#Titanuary ‘A Lesson In Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee

About the book…

If We Were Villains meets The Craft in this page-turning LGBT dark academia thriller.

Felicity Morrow is back at the Dalloway School to finish her senior year after the tragic death of her girlfriend. She even has her old room in Godwin House, the exclusive dormitory rumored to be haunted by the spirits of five Dalloway students―girls some say were witches.

Felicity was once drawn to the dark legacy of witchcraft. She’s determined to leave that behind her now; but it’s hard when Dalloway’s occult history is everywhere. And when the new girl won’t let her forget it.

It’s Ellis Haley’s first year at Dalloway. A prodigy novelist at seventeen, Ellis is eccentric and brilliant, and Felicity can’t shake the pull she feels to her. So when Ellis asks Felicity for help researching the Dalloway Five for her second book, Felicity can’t say no. And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway―and in herself.

And when history begins to repeat itself, Felicity will have to face the darkness in Dalloway–and in herself.

Published by Titan on February 22nd, in paperback and e-book formats,‘A Lesson In Vengeance’ by Victoria Lee is available from all good bookshops! Many thanks to the publicity team at Titan for my gifted e-arc review copy, via Netgalley, it is an incredible feat of imagination.

Seething with suspicion, deceit and dark deeds, this is a dark academia novel to die for, as you return to school with main character Felicity ( a name which is secretly pleasing as it means ‘good fortune’ or ‘happy’ in Latin) to Godwin House which is alleged to have the very blood of witches in its foundations.

A traumatic incident which is revealed to have been the death of her girlfriend who had the room directly above hers, in Godwin, gives the reader insight into the expectations which lay heavy on Felicity’s mind. It is hard enough returning to school after a break, never mind after a psychological breakdown which everyone and their cat knows about.

Felicity is not a manic pixie dream girl, she is not a tortured intellectual , she is a girl with complex feelings about many of the situations in her life. This is beautifully explored though you never at any point feel like Felicity is a object of pity , or someone through whom the author is living out their feelings. There is such authenticity and truth in her portrayal that you cannot help but be swept up in how she reacts to a new girl being in her ex-partners room, or how she picks up her relationships with her fellow students.

The five central girls, emblematic of the five ‘Dalloway’ witches ( I am assuming here that the names were deliberately chosen to reflect feminist icons? Feel free to correct me if I am wrong!) all have very strong personalities and parts of their lives which leave them vulnerable to abuse for things which are beyond their control.

Modern women are constantly told that they can have it all, without being given the tools with which to break free from a patriarchal hegemony,or how to make them themselves. It sometimes feels that trauma and suffering is necessary to become the person you hoped to be, though why this is venerated, and why we cannot just lift people up instead of exemplifying the differences between us is beyond me. Even at my advanced age of 46,I am still astounded at just how much my daughters have to go through, generations after we fought the same battles.

There is not a great deal of expositional writing, or which I am truly thankful as many Y.A authors seem to feel that they have to over explain things which teens easily get, And that kind of attitude just kicks the keen teen reader straight out of the suspension of disbelief which you need to jump in, feet first, to a fantasy novel.

I am an adult who would have dearly loved to have seen writing of this quality as a teen, I am also the mother of teen girls who discuss the do’s and don’ts of books with me, at length, and this is the only experience which I can bring to the table, as a reader.

I cannot claim to fully understand many of the gender and race issues which are tackled in the book, I recognise that this is not my place as well as my limitations in reading it from a white, heterosexual perspective. That is to say that others will have a more nuanced take and I would encourage anyone looking to read ‘A Lesson In Vengeance’ to seek them out on appropriate platforms..

However, that said, I found it a sinewy text which pulled me in to a central mystery that was deeply fantastical and satisfying.,

Also, is it strange to say just how interesting do the 5 girls’ thesis topics sound? I know this is a work of fiction but holy crap I would love to read more!

About the author…

Victoria Lee grew up in Durham, North Carolina, where she spent her childhood writing ghost stories and fantasizing about attending boarding school.

She has a Ph.D. in psychology, which she uses to overanalyze fictional characters and also herself.

Lee is the author of A Lesson in Vengeance as well as The Fever King and its sequel, The Electric Heir. She lives in New York City with her partner, cat, and malevolent dog.

Links-http://www.victorialeewrites.com/

Twitter @sosaidvictoria @TitanBooks