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    A Mad, Wicked Folly
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    A Mad, Wicked Folly
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    A Mad, Wicked Folly
    Audiobook11 hours

    A Mad, Wicked Folly

    Written by Sharon Biggs Waller

    Narrated by Katharine McEwan

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJan 23, 2014
    ISBN9780804167550
    Unavailable
    A Mad, Wicked Folly
    Author

    Sharon Biggs Waller

    Sharon Biggs Waller is the Friends of American Writers-award winning author of A Mad, Wicked Folly and The Forbidden Orchid. She also writes for magazines about horses, chickens, and farming. Previously, she worked as a riding instructor at the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace. In addition to writing, she is a dressage rider and trainer and Planned Parenthood volunteer. She lives on a ten-acre sustainable farm in Northwest Indiana with her husband, Mark

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    Reviews for A Mad, Wicked Folly

    3.5/5

    71 ratings15 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Historical fiction is one of my favourite genres, and this didn't let me down. With a focus on women's rights and art, "A Mad, Wicked Folly" was the perfect read for a cold, wet weekend. Vicky was a great character - determined, gutsy and unafraid to follow her dreams, and I loved the humour, romance and historical detail that pervaded the story. A big thanks for the recommendation, Fiona.
    • 3/5
      Something is missing from this novel. It could have been a lot more and yet, it played it safe. You knew what was going to happen in the very end, because the author made it all painfully clear this is what is going to happen through the entire book. There was no twist. No surprises. Not even a really original thought going into this book given the author's history (she lived in England for nearly a decade and had access to primary sources) and the fairly nice bibliography at the end of the book. The book is just mediocre and a let down, but it gets 3 stars because technically it is well written, even if the storyline seems meh.

      The author could have made this really beguiling and filled with wonder, but instead she made it feel tightly corseted and maybe a titch overedited.

      Pros
      Story was fast paced and read quickly
      Plot was pretty well organized and was linear
      There was not an abundance of useless characters
      When the author was on point about a scene, she got it brilliantly well (but this was more rare than one would hope)

      Cons
      Use of language: Edwardian England is a class filled society, yet everyone spoke the same: Her parents, Will, the French boys at the atelier, and so forth. She could have least tried to make an effort, but instead, this seems sloppy and lazy.
      Colloquialisms: Example: In the beginning, she had her parents say "Oxford University," despite no one actually calls it that. She would often fob Vicky's use of American colloquialisms onto Lucy, Vicky's best friend from America. Considering Vicky and Lucy are not BFFs for first half of the book, this doesn't make sense.
      Flavor of the period: Despite her meticulous research, you don't feel like you're in Edwardian England. Something is just off when she tries inject something that would give it a hint of realism, so then it feels stilted.
      Character development: Other than Will or Vicky, you don't really get a sense of who these people are. Even Vicky's mother, whom we find out has a connection to Vicky's choice in life, seems to be absently shallow.
    • 2/5
      This book is about a girl named Victoria that gets herself into a bit of a scandal when her boarding school discovers that she has been skipping extracurricular classes to attend art classes. The scandal is intensified when it is discovered that she posed nude for a sketching class. She dreams of becoming a true artist but her family wants her to marry up and into an equally if not more wealthy family. She’s willing to marry the man her parents have set her up with because he can pay her tuition for art college until she finds a muse in a low class police constable. This book is supposed to be about feminism and not conforming to limitations placed on women by men but I couldn’t stand Vicky. I’ll admit I was duped into thinking Edmund was a really nice guy and he was but then he took a 180 turn and at that point I would have quit the book if I didn’t realize I was almost done with it. Now I realize that finding out his fiancée has been cheating on him for months was probably what did him in. But the whole thing just got so horrible that the side characters that I liked so much became enablers for Vicky to continue her horrible behavior and excused her for what she had been doing. I hate when love triangles start off well with both options being viable but then start leaning heavily towards one and completely destroying the other person’s characterization as if that was what’s needed to break the triangle. The more I think about this book the less I like it because Vicky is truly insufferable but I did like the background.
    • 3/5
      Something is missing from this novel. It could have been a lot more and yet, it played it safe. You knew what was going to happen in the very end, because the author made it all painfully clear this is what is going to happen through the entire book. There was no twist. No surprises. Not even a really original thought going into this book given the author's history (she lived in England for nearly a decade and had access to primary sources) and the fairly nice bibliography at the end of the book. The book is just mediocre and a let down, but it gets 3 stars because technically it is well written, even if the storyline seems meh.

      The author could have made this really beguiling and filled with wonder, but instead she made it feel tightly corseted and maybe a titch overedited.

