Review: A Mad, Wicked Folly by: Sharon Biggs Waller

A Mad, Wicked Folly by: Sharon Biggs Waller (Jan. 2014)

448 Pages

Publisher: Viking Juvenile

Genre: Young Adult/Historical Fiction

Source: The Library

Purchase: Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon

Goodreads Summary: Welcome to the world of the fabulously wealthy in London, 1909, where dresses and houses are overwhelmingly opulent, social class means everything, and women are taught to be nothing more than wives and mothers. Into this world comes seventeen-year-old Victoria Darling, who wants only to be an artist—a nearly impossible dream for a girl.

After Vicky poses nude for her illicit art class, she is expelled from her French finishing school. Shamed and scandalized, her parents try to marry her off to the wealthy Edmund Carrick-Humphrey. But Vicky has other things on her mind: her clandestine application to the Royal College of Art; her participation in the suffragette movement; and her growing attraction to a working-class boy who may be her muse—or may be the love of her life. As the world of debutante balls, corsets, and high society obligations closes in around her, Vicky must figure out: just how much is she willing to sacrifice to pursue her dreams?

My Review

I don’t read a lot of historical fiction. I just tend to dabble when the mood hits me and I am certainly glad that when the mood hit this time I grabbed a copy of A Mad, Wicked Folly.

A Mad, Wicked Folly is filled with great characters, art, love, living, dreaming, fighting, and a perfectly described setting. This book should not be overlooked, although the cover itself has probably caught a few eyes on its own already.

Victoria Darling is a fantastic female protagonist. She wants to be an artist. It is her dream and she will do anything to go to art school, and I mean anything. Besides laughing at her oh so cheesy name, Vicky is a character I won’t soon forget. She may be naïve but she is also strong willed and cunning. I loved getting to watch Vicky really discover herself as a woman, and I love how much spunk she has. Every single one of the characters in A Mad, Wicked Folly that the author created were exquisite. I loved Vicky’s interactions with her closed minded parents, semi-open minded brother, a fiancé who is weak, a constable she won’t soon forget, and the women protesters.

I loved seeing all the woman power happening in this novel. I enjoyed the time period the story took place during, when the Women's Social and Political Union  was formed and its fight for women’s rights. The author did a wonderful job at describing the scenes with the women protesters and everything else. I wanted to join the union and help fight with all the other women in A Mad, Wicked Folly. The plot did seem a little slow here and there, but I enjoyed it never the less. The biggest thing that I wish was included in the novel was the drawings Vicky created or the special paintings she talked about. That would have been awesome, especially the hilarious political cartoons.

A Mad, Wicked Folly should be devoured by fans of historical young adult fiction and those of you who are fans of art or are an artist. If you don’t fit into either of those characters you should still read this book. The best part of this well written novel about women’s rights is that it actually strongly focuses on woman's rights and not just romance.