A compelling and unusual piece of Historical Fiction.

If there’s two things I love it’s a Victorian setting and a disaster at sea, and this book brought them together into one weird, eerie, and unique story of revenge.

I loved the structure of this book and felt it made far better use of dual POV and timeline than most, and allows us to hear from both Maude and the sister she seeks to avenge in a manner that weaves together perfectly for the benefit of both the reader and Maude as we seek to find answers about what really happened to Constance that brought about her death at sea.

There’s some odd and disturbing stuff in here. I’m still flabbergasted that people were so into death tourism, and then I think about true crime fanatics and realize society hasn’t actually improved all that much. It’s fascinating to read about, and really expands the sense of time and place for the story.

Though the denouement of the titular “revenge” lacked the punch I hoped for and expected, I liked the characters and loved the immersiveness of this unusually plotted story.

Constance runs off disguised as the ship’s boy onboard the Makepeace. It’s a harsh living condition and now she’s seen something she shouldn’t have.
Maude is Constance’s sister and sets out to discover what really happened to her sister.
It’s a slow moving story, each chapter told by a different person. We get a glimpse into the ship’s life through Constance’s diary.
Thanks to the publisher for the copy

This is a really entertaining, keeps you reading historical fiction story. Rather fantastical at times, but in a fun way that I forgive for the sake of a good read. Maude Horton and her sister Constance were orphaned young and moved in with their grandfather, a "Chemist" in London. (Pharmacist). In 1850 Constance decides to join an arctic trip seeking to find a lost party. She disguises herself as a cabin boy, but she dies on the trip and no one will give Maude information, except a clerk for the admiralty who sneaks Constance's shipboard journal to Maude. At this point, anything I would say about the characters in this novel will create spoilers, but Maude decides to pursue information she finds in the diary. It takes her to unusual places and experiences far outside her less adventurous comfort zone. She finds a number of people who were connected to Constance in good and bad ways on the voyage and in her life in London as well.

Definitely recommend this upcoming novel. Except for Constance's journal, it all takes place in England and is a lot of fun.

Okay, first, I'm going to take the chance here that I'm going to sound ungrateful, but I mean this in the spirit of genuine feedback. Only giving out a PDF file for your ARC does not really encourage readers. It is very hard to read, limiting the devices on which it can be read. I could only read on my phone, which is a guaranteed recipe for not getting me to actually read something. To finish this book, I actually purchased it on pub day via audio and abandoned the ARC I had been given for free because the reading experience on it was so bad.

The audiobook was very well done, though! And I do prefer audio to e-books when there is the chance of that.

So this book was good and I liked it, but spoilers for the rest of this review, it didn't live up to the title, which was going to be my metric on whether or not it got bumped up to four stars. Maude's revenge was indeed revenge, but I wouldn't call it glorious. More like mostly competent.

Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge is a historical fiction novel set in Victorian England, when public hangings were public entertainment, people were still trying to find the Northwest Passage, and the British Empire was in its heyday. Maude's sister Constance disguises herself as a boy and joins an expedition to find the lost ships the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus*, and when the ship returns she's not on it. She was killed, and no one will tell Maude how or why. Her body, still dressed in its boy's clothes, was left in the Arctic. Maude decides to find out what happened to her sister and do something about it. When her efforts bring her a journal her sister kept while on board, she soon targets the very likely culprit: a man named Edison Stowe, who has recently started a business arranging tours for the wealthy to hangings all across Britain.

*The shipwreck remains were finally found in 2014, and basically all the crew starved to death because the ships were caught in ice floes that wouldn't melt. Dude, they found body parts in cooking pots. It got brutal.

The book is told in varying chapters from Maude, excerpt's from her sister's journal, and from the killer himself, who in a nice touch, never thinks of Constance (Jack, as he knew her) at all. The journal bits were very interesting, seeing Constance in peril, but also seeing the details of what an Arctic sea voyage in the 19th century would have entailed. Maude was interesting to follow, but could have been moreso, and I neither liked nor disliked hearing from Stowe. All of this came down the ending, however, and the titular revenge, and I just don't think the book delivered. The author made the questionable choice to keep Maude's POV distant and hide a lot of her actions from the reader until the very end. This made her look kind of incompetent, and more importantly, just wasn't very fun. If you're planning a revenge plot, let's see some plotting! Of course, save some twists for the end, but I just think it was a bad idea to obscure nearly all of it from us.

