Summary: Edwardian England. Agnes Ashford knows that her duty is threefold: she needs to work on cataloguing the archive of the titled Bryant family, she needs to keep the wounds of her past tightly under wraps, and she needs to be quietly grateful to her employers for taking her up in her hour of need. However, a dark secret she uncovers due to her work thrusts her into the Bryants’ brilliant orbit – and into the clutch of their ambitions.
They are prepared to take the new century head-on and fight for their preeminent position and political survival tooth and nail – and not just to the first blood. With a mix of loyalty, competence, and well-judged silence Agnes rises to the position of a right-hand woman to the family matriarch – the cunning and glamorous Lady Helen. But Lady Helen’s plans to hold on to power through her son are as bold as they are cynical, and one day Agnes is going to face an impossible choice…
Lying With Lions was… unexpected. I am, as you all must know by now, a lover of all things sapphic and historic, an intersection sadly really underexplored (in my fairly biased opinion, if we’re being honest), so of course I said a very enthusiastic “yes!” when the author approached me to offer an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I finished this book slowly, and that felt right to me. Lying With Lions feels like a story to be slowly investigated and digested. While it’s synopsis is truthful in regards to its contents, it doesn’t really express just how deep this story goes, how complex its relationships and its characters are, or honestly, how the book feels, which is why this story of the years and the climb of Agnes Ashford’s position in her society was a true surprise to me.
Lying With Lions takes its time, and while it is more on the slow side, it doesn’t really drag its narrative. A lot happens and it all has an effect and it gives the reader the experience of exploring and keeping up with Agnes’s story as her ambition and her sharp brain take her to great heights, to dangerous and exciting ties – and lead her to make tough choices that affect herself and others.
Agnes is by no means a sweet, well intentioned and naive girl. She’s not necessarily malicious either. She’s truly a morally grey character, her ambition driving her towards certain paths in a way that, while the reader may not always empathize with, is certainly understandable – even when the consequences might not be acceptable. She’s not good, not a hero, especially when her loyalties lead to impossible choices and actions, but you find yourself rooting for her anyways. The relationship between her and the smart and devious Lady Helen is also deeply involved on that. It’s complicated and beautiful and horrible, all at the same time. Their love mirrors in many ways the impulses that lead to both character’s paths, the rises and the falls, they are who they are, after all.
This book shows the ugly and cruel side of the life of the rich and glamorous in the Edwardian era. My historian self deeply enjoyed the labour issues discussion and how carefully researched this book was. Overall an interesting story with complex, morally complicated characters with deep and often scarred ties to each other. Being in Agnes’s head as she goes down paths she probably wouldn’t have thought she head towards herself, as she deals with inner conflicts between her morals, her loyalties and her personal ambitions, was an unforgettable ride.
Min and Her Books 