This was an interesting book. I admit I felt it was slow getting into but once things started the book moved along well.

The story is set in Boston during the Gilded Age. The details in the book were fantastic.

I enjoyed the heroine and really felt her pain. Women still are not paid equally and I can only imagine how bad it was in this time.

The only slight quibble I have I thought to many social issues were being touched on but not really addressed. It felt like the author had a checklist. I would have preferred sticking to one issue and thoroughly focus on that and let any future books tackle different social issues.

Thank you NetGalley for letting me read this ARC. The opinions in this review are mine.

Enjoyable and hard to predict, this book follows author Mrs Swann as she matures and changes the direction of her life and writing. The main characters were very charming and three dimensional. It had a vibe to it of Jo March if her life had gone differently.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

This was truly a delightful story with our character Victoria Swann. We see the inside working of publishing companies during the 19th century and go threw what it is like to be an author during this time. If you are a historical fiction fan and love books as well as the publishing process then I would highly suggest this book.

Thank you to Virginia Pye & her publishers for this ARC of The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann.

I love historical fiction, but unfortunately this book fell flat for me, and I’ve stopped reading at just over 30%.

I really wanted to enjoy it - I was intrigued by the description, the idea of a young woman seeking to push against the publishing boundaries she’s been placed in, and the seemingly suspicious circumstances surrounding her marriage, but I wasn’t able to get into the story and neither Victoria or Jonathan pulled me in.

It’s a book that I’d be willing to give another go in the future, and I think it’s something that other readers may really enjoy, but for now it’s on pause.

The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann by Virginia Pye

Set in Boston in the Gilded Age we follow author of romance and adventure novels Victoria Meeks, aka Mrs Swann, as she fights back against her feckless husband, her swindling publishing house and its new owner.

Fascinating story based on a real life female author with great period detail and setting. Hugely enjoyable and I really hope we get to hear more about Victoria! Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

This novel tells an engaging story while also making smart use of its historical setting and context. At the same time, I really appreciated that although it’s set in the Gilded Age, it explores issues that are deeply relevant today, including women’s struggles against pay inequity, and the challenge of publishing fiction that is considered to lack wide commercial appeal. I was inspired by the protagonist’s drive to write about subjects that truly mattered to her, in the face of resistance from her publisher and husband. That, and her efforts to remedy her unjust treatment by her publisher, kept me turning the pages.

Victoria Swann is a nineteenth century women’s authoress who takes her characters (and her readers) into far off lands. Wanting to pursue a different style of writing, Victoria decides to leave Mrs Swann behind and delve into a more challenging style of novel. Virginia Pye takes us into the life of fictional authoress Mrs Swann and the troubles of her life and how she yearns to tell a different yarn. This is a well written story that has you getting inside the mind of the author character. I would love to see more of Victoria learning about her characters and their pastimes. A great read

Victoria Swann is a compelling main character. Living in Boston in the late 19th century, her career as the author of adventure stories featuring women is flourishing. But Victoria longs to write books that she considers more important, with realistic plots dealing with contemporary issues. So she writes one. Her editor, an elderly old-fashioned man doesn't even want to read it. He believes she should stick to the plots that keep her loyal readers buying her books. Victoria's husband, a weak-willed man, shares that belief. Yet Victoria pushes ahead, determined to create the life she wants for herself.

Readers interested in historical fiction that center's on women's issues will be intrigued.

I loved this book so much. It felt as if I was slipping into another world and it held my attention completely. Being in another era and following the footsteps of this gutsy, literary heroine was just so much fun. Honestly, this is a book that is heartwarming and hopeful, despite being serious, literary and thought provoking. It's quite an unusual combination. Highly atmospheric and fabulous, fascinating characters. 5+ stars!

A story of a strong female character following her dreams and it allowing others to stand in her way after agreeing for far too long.

Not my usual type of read but very glad I read it!

Thank you to Netgalley, Virginia Pye and Regal House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There were many relevant themes in this tale that were both realistic and engaging.

The writer Victoria Byrne, nee Meeks, wrote romantic fiction as Mrs Swann during the Gilded Age in Boston. She has grown tired of living through her heroines and longs for something more authentic and true to her. The book examines topics such as abortion, suffrage, and emancipation, and what it means to live by your own beliefs and make your own decisions. This story is well told and Virginia Pye creates some interesting characters in this setting.

