken to the gentleman you are thinking of about this matter, and he has judged that there would be very little harm done to the Crown to allow the maharaja’s sentiments to remain private.” By now, Mrs. Watson should have become accustomed to being astonished by this young woman. Yet she was still very nearly speechless. “Ah, when?” “Before we left London. And I’ve spoken to his ally, too. That gentleman also has no objections.” “But we were in love and we talked about everything.” “You were in love not long after the Indian Rebellion of 1857.” “I—I see,” said Mrs. Watson. The rebellion of 1857 had mattered little to her while she clawed her way up in the world. But to the maharani it would have been a formative experience. And when they had met, Mrs. Watson could speak frankly of everything that was important to her, because nothing she said could have got her into trouble—at least, not the sort of trouble that would have bothered a woman who had already been the mistress of three men. It had not been the same for the maharani, who, visiting the heart of the empire that controlled her country, had to watch every single word she uttered. Mrs. Watson squeezed her eyes shut. She had thought her beloved much too sheltered. That her beautiful Sita Devi, raised in the lap of luxury and prestige, had known nothing of the darker underbelly of life. But as it turned out, Mrs. Watson had been, in her own way, just as divorced from reality. And unlike Sita Devi, who had asked a thousand questions about the world beyond her ken, Mrs. Watson hadn’t even known enough to realize the extent of her ignorance.
-
Mrs. Watson needed a moment to digest his words. Her brow furrowed in distress. “I knew nothing of her life. Nothing.” He sat down next to her on the chaise longue and took her hands. “Ma’am, we can none of us know the entire truth of someone else’s life.” “I know that,” she said sadly, leaning her head on his shoulder. “What I regret is that while I knew nothing of her life, I thought I knew everything.”
–
Livia’s nails dug into her palms. She’d often heard the underclass described as prone to violence and had never questioned that assessment. But as her hand itched to grab the nearest umbrella and whack the man, she found herself suddenly understanding that the poor were prone to violence because it was the only tool remaining to them.
-
The only conclusion he could draw was that he was vain enough to want to die a clean man.
-
Livia had long rued her lack of independence. But independence without funds was like immortality without eternal youth, a proposition that became untenable over time. Was that why Charlotte always analyzed the world the way she did? Because in the end, when all the niceties were stripped away, everything was all about how many resources any given person had at her command?
-
Everyone changed. But it was rare to meet anyone who could be relied upon to change for the better.
-
Then she had made Mrs. Watson tell her all about her own years in India and Mrs. Watson had obliged. “But I guess everything I experienced was from the colonial perspective,” she said after a while. Her husband had been, after all, an army physician. And his presence in India, and consequently her own, had been a direct expression of colonial power and control. “Maybe,” said her old friend. “But it was also from your perspective and I’ve always enjoyed your perspective.” Mrs. Watson unclenched somewhere inside. “Thank you.”
-
She returned to the study to report that there was nothing related to the maharani in the images, only to see the men both wearing pained expressions, as if the papers before them had turned into a table full of swaying cobras, ready to strike. “What’s the matter?” Lieutenant Atwood gestured at the documents. “These are state secrets Moriarty has collected.” “Of which states?” “Britain, Germany, France, Russia, the Austro-Hungarians, the Ottoman Empire, and that’s just the top of the stack.” “You are both agents of the British Crown, aren’t you?” Lieutenant Atwood shrugged. “Neither of us ranks high enough for this—and I, frankly, never want to.” “Give them to your superiors then.” “My previous superior sold state secrets,” said Lord Ingram. “You exposed him, Holmes, if memory serves.” “Not to mention,” said Lieutenant Atwood, “if we gave these to anyone, we would be considered privy to the information, even if we didn’t glance past a few pages. Not necessarily a good thing for either of us.” “Then buy a safe at Banque de Paris, deposit everything, and deal with it later.” “I don’t want to deal with it later either,” said Lieutenant Atwood, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s all games that empires play with one another.” Lord Ingram sighed. “I’m beginning to come around to that view.” “Hasn’t it always been like this?” asked Charlotte. “Haven’t they always been games that empires play with one another?” “Maybe,” answered Lord Ingram. “But it can take a queen-and-country sort like me a while to work that out.” At the resignation in his tone, she felt a pang in her chest. She almost wished he had a few still-intact illusions. “Is there a safe in this house where we can stow everything for now?” Lord Ingram nodded. “Then let’s put these away and go to sleep. This night has been long enough.”
-
“Miss Charlotte, allow me to extend an apology to you. I did not realize it then, but had Sherlock Holmes been able-bodied, I would probably have begged him for help, his lack of experience in robbing French châteaus notwithstanding. “Whereas even after you revealed that you were responsible for Sherlock Holmes’s achievement and reputation, my first, second, and third reaction was still no, I could not entrust this task to a woman. “I have, I believe, been an excellent ruler of my small realm. So I, of all people, should know better than to deny a woman an opportunity simply because she is a woman. But being a woman of power in the world of men has not always taught me the right lessons. I’m afraid that I’d begun to think that I came to be where I was because I was intrinsically exceptional, different from other women, and not that my particular circumstances afforded me chances that they could not even dream of.” She placed her hands over Charlotte’s. “I’m glad you made me see differently. But you shouldn’t have needed to. And for that, please accept my sincere regret.”