Mad Miss Mimic

Mad Miss Mimic

by Sarah Henstra

It's London, 1872, where 17-year-old heiress Leonora Somerville is preparing to be presented to upper upper-class society -- again. She's strikingly beautiful and going to be very rich, but Leo has a problem money can’t solve. A curious speech disorder causes her to stutter but also allows her to imitate other people’s voices flawlessly. Servants and ladies alike call her “Mad Miss Mimic” behind her back…and watch as Leo unintentionally scares off one potential husband after another. London is also a city gripped by opium fever. Leo’s brother-in-law Dr. Dewhurst and his new business partner Francis Thornfax are frontrunners in the race to patent an injectable formula of the drug. Friendly, forthright, and as a bonus devastatingly handsome, Thornfax seems immune to the gossip about Leo’s “madness.” But their courtship is endangered from the start. The mysterious Black Glove opium gang is setting off explosions across the city. The street urchins Dr. Dewhurst treats are dying of overdose. And then there is Tom Rampling, the working-class boy Leo can’t seem to get off her mind. As the violence closes in around her Leo must find the links between the Black Glove’s attacks, Tom’s criminal past, the doctor’s dangerous cure, and Thornfax’s political ambitions. But first she must find her voice.

I actually enjoyed this book! I am a historian and I normally do not like historical fiction but this one had me hooked. I could not stop thinking about it even after I finished reading it. I enjoyed how Henstra integrated the opium trade into the storyline and there was a bit of a murder mystery to help develop the storyline. At the beginning of the book the plot was a bit weak, but I thought it picked up as you read more. This does make me concerned that teens wouldn’t continue to read if it did not grab their attention at the very beginning. I enjoyed the struggle with speech because I think everyone struggles with what they want to say at some point, but perhaps not the same extreme as Leo. I also enjoyed the fact that Leo was not saved by the handsome rich man, but by someone of arguable lower social status than herself. 

I also liked that even though there was some romance integrated into the story, it was not too heavy. This would make it more appealing to the Catholic School boards and the more religious families in my community. This is definitely a book that would go out in my library.