As a main character, I really liked Victoria, and it was amazing how well she complemented Jonathan; her new editor. In my opinion, the thing that makes this story so compelling is that there are a number of themes that are still relevant today. It has an engaging plot involving a wide range of complicated characters and I highly recommend it.

The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann by Virginia Pye
This page-turning work of historical fiction is founded on a true story unearthed from carefully researched fact. Victoria’s struggle to be her own person as a writer and a woman in a time that didn’t appreciate feminine independence, much less interference, rings true even today. Victoria has taken the lead in an ongoing fighting, giving hope to all who struggle. Readers, who liked Leaving Coy’s Hill by Katherine Sherbrooke, won’t want to miss this.

A fun and satisfying read. Very recommendable. Well-developed characters populate a carefully developed setting. Easy to recommend to all historical fiction readers.

Although the premise and the description of this book was enticing, exspecially for book lovers and historical fiction readers, the story didn’t live up to the hype. It was a light read with characters who are likeable enough but very two-dimensional. Even the plot fell short of interesting. Perhaps a beach read?

Set during the Gilded Age in Boston, the novel had an interesting premise. However, the characters and pace of narrative failed to hold my attention and I did not finish the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Virginia Pye and the publishers for letting me read an arc of this book before its release.

I start this review by stating that I have only read about 50% of the book but decided to stop as it just wasn't doing anything for me.

The plot itself was nice and could have been really interesting, but unfortunately everything felt very flat to me. The characters had no depth and things were happening just for the sake of it, without any real purpose or major significance. I didn't love the writing either; I feel we got a lot of unnecessary descriptions for some things that, in the end, don't matter at all as they don't help with either the story or the character development.

All in all, although I personally didn't resonate with this book, I am sure there are a lot of people who will. It might be perfect for a quick vacation read or for someone who likes a very easy and, at times, entertaining read.

Being a history buff, I am a huge fan of historical fiction. This book is set in the Gilded Age -- an era that both dazzled and distressed. It is a story about a popular female writer in Gilded Age Boston who tried to be a voice of conscience and spoke for women of her times. The writing is done exquisitely and the story has relevance to today's society.

Interesting plot. I’m not extremely familiar with the gilded age, but it seemed like the entire thing was kind of unrealistic. However, I did end up liking all the characters I was supposed to like. The writing was uneven at times the pages were interesting and at times I really struggled to get through them. The ending really drug out. I did walk away from it once and was curious enough to come back and finished so glad I did. 3.5 ⭐️. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Published on my Goodreads page - link given below.

This is my favourite genre - a book about a book/s. In this case, the story revolves around a popular author of romance novels who comes to believe that she needs to write of the reality of her times, as the women’s lib movement gains ground. She needs to explore a new way of writing, a new voice, a new publisher, and new friends and family. And all this she does in good time and this journey makes good reading, but the novel doesn’t explore the real substance behind those decisions. This is where it falls short - one star for a decent plot structure, but not much more than that.

This is really more of a take-on-holiday kind of book, rather than a historical novel because the time and space of the story is given in very broad strokes - and I mean really broad strokes. For eg, a woman entering a party is said to be wearing ‘a dress of the times’ but there’s nothing of what this entails.

The characters are mere caricatures with almost no in-depth exploration of any of the complexities that you’d imagine might be felt and lived by a woman, and a couple of men, who have chosen to go against the grain of the times. This is true of a lot of the other characters too - entire families are introduced, with their back stories in a couple of paragraphs, and then left behind without a second glance. They are not people, but rather symbolic personifications of various non-conformists. Without any real complexity, we go away without really getting to know any of them even by the end of the novel.

Ultimately, this novel’s inability to capture the time and space in which it’s set makes for a very un-memorable story and easily forgettable people. This was definitely not my cup of tea!

** I read an ARC of this novel through NetGalley.

This book was quite a good read, definitely a solid 4 stars. Typically I wouldn’t read books akin to this one, but I still found myself thoroughly enjoying it, the plot was definitely very interesting though it sometimes felt a bit convoluted at times, which was either the style of writing or perhaps just me (like I said before this differs to my usual reads), the characters sometimes felt as if they lacked proper depth/development too, but I thought the protagonist was very well written, so the side characters not having that depth/development wasn’t really a dealbreaker/major issue. All in all though, I did enjoy this book and would encourage anyone who loves historical fiction to read it.