A huge problem is that Stowe isn't just being pursued by Maude, but by creditors who have promised him violence. The existence of these creditors does a lot more to harm him than Maude does, in my opinion, and their presence really takes away from any impact she makes on him.

I would say this is mostly a missed opportunity, but I did have a good time listening to it. I wish it could have been a great time, though.

[3.5 stars]

This was an absolute JOY to read. Pook had me hooked (pooked?) from the beginning, and the book seemed to speed along easily, alternating between the story of Maude's tale of revenge and Constance's journal entries. I love mixed-media books, and this story hit everything that I was looking for - mystery, family dynamics, historical fiction, and so much more. This book was well-researched and crafted with an immense knowledge about "Murder Mania" and the Arctic Exploration of the 19th century. It's no exaggeration that I struggled to put this book down. I will absolutely be recommending this book to my online book communities and friends. Thanks to Netgalley and Simon Books for the opportunity to be an advanced reader - I look forward to reading future books by Lizzie Pook!

I saw the author talking about her book on Instagram and was immediately intrigued. She spoke of a story about a mysterious death on an Artic expedition trip in the 1800s and the tours of public hangings that used to take place in England. It sounded so fascinating! Unfortunately, “Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge” just didn’t live up to my expectations.

This book reminded me of a blend of “The Terror” by Dan Simmons and “Things in Jars” by Jess Kidd. It had the characters on a ship with the atmosphere of the haunting Artic chill, as well as the historical setting of “Jars.” However, both of those books held my interest throughout, and this one just fell flat. It wasn’t even very long, but I felt like I was reading the same plot points over and over. There wasn’t really a whole lot of mystery as promised either, because the reader ends up knowing who caused the death fairly early on. And then Maude’s actual revenge plot doesn’t occur until pretty much the end of the novel. I was missing some of that panache and flair that’s necessary to pull of this type of story. I also felt like details were withheld and then provided later on in a frustrating way. Instead of providing suspense, this writing style just felt annoying.

I was most intrigued by the tours of public hangings that were an actual thing that people did back then. But this turned out to be a rather small aspect of the overall novel. I would have loved if the story revolved way more around these macabre spectacles. Overall, this book was far from ‘glorious.’

BRAVO! What an amazing book. I found myself drawn in by the author's beautiful imagery. The novel follows Maude after the death of her sister. In her grief, she searches for answers as to what actually happened to her sister in the Arctic. Maude finds herself , and eventually finds the true nature of her sister in this journey.
I literally couldn't put this book down. All I could do was hope for Maude to get her glorious revenge. Definitely don't miss this book!
I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own and I am leaving them voluntarily

An interesting and addictive read. Multi timelines make the story move faster which is a big plus. The storyline is full of adventure, revenge, and love. Lots of dark and seedy places are explored for the love between sisters and a quest for answers!

“Perhaps, I have realized, it is not the bears or the ice that we should fear. Perhaps, instead, it is what takes place inside our minds that is the greatest danger.”

Synopsis:
Twenty-year-old Constance Horton has run away from her life in Victorian London, disguising herself as a boy to board the Makepeace, an expedition vessel bound for the icy and unexplored Northwest Passage of the Arctic. She struggles to keep her real identity a secret on the ship, a feat that only grows more difficult when facing off with the constant dangers of the icy North.

Even more dangerous than the cold, the storms, and the hunger, are some of the men aboard—including the ship’s scientist Edison Stowe. He seems to be watching Constance, and she knows that his attention could be fatal.

In London two years later: Maude Horton is searching for the truth. After being told by the British Admiralty that her sister’s death onboard the Makepeace was nothing more than a tragic accident, she receives a diary revealing that Edison Stowe had more of a hand in Constance’s death than the returning crew acknowledged.

In order to get the answers she needs, Maude joins him on a new venture he’s started to capitalize on the murder mania that has all of London in a frenzy—a travel company that takes guests around the country via train to witness public hangings—to extract the truth from him in any way possible. Will Maude be able to enact the ultimate revenge and get justice for her sister?

This was an entertaining read and I loved both Maude and Constance’s characters. They were such strong and determined women! And there’s no judgement on my end about the fascination with public hangings as I frequently find myself watching serial killer documentaries. Just saying. 🤪

Thank you @simonbooks #SimonBooksBuddy and @lizziepook for the #gifted copy.

From the stark beauty of the Arctic to the teeming streets of Victorian London, Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge is a mysterious, transportive tale about the unbreakable bond of sisterhood and the things we are driven to do by both love and greed. Pook has created an adventurous historical fiction book centered on Maude’s quest to seek revenge for her sister’s death throughout Victorian London. I enjoyed every page of this captivating story!!

🌊Atmospheric and immersive dual settings
🌊Dual timelines and POVs (one being Maude’s sister’s diary entries from life on her ship exploring the Arctic)
🌊Action, suspense, and the dangerous underbelly of London’s society
🌊Brave women challenging gender norms and limitations of the 19th century
🌊Gothic and gruesome exploration of how London businessmen set to profit from public executions
🌊Propulsive writing and suspenseful prose that has readers racing to the end

I am currently suffering from a huge book hangover! I adored Maude and the characters in this book. Also, Pook’s writing is filled with so much imagery & is so beautifully atmospheric that it completely takes you to another place in time. I did not want this story to end.

Set in the 1850’s, Lizzie Pook brings you a Historical Fiction like no other.
Maude’s adventurous sister, Constance has disguised herself as a boy and boarded a ship without telling Maude or their grandfather. After a year of patiently waiting for her sister to return, Maude receives news that she died overseas.

Maude believes she was discovered to be a woman and killed and will stop at nothing to discover why, how and who did it. Early in the story, she unexpectedly receives Constance’s journal and the readers get an adventorus view into her experience abroad as they also follow along with Maude as she discovers unknowns, hidden motives and secrets.

This was an interesting read. I think in this particular book, I wouldn’t have minded flashbacks, which I normally loathe. So you would be on the journey for revenge with Maude while getting flashbacks for why you are on this journey for revenge with Maude. But the characters and imagery were great.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC. ~I was given this book and made no commitments to leave my opinions, favorable or otherwise~

This is a whizz name icy read.
Victorians were really a pack of people interested in the most macabre things like hair wreaths and public execution tours.
Maude Horton wants to find out what happened to her sister and one name keeps popping up. But can she track him down?
I thought Maude was plucky and feisty. I love it when women defy stuffy convention and Maude throws caution to the wind.
Step back in time to creaky ships sailing into the frozen northern tundra and a woman desperate to discover her sister’s truth.

“Maude Hoton’s Glorious Revenge” by Lizzie Potok is a captivating novel that seamlessly weaves together elements of mystery, deception, and adventure, set against the backdrop of 1850’s London and the treacherous Arctic waters. Lizzie Pook, the author, skillfully employs metaphors to enhance the narrative, creating a rich tapestry of emotions and intrigue.

The story unfolds with Maude, a woman with an unflinching desire to uncover the mystery of her sister's death as she finds herself entangled in a web of secrets. What sets this story apart is Pook’s ingenious use of metaphor, painting the characters and their motivations with vivid imagery that engage the reader’s imagination.

As the plot thickens, Maude embarks on a perilous journey. Armed with just her sister’s secret journal and support from an unlikely ally, she sets out to identify what happened in those last days and seek her revenge. Pook masterfully explores, and sheds light on the complexities of identity and the societal constraints of the 1850’s.

The dynamic between the characters is intricately layered, with each one harboring their own secrets and motives. This makes every revelation more chilling than the last. Pook keeps the reader guessing, unveiling the layers of intrigue that hide the truth. When that truth is revealed, it is both gasp worthy and well written.

”Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge” is a masterful blend of mystery, metaphor, and historical fiction, transporting readers to a bygone era where the cold winds of the Arctic are not the only chilling secrets uncovered. Lizzie Pook’s narrative prowess and her ability to seamlessly intertwine these elements make this novel a must-read for those who appreciate a compelling and thought provoking mystery, including the ultimate revenge.

