Etiquette & Espionage

I love the pun on “finishing” school and how both meanings are taught to the characters. There is something so satisfying about being perfectly polite with all the proper decorum and being expertly capable of deadly violence.

I appreciate that Sophronia retains her rebellious ingenuity, using unique methods to solve her problems. And, of course, the whole thing is on an airship!

I think the main reason I like this book so much—other than its super-cool steampunk aesthetic—is that it flips a tired convention entirely on its head. It takes something questionable and makes it something awesome.

In modern day, the idea of a finishing school for girls is a bit much: an institution meant to train young women to be “proper enough” for polite society. Instead, the school is a training ground for strong and smart spies: the exact opposite of the "docile and obedient” it seems to train. 

I love it when old tropes are subverted to make something newer… show more.

Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. A finishing school? Um, ye-ees. For spies. Spies? Uh-huh. On a dirigible. A—what? In a culture where vampires and werewolves are part of society. Wrapped in a huge steampunk bow. Etiquette and espionage. Curtsies and conspiracies. Waistcoats and weaponry. Manners and mutiny. What could possibly go wrong? (What can’t?) Gail Carriger’s Parasolverse is their entirely diabolically magical setting. Her writing is laugh-out-loud clever, witty as Noel Coward, deeply principled, and there are tons more. I started with the Alexia Tarabotti seven and read every single one. I’d do it again, too.… show more.

Whenever friends share that ‘one fact you didn’t know about me,’ I like to mention that I graduated from a finishing school. No one believes me, since I’m rather clumsy and not very refined, but my personal takeaways were the fencing and acting lessons.

When a favorite author released a series about young girls learning the fine arts of espionage under the guise of attending finishing school, I dove in immediately. I quickly identified with fourteen-year-old Sophronia, a tomboy who’d rather find adventures than learn how to curtsey. There’s lots of humor scattered throughout the story, from situational comedy to… show more.

I cannot resist Gail Carriger’s tongue-in-cheek writing style. If you enjoy quippy hilarious steampunk, don’t miss Etiquette & Espionage. It is a finishing school for young ladies set amid a Victorian world peopled with vampires, werewolves (some nice and some not so nice), cute cuddly mechanimals, and evil automatons. While these young ladies are being trained in the “art of dance, dress, and etiquette, they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course.” It is a hoot and a half! Carriger writes Victoriana as no one else can.