Nettleblack - Supernormal Reads

English language

Published Oct. 11, 2022 by Cipher Press.

ISBN:: 978-1-8383900-6-8

(1 review)

Subversive and playful, Nettleblack is a neo-Victorian queer farce that follows a runaway heir/ess and an organisation of crime-fighting misfits as they struggle with the misdeeds besieging a rural English town.

The year is 1893. Having run away from her family home to escape an arranged marriage, Welsh heiress Henry Nettleblack finds herself ambushed, robbed, and then saved by the mysterious Dallyangle Division - part detective agency, part neighbourhood watch. Desperate to hide from her older sisters, Henry disguises herself and enlists. But the Division soon finds itself under siege from a spate of crimes and must fight for its very survival. Assailed by strange feelings for her new colleague - the tomboyish, moody Septimus - Henry quickly sees that she’s lost in a small rural town with surprisingly big problems. And to make things worse, sinister forces threaten to expose her as the missing Nettleblack sister. As the net …

Subversive and playful, Nettleblack is a neo-Victorian queer farce that follows a runaway heir/ess and an organisation of crime-fighting misfits as they struggle with the misdeeds besieging a rural English town.

The year is 1893. Having run away from her family home to escape an arranged marriage, Welsh heiress Henry Nettleblack finds herself ambushed, robbed, and then saved by the mysterious Dallyangle Division - part detective agency, part neighbourhood watch. Desperate to hide from her older sisters, Henry disguises herself and enlists. But the Division soon finds itself under siege from a spate of crimes and must fight for its very survival. Assailed by strange feelings for her new colleague - the tomboyish, moody Septimus - Henry quickly sees that she’s lost in a small rural town with surprisingly big problems. And to make things worse, sinister forces threaten to expose her as the missing Nettleblack sister. As the net starts to close around Henry, the new people in her life seem to offer her a way out, and a way forward. Is the world she’s lost in also a place she can find herself?

Told through journal entries and letters, Nettleblack is a picaresque ride through the perils and joys of finding your place in the world, challenging myths about queerness – particularly transness – as a modern phenomenon, while exploring the practicalities of articulating queer perspectives when you’re struggling for words.

2 editions

Jaelyn reviewed Nettleblack by Nat Reeve

Review of 'Nettleblack' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

1893 in the rural English town of Dallyangle, the youngest of the Nettleblack sisters (heirs to the Nettleblack fortune) Henry Nettleblack decides to flee her eldest sister’s plans to marry her off to elevate the family to aristocracy. However, Henry is cornered by thieves and loses everything. Thankfully saved by the Dallyangle Division (detective agency come neighbourhood watch composed nearly entirely of women), Henry decides to enlist before promptly fainting.

Hiding as a new recruit in Division, she deals with a the spate of robberies, a missing head and her eldest sister’s instructions to track her down. And then there are strange and distracting feelings Henry seems to be developing for her superior Septimus. Thankfully, there are plenty of other locals who, through experience, find it easier at putting such queer things into words. Perhaps in the Division, Henry can find her true self in a way she never could …

1893 in the rural English town of Dallyangle, the youngest of the Nettleblack sisters (heirs to the Nettleblack fortune) Henry Nettleblack decides to flee her eldest sister’s plans to marry her off to elevate the family to aristocracy. However, Henry is cornered by thieves and loses everything. Thankfully saved by the Dallyangle Division (detective agency come neighbourhood watch composed nearly entirely of women), Henry decides to enlist before promptly fainting.

Hiding as a new recruit in Division, she deals with a the spate of robberies, a missing head and her eldest sister’s instructions to track her down. And then there are strange and distracting feelings Henry seems to be developing for her superior Septimus. Thankfully, there are plenty of other locals who, through experience, find it easier at putting such queer things into words. Perhaps in the Division, Henry can find her true self in a way she never could under her sister’s tutelage.

I absolutely adored this charming farcical comedy of scandal and sapphic love. I love the characters and their chafing against the little Victorian world the book creates. Pretty much everyone has a secret and is finding their own path to freedom or respect in a society that doesn’t wish to take them seriously; particularly split-skirt ladies fighting crime on bicycles. The style of the book is through journals and extracts with a very Dickensian vibe in parts (notably the old-style chapter headings) which I find quite charming.

Henry is an adorable cinnamon roll, stammering and swearing in fruits - pomegranates! - as she desperately tries to prove her worth to the world. Septimus (noted by someone else as "prone to poor judgement with short-haired androgynous types") is the hot-head tomboy fighting guilt over her past failures. Cassandra, the daughter of the Director of the division, feels underpressure from her mother’s perfectionism (and not helped by being women in charge of a “police” and the only black family in the area). Pip, the dandy genderless cravat designer, is intimidating in both style and speech (such goals!). Rosamond, the scandalous middle sister who refuses to give up her Welsh tongue, is the rebellious sibling who is easy to look up to. I could go on but I do love this cast of characters.

Subjects

English literature