When Maude Horton learns that her sister had died, she wants nothing but revenge. Her sister had pretended to be a deck boy on an Arctic expedition. Maude gains access to her sister's journal and learns of the man who she believes to be responsible for her sister's death. She gains access to his next venture to bring about her revenge.

I wanted to like this one so much based on the premise. However, it took so long to get into the revenge part. I was hoping for more seafaring for Maude, but it wasn't even until at least halfway through that she really started to bring about her revenge. I think if the author had led us on Maude's journey while building up the revenge in flashbacks, that might have been more interesting.

Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge is some historical fiction from Lizzie Pook.

"Constance Horton finagles her way onto a ship headed into the Arctic. She disguises herself as a cabin boy but wonders how long she can deceive the rugged men on the ship.
Maude gets word that her sister has died on the voyage but cannot get anyone to give her the answers she needs about what really happened. A secretary gives her Constance's diary and Maude zeroes in on one of the men who has returned - Edison Stowe. What does he know? What is he hiding? What does she have to do to get answers?"

Pook does a great job making you feel like you're in Victorian England - the sounds, the smells - the lust for hangings. You can hear the cries of the vendors and feel the crush of people.
Maude is an easy character to pull for, although early on she does not want to leave the comfort of her grandfather's pharmacy. She's sacrificing to care for them. But eventually she's pulled out of her comfort zone so she can get answers (and revenge)
Edison Stowe - easy to despise him. Pook has created a frightening sociopath - one who even in his lowest moments believes that he is above most people.
This is a revenge story. There are a couple of surprises near the end. I like that Pook gives us hope for Maude.

Some interesting characters from Pook. Victorian England fans will love it.

Maude Horton and her beloved grandfather were stunned but not, perhaps, surprised when her sister Constance left them a message stating that she’d run away to sea. Twenty year-old Constance had disguised herself as a boy and found a berth on a ship sailing north in search of Sir John Franklin, the famed Arctic explorer who’d recently gone missing. While Maude and her grandfather were content to run their London pharmacy, Constance had long sought out adventure: this audacious act was merely the culmination of her youthful ambitions.

When Maude learns that the HMS Makepeace is finally returning after its fruitless two-year search, she makes every preparation to greet both the ship and her wayward sister. So she’s devastated to be informed that Jack Aldridge, as her sister had been known, had perished in the icy north. Infuriatingly, the only thing that anyone will tell her is that Constance died by “misadventure”. Wanting answers, Maude crashes the admiralty boardroom, demanding particulars. While she’s quickly shooed away, she does find one sympathetic ear.

An admiralty clerk, Francis Heart, smuggles Constance’s diary out to her. He has his own concerns regarding what happened aboard the Makepeace, but is still at a loss as to what to do about it. Maude soon discovers that one man was indeed responsible for Constance’s death, and that his involvement in it has been covered up. Unwilling to let him get away with murder, Maude embarks on an audacious plan for vengeance, fueled by her grief and undying love for her younger sister:

QUOTE
With Constance gone, Maude had lost the very centre of her earth. How cruel that such a thing exists. How cruel that it can be taken from her, just like that.

She had always felt a responsibility, had <i>welcomed</i> the responsibility, to care for Constance. She had placed Constance first, concerned herself only with Constance, prioritized Constance. To the detriment of herself, but she did not care. She could not exist if her sister did not exist, she was sure of that. After her parents died, caring was what she did. What did she have to offer anyone if not that?
END QUOTE

With her former purpose in life ripped away from her, Maude now has only thoughts of revenge to keep her going. But what can one young woman do when faced with the entire political might of the British admiralty? Maude has never considered herself particularly quick-witted or brave – those were attributes she left to Constance – so must dive deep into her own psyche to find as yet unknown reserves of strength to help her see her plans through. Along the way, she’ll discover unexpected but invaluable allies, even as her quest plunges her headlong into mortal peril.

Lizzie Pook knows how to write a rollicking historical adventure, as both Maude and Constance navigate unfamiliar territory in mid-1800s England and beyond. Maude’s England is swept up in a murder craze, with public hangings considered popular entertainment and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum one of the capital’s major draws, especially with the opening of the death-themed Separate Room. Ms Pook’s consideration of both crime and the morality of punishment adds yet another thoughtful layer to this already terrific tale.

