Book Review - Julia Quinn's Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron
Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron by Julia Quinn and Violet Charles
Published by: Avon
Publication Date: May 10th, 2022
Format: Paperback, 160 Pages
Rating: ★★
To Buy
Priscilla Butterworth's luck has never been the best. She was born in a small town the day before the pox arrived. She lost almost her entire family. Her mother and grandmother mercifully survived and then thrived turning the family coffin business into a hostelry. But everything went downhill one day when Priscilla was almost killed by a wild boar. A kindly older man saved her but sadly died in an attempt to vault over the boar to save himself. His two grandsons were devastated by the loss while Priscilla was soon to regret her survival as her mother was carted off to prison due to tax evasion. At least Priscilla had her grandmother she thought. She did try to always look on the bright side. But her grandmother had a secret, she was dying of consumption. Therefore she sent Priscilla to live with family, her brother's son's wife. This callous lady wanted nothing to due with Priscilla but decided she and her three daughters could do with a servant and so Priscilla was allowed to stay on. But one day when Priscilla was left behind to clean the house while her family vacationed Priscilla snuck out to see her mother in prison. And she couldn't just leave her there! What kind of daughter would she be? Therefore using a washerwoman's cart she breaks her mother out of prison. They might have nothing but each other but will that stop them? No it won't! They will become pirate queens and sail the high seas and make their fortune! Sadly, that future isn't to come. As they sit under the very tree where Priscilla was saved by that kindly older man from the boar her mother is killed by pigeons. While Priscilla has both her legs broken by a runaway cart. She drags herself and her mother's body back to her relatives and begs to be taken back in. They reluctantly accept and she pays for her keep by keeping bees. But she overhears a plan to do away with her so that the money wasted on Priscilla can go to new dresses. She comes up with an elaborate plan to sell the honey in Brighton but uses the trip to escape, but it's a dark and stormy night when she stumbles on the Baron's estate. And that is when her story and her happily ever after really start.
The origins of this book are both bitter and sweet, much like Priscilla Butterworth's story. Julia Quinn created this book with her younger sister Violet Charles, though Quinn is quick to point out that really, this is Violet's baby. Which makes it all the more sad that she didn't live to see it published, being killed in a car crash last year by a drunk driver along with her father, her beloved dog, and her husband, who died later from injuries sustained in the crash. Just the facts of this book's release have me tearing up. Miss Butterworth's story? Neither in sadness or mirth. Sadly. So who will like this book? Well, the Briderton fans, which are legion, because this book is not for the graphic novel aficionados. The main problem lies in the fact that I'm just not a fan of Violet Charles's artwork. I feel eyes should be where eyes should be and anatomy is important. If this artwork was to succeed the writing needed to be far crisper and over-the-top. Just look to Kate Beaton, she of Hark! A Vagrant fame. