Tea at the Empress

by Edeana Malcolm

In the 1920s, suffragist Edith fights to climb the ladder at Victoria's Daily Colonist while trying to live the life of a free, modern woman in a society that isn't quite ready for it. In the 1910s, Edith sees the love of her life head off to fight a far-away war, while she struggles to find her way around Victorian attitudes, especially her mother's. Trying to build her future, Edith suddenly finds herself face to face with her past as long-hidden family secrets come out into the open.

226 pages, Paperback

Published September 14, 2022

About the author

Edeana Malcolm has published eight novels. Her latest novel Tea at the Empress tells the story of Edith, a suffragist and flapper trying to make her way in Victoria, BC. Its prequel, House of Crows, relates the history of early Victoria from the point of view of three generations of Victoria women. Edeana has also written several novels about her ancestors, including The Serpentine Garden Path, The Gardener's Wife, Letters from the Gardener, and The Loyalist. Find out more at http://www.edeana.com

Reviews

[SusanwithaGoodBook · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly I purchased this one at the same time as the first because it was a sequel. Again you really aren't sure who is who right at first, particularly when the Mother and Grandmother in this book have had a complete personality change from the people they were in the last book. I know people change, but there was no clue as to why or what on earth happened in the intervening years to facilitate such a radical change. I found this really annoying, especially when coupled with the fact that I found the main character a pretty cringe-worthy stereotype of an early feminist. Basically, I hated nearly everything about this story, plus it told me nothing at all about the history or geography of the area, so that made it even more of a waste of time.