But it was Constance’s diary entries of the wonders of the Arctic that really transported me, as the young woman expertly captures the majesty of the wilderness her heart has so long been seeking:

QUOTE
The whole landscape is alive! The bergs threaded with veins just like those you’ll find in a living, breathing body. The skies are filled with life too: puffins, fulmars, eiders, snow geese and gulls abound. There are whales now and then. Bowheads, the occasional pod of killers, barreling past the ship with dorsal fins rising taller than any man on the <i>Makepeace</i>. When the larger whales are sighted, breaking the waters with open mouths full of baleen, they mist the air with their breath, as if the ocean itself is exhaling.
END QUOTE

The events of Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge cover and cross great physical distances even as its characters explore the strange and perilous terrain of the human condition. Maude’s self-imposed cloistered lifestyle is exploded by her sister’s death, and her gradual flowering into confidence as well as her courage in finally embracing a life spent not merely inside her family pharmacy make her a protagonist you’ll be rooting for from the first page to the last.

"Revenge" twines three stories set in Victorian era London and the Arctic explorations in the aftermath of the Franklin Expedition. Maude Horton's sister Constance ran away to sea, disguising herself as a cabin boy. The book opens with Maude receiving news of her death. Stymied by a British Admiralty that doesn't even want to reveal that Constance was ever on the ship, Maude seeks to unravel the mystery of how her sister died. Maude quickly meets the very creepy Edison Stowe, a shipmate of Constances, now returned to London and scrambling to avoid his deadly creditors.

The characters and setting are terrific. Although the pace of the book was somewhat uneven, dragging a bit in the middle, then rushing a little at the end, I though Pook did a great job of keeping the tension of the story building throughout.


I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I received this book as a Simon Book Buddy. I’ve been reading it for a couple of days, trying to find the time between catching up at work after the holidays. Yesterday was the perfect winter day. We had a couple of hours of snow (which is very rare), so I had an excuse to stay inside all day and read. This book is soo good and the conclusion is literal perfection! I had an idea of how it would wrap up. After all, revenge is right there in the title, but the actual ending was even better than I expected.

In the book, Maude Horton is on the search for answers in her sister, Constance’s, mysterious death. Set in Victorian London, it’s a very oppressive time to be a young lady. Constance ran away in search of adventure on the Makepeace, an ill fated Arctic ship that set out to rescue Sir John Franklin. The voyage itself was incredibly dangerous, and Constance had to pretend to be a young man to join the crew under a false identity.

We know early on that she doesn’t return from the trip. Maude later receives a detailed diary that she kept while aboard the ship. Throughout the journal, she describes the characters and activities on the ship. It’s the combination of these two that allude to her murder. It’s terrifying because Constance knew her days were numbered, but she was trapped. Unsatisfied with the new information, Maude sets out to find the key players and find out what actually happened to her sister and maybe exact some justice along the way.

I loved this book. I’ve been craving some historical fiction, and this was the perfect blend of accurate timeline, historical nuances, and mystery. I highly recommend this book. I cannot wait to share it with a few of my friends.

Thank you again to @simonbooks and @lizziepook for this amazing novel! It’s available everywhere January 16, 2024!

I was so taken with this tale of both adventure and revenge that I kept reading and reading even though my copy- downloaded to my Kindle-was missing the letters "fi" and "fl" (you'd be surprised how many words use fi or fl). It's the 1850s and Constance Horton turned herself into Jack because she desperately wanted to serve on a ship heading to the Arctic. She kept a diary while on board and it is this compelling document that her sister Maude receives after her death- and which sets Maude on the path after Edwin Stowe. Stowe, a cruel man beset by creditors, was the "science officer"( or, in my copy, ofcer) on the ship and now, when the crew is back on land, he's selling tours to see hangings. Maude, a determined woman, plans her revenge carefully and it won't be obvious to the reader until the end. The atmospherics are terrific not just on the ship (the consequences of cold) and at the hangings, but also in the Horton family pharmacy and the shop where Stowe sells bones. The characters stand out with strong voices (even the weaselly horrid Stowe). Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. It's a fascinating swirl that I thoroughly enjoyed (even without the letters fi and fl).