      Pros
      Story was fast paced and read quickly
      Plot was pretty well organized and was linear
      There was not an abundance of useless characters
      When the author was on point about a scene, she got it brilliantly well (but this was more rare than one would hope)

      Cons
      Use of language: Edwardian England is a class filled society, yet everyone spoke the same: Her parents, Will, the French boys at the atelier, and so forth. She could have least tried to make an effort, but instead, this seems sloppy and lazy.
      Colloquialisms: Example: In the beginning, she had her parents say "Oxford University," despite no one actually calls it that. She would often fob Vicky's use of American colloquialisms onto Lucy, Vicky's best friend from America. Considering Vicky and Lucy are not BFFs for first half of the book, this doesn't make sense.
      Flavor of the period: Despite her meticulous research, you don't feel like you're in Edwardian England. Something is just off when she tries inject something that would give it a hint of realism, so then it feels stilted.
      Character development: Other than Will or Vicky, you don't really get a sense of who these people are. Even Vicky's mother, whom we find out has a connection to Vicky's choice in life, seems to be absently shallow.
    • 4/5
      I did enjoy this overall but it was a bit slow paced in parts. Vicky is ostracized for taking her clothes off in front of men for her art class. Vicky goes out of her way to prove that she is not one of those " kittens and fruit painting female artists" her favorite thing to draw/paint is the nude form. Vicky also had a passion for the pre- raphaelites and a certain mermaid painting. This was well written I do enjoy some paintings but I'm not a huge art person and even I felt wrapped in early 1900's art world of London.I adored Will from the beginning . He's such a sweetheart. Vicky's fiancee was aloof and disrespectful to her at some parts so he gets no love here. I loved the ending and enjoying reading through the historical notes at the end." Do You love to draw people in the buff""I do. I love it.""Why"" There is something about it that makes me feel like a real artist, like I'm not pretending" . I don't know if you feel this when you write ,but so many times my head is filled with voices telling me I'm only playing at being an artist. But all of those leave me when I draw the nude form . I don't know why
    • 2/5
      Eh, the more I think about it, the more I realize 3 stars was too generous. Character change in this book=too little, too late. I was too severely annoyed and angry with Vicky for me to believe that she could just do such a 180, since up until the last 70 pages she pretty much just uses everyone around her. Full review to come.

    • 3/5
      3.5 stars.

      I really enjoyed reading this for the time period and the context. I've read some about the fight for Women's rights and what was going on in the United States at the time, but I had never read anything about what was going on in England at the time. It was really interesting. I also liked the sense of adventure and how she bucked conventions to put herself out there and do what she wanted to do.
    • 3/5
      A fun yet incredibly clean story about a young woman who wants to be an artist but is chafing against her high-class background. It also follows the story of the suffragettes in England and her interactions with them. A bit on the long side but a fresh story.
    • 4/5
      "I never set out to pose nude. I didn't, honestly. But when the opportunity arose, I took it."Thus begins Sharon Biggs Waller's historical YA novel, _A Mad, Wicked Folly_. The title refers to a remark Queen Victoria made in 1870 calling on "anyone who can speak or write to join in checking this mad, wicked folly of 'Women's Rights' with all its attendant horrors." By 1909, the year in which the plot takes place, British women are fervently fighting for the vote and meeting increasingly violent resistance.The protagonist, Victoria Darling, doesn't set out to be a suffragette. She simply wants to study at the Royal Academy of Art. A seemingly simple request, but one that is verboten to her as the daughter of a social-climbing industrialist. After the scandal that the first lines describe, Vicky's parents take her art supplies away and coerce her into becoming engaged to the son of one of her father's business partners. Vicky initially resists, but then decides that perhaps marriage would free her from her parents' decisions and allow her to pursue her art career.Vicky first comes across the suffragettes when she sketches them at a protest and gets arrested in the process. She then discovers they're working on a mural for an upcoming women's art exhibition and sees an opportunity to continue working on her painting in preparation for applying to the RAC. As the plot develops, Vicky discovers that her wish to have the freedom to pursue her art is very much related to the suffragettes' fight.There's a lot here that's completely improbable, given the class and gender divisions of the early 20th century. But there's also an engaging story about a passionate young woman, and a hell of a lot of interesting, accurate history about the suffrage movement at the time. I also appreciated the fact that Waller's novel avoids having Vicky be "rescued" in any way; when she does break from her parents, she does it on her own, and on her own terms and her own dime.Well worth reading, especially for those who can't get enough of Edwardian England. If you miss "Downton Abbey"'s Sybil--the freespirited, upper-class "New Woman" who defies social convention--then you will enjoy this book.
    • 5/5
      I can't even tell you how much I enjoyed this book, it was down right good. We go back to a time where woman have no rights and at times, not even a choice of who they will marry. Victoria is an artist and has to sneak around to draw, her parents strongly forbid her to draw or attend art school. She meets Will who helps her pursue her dreams of going to college. Will is just the sweetest and the chemistry between them is so sweet. I actually lost my breath a little while reading a romantic part of the book.I did have one problem though, the ending. It just ended so quickly, I just like when they give us something more at the end. I would of loved an epilouge! I wish this was a series, even though it was really feminist, I thoroughly enjoyed the story.
    • 3/5
      Narrated by Katherine McEwan. This novel about the burgeoning suffrage movement comes to vivid life in McEwan's interpretation. Characters are memorably portrayed, from Victoria's suffragette friends to her loutish fiance. Listen and be transported to 1900s England when history was being made by women.
    • 4/5
      Victoria Darling lives in Edwardian London and wants nothing more than to be a famous artist, however, women in her era aren't permitted to have occupations that take them away from the activities of the upper echelons of aristocratic society. She starts her fight for her right to pursue art education at the same time as the women of England are fighting for their right to vote. I really enjoyed reading about the suffragette movement from the perspective of Victoria. The characters were well-written and the story was fascinating.
    • 4/5
      For some reason, the title of this book put me off of it for the longest time. I'm so glad I finally got around to reading it -- excellent historical fiction, with a stubborn young woman at the heart of it. There are things I found difficult to believe, given the social setting, but I found her journey into adulthood and personal responsibility to be excellently well depicted. These characters felt very real to me -- unlike in many teen books, when the main character fails to do what they know is right and the drama just grows and grows from there, in this book failures are acknowledged and (eventually or immediately forgiven). I was completely drawn into the suffrage movement and the artistic scene, and I loved the pre-raphaelite mentions.
    • 3/5
      Read my full review here.

