Genevieve and Daniel are finally engaged! As their wedding approaches in 1890, they've decided to use their wealth and social sway for good. Genevieve continues her work as a society (and sometimes investigative) journalist, while Daniel works with an investigative photographer Dagmar Hansen to expose societal ills. But when one suspicious fire becomes a series of them, Genevieve disappears in the course of her investigations and Daniel desperately tears the city apart to find her.

I can't get enough of Genevieve and Daniel! And what a dramatic exploration of a LOT of social injustices of the day (many of which continue to this day, as do the prejudices that reinforce them): poverty, reproductive health and contraception, mental health, and unjust incarceration. This was a vivid and heavy one. Lots of triggers here (see below). It was helpful to have mentions of key events from previous books, which honestly serves to reminds me of all the trauma-inducing events they’ve been through. It’s a wonder they are still sane! As a reader I want to suspend reality and believe that all these things can happen to the same two people, while ALSO getting a glimpse into two realistic people in the very-real past. But it’s hard to have both. I can't wait to get my hands on the final version so I can read the historical notes--I can see Nelly Bly, Madame Restell, and others like them being serious inspiration for this one!

Triggers: abuse, abuse of disabled/neurodivergent/ chronically mentally ill, arson, murder, sexual abuse, self-harm