“I do not want simple. I do not want easy or small or uncomplicated. I want my life to be messy and ugly and wicked and wild, and I want to feel it all. All those things that women are made to believe they are strange for harboring in their hearts. And I want to surround myself with those same strange, wicked women who throw themselves open to all the wondrous things this world has to offer. Perhaps I’m spiraling into sentimental prose, but at this moment, I feel that I could swallow the world whole.”
The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee takes place in the same setting as The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, this time following Monty’s younger sister, Felicity Montague, after the events of the previous book. Felicity is newly returned from Edinburgh, fleeing an unwanted marriage proposal and seeking admission to a southern hospital in London after her previous medical school applications have been rejected. She stays with Monty and Percy in their little flat for a few days, but she is unable to convince the council to allow her to become a professionally trained doctor. Losing hope, she discovers that one of her childhood friends, Johanna Hoffman, is getting married to Dr. Alexander Platt, her idol, in Germany. However, Felicity has no funds until she meets Sim Aldajah, a pirate looking to retrieve a family heirloom from Platt. Sim offers to provide the money for the journey, and Felicity agrees, but upon arriving, Felicity is faced with frothy socialites and Johanna, whom she had accused, long ago, of not being an advocate of women’s rights simply because Johanna enjoyed dresses and makeup. Things get worse when Felicity meets Platt, who turns out to be not all that amazing, Sim tries to steal from the Hoffmans, and Joanne runs away the night before her wedding. Before long, Felicity is once again thrown headfirst into a treasure hunt for valuables and knowledge, causing Felicity to question her friends’ objectives, the society she lives in, and how she may create a better life for herself, the one that she wants.
“I have spent so long building up my fortress and learning to tend it all myself, because if I didn’t feel I needed anyone, then I wouldn’t miss them if they weren’t there. I couldn’t be neglected if I was everything to myself.”
Right from the beginning, Lee established Felicity as a no-nonsense, determined young woman trying to forge a path for herself in the medical world, a domain long assumed to only belong to men. Her relationship with Monty and Percy has only improved, and over the course of the book, she forges new friendships with Johanna and Sim, both strong women in their own right. Lee paints a gorgeous, yet accurately flawed image of mid-1700s Europe, with popular cities and quick scientific advancements, but also home to a strong opposition to women with their own minds. This portrait is detail-rich and emotive, attacking many of the issues with feminism that were present then and are present now. Why must women be shuttered away from their interests? Why is it that men think they know what is best for the opposite sex? Felicity also takes a step back to examine herself throughout the book. She hopes for advancements in the treatment of her gender, but how will that happen if she cannot overcome her prejudices against fellow women? Felicity does not care for romance, expressing no desire for a spouse, and she does not enjoy the frills and fancies forced upon ladies, but that does not mean that other women who may enjoy dressing up are not feminists as well. This story is an honest testament to the perils and trials of being a woman in an oppressive society, issues that often turned women against each other in times of need. It teaches you about the dangers of prejudice, the fulfilment of friendship, and how to make your way in a world that is dead set against you in order to accomplish what you have set out to achieve.
“You’re trying to play a game designed by men. You’ll never win, because the deck is stacked and marked, and also you’ve been blindfolded and set on fire. You can work hard and believe in yourself and be the smartest person in the room and you’ll still get beat by the boys who haven’t two cents to rub together. So if you can’t win the game, you have to cheat. You operate outside the walls they’ve built to fence you in. You rob them in the dark, while they’re drunk on spirits you offered them. Poison their waters and drink only wine.”
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