[book-review] Annabel Fielding - Lying with Lions
"Still waters are deep."
The book is set in Edwardian England and starts with a young girl - Agnes Ashford - who's working for Lord and Lady Bryant as archivist. The story is mostly set in Hartfell Hall in Leicestershire and in London.
The books beginn with her wandering through the deep tunnels under the castle and looking through old documents and letters to archive them chronologically. We see her uncover the mystery of the death of the second youngest child Gregory. With this she comes closer to Lady Helen Bryant. But things all change for the whole family when Lord Bryant is poisoned.
Agnes soon rises to a secretary for Lady Bryant and helps her in the upcoming hard times. Especially to get her eldest and the heir to Hartfell Hall back from her brother Reginald Davenport, who took care of the boy for the last thirteen years. But while Lady Bryant, her two children and Agnes head to a trip to Italy to let things calm down at home and settle after the rumours of Lord Bryant's death, more problems come towards the family. Agnes finds herself drawn to the Lady of the house and they both have an affair and do everything to keep he family and especially the family riches safe.
Soon a net of politics, betrayal, blackmail and even murder is entangled with the name Bryant and Agnes finds herself going from the good girl she was, to a strong, clever woman who will do what's necessary to support her lover's wishes.
"One mustn't be afraid to want more, so long as one goes about it in a sensible way."
To be honest, I had a rough start with this book. It wouldn't quite "fit" in the beginning. I was a bit confused about what exactly is going on in the story. Probably also because work has been a mess since weeks and kept me quite distracted...
But from chapter 4 on, I couldn't put it down anymore!
The characters are brilliantly written, especially Agnes herself. You can clearly see the transformation from a shy young girl and "little lamb" to a strong, clever woman who's willing to do everything to please her lover and keep the Bryant family safe. I really loved her character development and transformation. She definitely was my fav of the whole lot.
Lady Helen Bryant was fascinating as well. I had some sort of suspicion towards her, that she was a manipulative, arrogant woman who's only interested in getting what she wants, damn the costs.
I also loved that the children - Meredith and Harold - got more pages and "personal stuff" in the end chapters.
That the novel is set from the Early 1900s to World War I is quite exciting. I love historical fiction very much because there's always a bit of truth and history in them that took place and you can still learn something by reading it. At the end of the book in the authors notes you've a brilliant description about the historical parts.
Also nothing better than a good murder! And there were a few in it!
The writing style was different to what I usually read and I really liked it. The descriptions where very good and detailed and made me see Hartfell Hall and Agnes and Helen and Rome etc.
Found a few typos but I guess that's normal in a ARC or first edition I know too well, you can never catch all mistakes despite how often you read through a story.
Fun fact, there's a reference to Ludwig II of Bavaria and Neuschwanstein Castle on page 94 when The Fräulein talks about Bavaria. I grew up only 5km from the castle and the story about "our king" has always fascinated me. Although there are witness statements from that time that suggest Ludwig didn't drown - he apparently was an excellent swimmer - and he got shot because he wanted to flee that night in Schloss Berg. But who does not love a good mystery in history?
"It is our choices that make us what we are, day after day, not some kind of structure of our hearts predetermined centuries ago. Otherwise the world would've been a very tragic place."
I really loved Laying with Lions, very fitting title and also one I'd pick up at the store. I also love the cover. I wish I could put it in my bookshelf tbh. It's simple, yet elegant. I rate this with 4 stars because of the slow and heavy start for me, but otherwise it was a fantastic read I truly enjoyed. Great character development, interesting story, scandal, death, murder, mystery and an end I truly didn't see coming! I mean what the hell! I loved the end and yet it broke my heart completely but also made me happy! I don't want to spoil it so no hints or details on it but you'll love the end!
Anyway, if you want to pick up a great read, love historical fiction and some LGBTQ romance, go pick up Laying with Lions!
It's out on 21st June.
Also go and visit Annabel Fielding's website here for more books and content. :)
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