"The Secrets of Blythswood Square" by Sara Sheridan

"The Secrets of Blythswood Square" by Sara Sheridan is the October selection for my Childless Collective Nomo Book Club. We read another novel by Sheridan two years ago, "The Fair Botanists" (reviewed here).

Like "The Fair Botanists," "The Secrets of Blythswood Square" is set in Victorian-era Scotland -- (mostly) Glasgow, 1846 -- and involves the stories of two women from very different backgrounds:  Ellory Mann, a working-class girl who -- thanks to a generous benefactor -- leaves her job as a photographer's assistant in Edinburgh and comes to Glasgow to set up shop for herself;  and Charlotte Nicholl, the sheltered daughter of a Glasgow businessman, who is left alone in a big house on Blythswood Square -- and less well off than she anticipated -- after he dies.  

The book includes some familiar cliches -- with a few twists. For one thing, there are quite a few decidedly un-Victorian characters and attitudes portrayed.  The two unconventional and independent protagonists, for example, may not be typical of women of this period -- but they do make for a good story, overall. ;)  There's a large cast of supporting characters, whose storylines all become intertwined with Charlotte's & Ellory's, including real-life American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who spent time in the United Kingdom, speaking out against slavery. There's also Ellory's assistant-turned-model, Jane;   a mysterious stranger who shows up at Charlotte's father's funeral, an actress, her gay dresser, a father-son team of lawyers, and a very proper neighbour who tries to take charge of Charlotte's life. 

There's a plot twist relatively early on -- a discovery that Charlotte makes about her father -- that I did not see coming (despite the "scandal" hinted at in the cover blurb!). The plot becomes increasingly complex, and it seems like everyone is keeping secrets from each other. I did guess one of the other plot twists, near the end of the book, as well as another twist revealed in the closing pages. Despite the cliches, the writing is good, the characters (while perhaps unrealistically modern in some ways) are interesting and overall, the book held my attention, especially the further I got into it. 

The author has done her research:  in an afterword, she reveals what was real in the book, what wasn't, and what was fiction but inspired by real-life people and events. 

I gave "The Fair Botanists" a rating of 3.5 stars on StoryGraph, rounded down to 3 stars on Goodreads. Initially, I gave this book the same, but after sleeping on it, I've decided to upgrade the Goodreads rating to 4 stars. :)  

This was Book #27 read to date in 2025 (and Book #2 finished in September), bringing me to 60% of  my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 books behind  schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books."