{Review} A Mad, Wicked Folly by @sbiggswaller {Giveaway} @NightOwlReviews @VikingChildrens ~ Crossroad Reviews

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Title: A Mad, Wicked Folly
Author: Sharon Biggs Waller
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Release Date: January 23, 2014
Pages: 448
Format: Print ARC
Source: Night Owl Reviews
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Description:
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?

Biography

Sharon Biggs Waller grew up around artists and developed a passion for Edwardian history and the Pre-Raphaelites when she moved to England in 2000. She did extensive research on the British suffragettes for her novel when she wasn't working as a riding instructor at the Royal Mews in Buckingham Palace and as a freelance magazine writer. She is the author of three non-fiction books about horses under her maiden name, Sharon Biggs. She is a dressage rider and trainer and lives on a 10-acre sustainable farm in Northwest Indiana with her British husband, Mark. Visit her at www.sharonbiggswaller.com.

In a time where if you were born a girl that was all you were. Vicky darling wants more. She want to go to art school and further her craft. But since she was born a girl one single action of posing nude for other artists gets her kicked out of her finishing school. Now her parents want to marry her off to his the scandal But Vicky has other plans. Selling a ring of her grandmothers she buys new art supplies finds friends in the oddest places. And finds her voice in a time when women didn't have any rights at all. With the help of other Women Of the WSPU (women social and political union) Vicky finds that she doesn't need a man to go to collage she can do it on her own.

I love how Vicky always tries to see the best in her family. Even when time after time all they do is shove the your a girl back in her face.

Vicky was born in the wrong time period. It is so scary how this book set in 1909 is so different from ours. If our children could drawl like her at the age of 17/18 we would be calling Juilliard or the like and encouraging our child to reach for the stars regardless of their gender.

This book was very inspirational for all woman of any age and I think it should be added to the books for those in high school. I think the teens there would find more to talk about in this novel vs. The Scarlet Letter and the Lord of the Flies which are two of the books that I had to read in 10th grade.

Here are some of the pictures that were talked about in the book. I was very happy that the author gives you information about the time period at the end. And I adored the poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson you can find it here via Wiki> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_of_Shalott

It was one of my fav growing up and I even memorized most of it when I was around 15-16. The painting of this poem via John William Waterhouse was also a fav of my younger years as well as now. If you go to that link above you will also see it. As well as the other painting discussed of The Lady of Shalott Looking at Lancelot.

At the very end of the book there is an amazing recipe for Victoria's Favorite Pikelets which we will be trying our hand at later.

"*I received a copy of this book for free to review, this in no way influenced my review, all opinions are 100% honest and my own."