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The Mistress of Pennington’s, Rachel Brimble
Thanks to NetGalley and to Aria for an advance copy of The Mistress of Pennington’s by Rachel Brimble.
I quite liked this story. It was like a twist on the Mr Selfridge story. I found that the department store came to life and I enjoyed reading about how they ran things. I also liked the mystery aspect: Who killed Joseph’s wife? I liked the two main characters. And I didn’t mind the stereotypical Edward Pennington. That’s what men were like in 1910, and the character of Robert Carter is a suitable foil.
Unfortunately, that’s where it all stopped.
Throughout the book we’re wondering will they, won’t they? Yet every time they decide they won’t, they actually do; and every time they decide they will, they actually don’t. Fortunately, that story thread is resolved one way or the other by the end.
I didn’t like the constant hinting that Edward Pennington was going to drop a life-changing bombshell. I didn’t like the constant allusion to some kind of twist that never came. And I didn’t like that we never did find out who killed Joseph’s wife, despite this being a major reason for Joseph approaching Pennington’s in the first place.
So I was left with quite the anti-climax – a major anti-climax in fact. And this meant the book, though very well written was, overall, disappointing.
