Book Review: A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller

A Mad, Wicked Folly
Author: Sharon Biggs Waller
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Released: January 23rd 2014
Review Source: Viking Juvenile

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?

So, I’m just going to start this off with stating that A Mad, Wicked Folly is not typically a book I would have picked up on my own, I enjoy more present day books instead of historical ones. With that being said I still enjoyed the book, just maybe not as much as others who enjoy books based in the past.

A Mad, Wicked Folly follows Victoria Darling, a young inspiring artist trying to attempt to become the best she can, but when she poses nude in her art class she is shamed by her family and expelled from school. The book sets place in London in 1909, where women are fighting day and night for their rights in the government, the suffragettes as you know them as. After Vicky is expelled her parents are set to marry her off to the ever so wealthy Edmund in hopes that scandal will be laid to rest. Vicky may not be set on marrying Edmund, but she will do anything in her power to attend art school, and have her art work seen my many. When Vicky gets mixed in with the suffragettes everything begins to unfold and she will do whatever she has to to become an artist.

Like I stated before I am not the biggest fan of historical books, but with that aside I really did enjoy this book. I loved the strength and extreme determination Vicky had throughout the book. She never gave up and never thought herself unworthy of having an education and having a mind and thought of her own. After she gets expelled from school for posing nude, she sets out to sketch more to build up her portfolio and she begins with sketching the suffragette’s movement. While she is sketching the suffragettes she gets pushed into a policeman and gets arrested for attacking an officer. The officer we come to know is William Fletcher who later becomes Vicky’s muse throughout the book and hidden love interest. Boy did I ever fall head over heels for Will and how him and Vicky were both striving to become their own kind of artist. I have my reservations about love triangles, but this one kind of sort had one, but Vicky was courted to marry Edmund, she never really loved him. Her determination was so incredibly inspiring, and that is what kept me reading. I love seeing a strong female doing all she can do, to become independent and herself, do what she loves. There were so many obstacles thrown in her face and with anyone else they would have just given up, but Vicky never did, she never let go of her goals.

If you love a strong female role, this book is for you, if you love the Edwardian era, this book is for you. It may not have been a book I would have picked off the shelves for myself, but I am so glad I read it. I truly love reading strong female roles, and with the suffragettes in the mix it just added more strength and determination that I do love reading about.