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QueenBoadicea
Aug 13, 2015QueenBoadicea rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The machinations against the Incorrigible children get subtler and trickier with every book. This one is no different as Penelope Lumley strives to figure out the curse surrounding the Ashton family. If the Ashtons seem sometimes like over-privileged, effete and unsympathetic snobs, this novel shows a slightly different cast to their natures…by proving that there are worse people out there. The Babushkinov children are hellions, spoiled, selfish, willful, insulting, rude, aggressive, maudlin, changeable, verbally and physically abusive to each other and to others. You can almost sense the writer’s glee in contrasting these dreadful children with the now (mostly) civilized Incorrigible siblings. But the Babushkinov clan hasn’t been introduced merely for contrast or comic relief. The sinister forces and mystery hanging over Penelope and her wolfish charges haven’t disappeared. The author pulls one dramatic surprise after another from her literary hat and kept this reader guessing up until the powerful denouement. It is with delicious dread that I finished this book and am now fervently looking for a happy resolution to Penelope’s horrible predicament. Let’s hope it comes soon.