      It’s been awhile since I’ve read a historical fiction novel that isn’t also fantasy or sci-fi, so I was super excited to dive into the world of A Mad, Wicked Folly. I’m so glad that I read this book.

      Since the protagonist, Vicky, is an artist, the book is filled with so many vivid descriptions. It makes the book itself feel like a piece of visual art. I took visual art all four years of high school, and this reminded me so much of what it was like to be engrossed in the art world, and it made me miss it. There’s also a meta-fictive aspect since Will, the love interest, is a writer. The way Vicky and Will feel about their crafts is seriously so wonderful to read about.

      As for our dear Vicky, she is a feisty one. She is quite immature for most of the novel, but that gives her a lot of room to grow. And grow she does. Our protagonist is flawed, partly because she’s been sheltered by her parents and didn’t realize the true effects of patriarchy on her life. There were many times when I would shake my head at her because she did things without thinking them through, and that caused problems for her like agreeing to marry Edmund. Also, I knew that she had feelings for Will, but she certainly didn’t for some time (or maybe she wanted to convince herself she didn’t). Despite this, I was really rooting for her. All she wants to do is become a professional artist, and that’s extremely difficult for women to do in 1909. She’s a vocal feminist, but was afraid of getting more involved with the suffragettes at first. I got mad along with her when men - and even women - tried to oppress her because of her gender her own family was sexist.

      I will say that at times I felt that her characterization wasn’t consistent, and that gave me pause. This made it hard for me to become engrossed in the story at first. I felt like Vicky wasn’t consistent - sometimes she was a vocal feminist, other times she wasn’t and sometimes she would be rational, most times she wouldn't -, and she didn’t seem to grow until the last pages of the book. Even then, one of her main motivations for reuniting with Will is because she wants some of her art published.

      I absolutely adore Will. He helps the suffragettes, he respects and cares for Vicky, and he supports her. He also challenges her to be better, which I absolutely love. He is seriously a wonderful guy; I’m glad Waller created such a great male character for Vicky to fall for. My heart did break for them at parts, but then I smiled when things went well for them.

      If you’re looking for a feminist novel that’s steeped in history about strong women fighting for their right to be heard, then this novel is perfect for you. I was horrified by the way the suffragettes - and all women, for that matter - were treated. Sadly, women still are treated poorly. Novels like this are a giant call for gender equality, and for that reason alone it’s very important.

      Overall, A Mad, Wicked Folly is a wonderful coming-of-age story about an artist struggling in a patriarchal world to be free to follow her dreams and be with who she loves.
    • 4/5
      Wanting to read something in another time period and hearing so many rave reviews about this book, I picked it up for a rainy day read. And it was perfect.Plot: This story is in the 1900′s where women and beginning to fight for their rights in society. One thing about this plot is that it is filled with great diversity in what women went through back in the day. From social stigma to arranged marriages. This plot never felt boring.Love: I really like this area. Back in the day women got their social status and money from the man they marry. So naturally they had to marry up whether they liked the man or not. It really neat to explore the pressure to marry “up” and how society looked down on a man who did not have money. The comments that where made as well as the degrading names really brought this area to life for the reader.Ending: The ending is so good that I’m wondering if there will be a second book. I sure hope so. It ended with a cliff hanger that certainly makes me want more.If you enjoy historical with a coming of age story about a young women fighting for her place in society, then you must read this book! It jammed-packed with amazing women all changing the world one step at a time. I can’t wait to see what will happen next. A Mad,Wicked Folly is a sensational read!