This is, of course, quite embarrassing to all involved. Bodily FunctionsĪ mechanical dog “poops” out whatever it eats, along with some ash. However, when an instructor does discover her friendship with the sooties, he quietly encourages it-getting to know people from other classes can be very useful. The sooties could get in huge trouble for going up top, just as Sophronia could ruin her reputation being found with the sooties. The lower classes are to be ignored, not sought out and befriended. The fact that Sophronia befriends Soap is as shocking because of his class as it is because he’s a different race. That’s part of the point of books like this. Marrying well is one of the things that is expected of good female spies. Sex is mentioned, much to the embarrassment of all the girls. RomanceĪlthough there are no romantic relationships, the girls frequently fawn over boys-Sophronia does not, so her attraction to Soap stands out all the more. Racism isn’t portrayed so much as evil as just narrow-minded. Dimity starts to ask if he knows their stable boy who is also “in color,” since obviously all colored people must know each other.
#Etiquette and espionage skin
When people bring it up, Sophronia deflects the conversation since Soap’s skin color is irrelevant to his worth as a person or her friend. Soap is “colored” which is a cause for much comment-except from Sophronia and Vieve who are quite open-minded about it. Vieve defies all feminine convention, dressing and acting like a boy, while Sophronia makes her mechanical bent part of her femininity. Sophronia loves to figure out how things work and Vieve loves to invent things. There are comments about the size of bosoms, and it’s clear that having enough of a bosom to fill a corset (although not too much) is very preferable. The girls are frequently reminded to watch their figures-which Sophronia initially takes literally. Girls are of course dismissed as inferior, but not only do the characters ignore such comments, they quietly defy them in everything they do. girl vibe with the two schools competing and cooperating with each other. Life threatening situations are faced with a minimum of hysterics.
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Facing things bluntly and head-on is considered rude and lower class. But most people would prefer to handle things with polite conversation and social games. And in theory, the flywaymen and other villains would happily kill Sophronia and her friends if that’s what’s needed.
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OK, there is some fighting several times. There’s a certain amorality to it, though. Despite this premise, it’s not a dark or violent book.
#Etiquette and espionage how to
The girls do word problems about how to poison only half your dinner guests. Lying, subterfuge, sneaking around, and learning how to hurt people is what it’s all about.
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SPOILER ALERT: Things you might want to know before suggesting this to your kid Bad Examples The characters are amusing and enjoyable. Soap is one of the sooties who keep the dirigibles in the air. Sidheag is from a family of werewolves (readers of the Parasol Protectorate will be able to identify her family) and Vieve, who dresses like a boy and loves engineering and inventing, is the niece of Madame Lefoux (also from the Parasol Protectorate). Dimity, who faints at the sight of blood, and her younger brother Pillover, who does useful things when he means to be destructive, are a bit of a disappointment to their parents. Sophronia soon makes friends with Dimity, from a family that fully embraces the evil lifestyle. The finishing school floats well above the ground, thanks to dirigibles. Many families knowingly send their girls to this school, and their boys to a boarding school for evil geniuses. She’s soon sent off to finishing school-but it turns out that, unbeknownst to her mother, it’s a finishing school for spies and assassins. We meet Sophronia, our heroine, in the midst of an escapade with a dumb waiter. Dirigibles are a viable form of personal transportation, and mechanical butlers and maids serve in the most fashionable homes. It’s a Victorian setting in which vampires and werewolves live, more or less peacefully, as part of society.
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#Etiquette and espionage series
Etiquette & Espionage is a novel for younger readers that takes place in the world of Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series (I highly recommend that series to teens and adults who wish Jane Austen had a more supernatural and steampunk flair).