The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows: Feminine Pursuits

Where the first book in this series, A Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics, focused more on the upper crust, this book dealt with the middle class, focusing on two characters, Agatha and Penelope who are a printer and the wife of a Navy man respectively. Firstly, I loved this book. It was as terrific as the first, with different characters (though an original character or two does make an appearance), and just as filled with love and romance as the first. I probably finished the book in what ended up being less than 24 hours, but I wanted more. The author does such an amazing job of painting both bustling London and the sleepy English country town where most of the plot takes place that I wanted to live there forever, watching the main couple through their trials and tribulations, their elations and grief, and all the rollicking sex that they have as well. ;) Another thing I really loved about this book is that (contrary to the cover art), the two women in the book are not super young (about 42 and 45), not models, and definitely feel their age (this is set in the early 1800s). They talk about their joints and creaks, their gray hairs and otherwise act their age. There is hope for us older lesbians after all! 100% recommend this book to anyone who loved the first in this series, loves reading about two women falling in love, loves bees or beekeeping in general, or just wants to have a good time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . SPOILERS BELOW . . . . . . . .…

Agatha Griffin is a 45-year-old widow who took over her late husband’s printing shop with her son and her apprentice. When she goes to the other print shop in Meliton she finds one corner overrun by bees. Her mother-in-law introduces her to 43-year-old Penelope Flood who is well known for her skills with bees. Over the course of getting Agatha’s hive settled and bonding over the other hives in town, a romance gradually develops between the two women. I really enjoyed the discussions around divorce and women’s freedoms (or lack thereof) during the time. Queen Catherine is accused of adultery while the whole of England knows King George has also been adulterous, but because he’s a man it is her indiscretions which the law takes issue with. With that going on, riots and protests and seditious writings all crop up and add to the drama of the time. Another thing I enjoyed with this book was the various queer experiences. Penelope is married, but both she and her husband are queer, and in fact he is in a relationship with her brother. John and Henry are often out of the country on whaling trips, and Penelope is able to conduct her affairs as she pleases. There’s also other queer couples and discussions of how they have to hide and how sometimes their relationships are essentially well-known secrets. The romance between Penelope and Agatha has a slow burn quality to it as starts as a slow friendship over beekeeping, but as they spend more and more time in each other’s company…