Long Shadow by Olivia Atwater

A series of mysterious deaths is shocking Regency London. Eligible young ladies are dying in their sleep, and in the morning the western window is found open - leading some to speculate that faeries, particularly the cruel kind called sluagh, are responsible. 

Elias Wilder, Lord Sorcier of England, certainly believes this to be the case, but while he is willing to do battle with Lord Longshadow, the most important and powerful of the sluagh, he believes that his eighteen year old ward, Abigail, should not, and would, in fact, be safer in the faerie realm. 

Abigail does not agree, and sets off on her own investigation into the latest death - that of Miss Lucy Kendall - and encounters a strange young woman, dressed as a laundress, who is also searching for Lucy, or at least her ghost.

This is the second of Olivia Atwater's Regency Faerie Tales that I've read, and is again a delightful, whimsical mix of historical (lesbian) romance and faerie magic, with the extra twist of a murder mystery thrown in too. The main character, Abigail, is one of the Workhouse children rescued in Half a Soul, and here we find her a few years older, exploring her magical powers, and discovering love in a way that she feels is very unconventional, but which Mercy assures her has existed forever. 

Magic abounds, as you would expect in a story set partially in Faeryland. There are magical dances in Kensington Gardens, and ballgowns spun out of midnight, but just as Half A Soul had its darker side with explorations of the workhouse system and the apathy of most people towards its conditions, so too does Longshadow, with its look at our attitude towards death. There's the inevitable grief which turns even Lucy's stuck-up mother into someone deserving compassion, but alos Abigail and Mercy think differently about death itself. One maintaining that we should battle against it as long as possible; the other believing that there's a point as which enough is enough, and we should retire from life gracefully. It seems a slightly weird topic to encounter in what is to all intents a 'lightweight' story, but it gives depth and a contrast to the magical world of faery.

Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater

As a child, Dora Ettings wandered into Faerieland, and had half her soul stolen away. Since then she's only experienced emotions in a detached way. She feels neither fear not embarrassment, and doesn't see how falling in love would be remotely possible. 

Now, Dora's accompanying her cousin, Vanessa, to London in the hope of finding husbands for them both during the Season.  In polite society, say at a ball, Dora's curse makes her inclined to say or do the wrong thing, but when her aunt tries to pair her off with Albert Lowe, an eligible 'younger son' who helps as a doctor in the city's workhouses, Dora's lack of feeling proves invaluable; the dreadful conditions she encounters don't repulse her, and she's able to calmly assist when needed. This isn't, of course, what her aunt had planned. Nor is a close association with the Lord Sorcier, Elias Wilder, who she meets though Albert and his investigation into a mysterious sleeping sickness spreading among the workhouse children. 

I'd expected a light Regency Bridgerton-style romcom, with a hint of faerie magic, but found something with more grit. Yes, there are balls and romance, but there are also darker undercurrents which I think made it more compelling for me. On one hand, there's the dark world of Faerie which threatens to trap Dora, just as everything seems to be going well for her. On the other, the work of Albert and Elias among the poor exposes the very real conditions of 19th century workhouses, and also the lack of concern shown by much of society for anyone unfortunate enough to end up there. Neither Bridgerton nor Austen's works concern themselves much with the world beyond 'society', but here the reader is forced to see beyond the fancy ballgowns and marriage market, and encounter complacent attitudes which seem very common today.

I understand there are further books planned in this series, and I'm intrigued to discover what they're like.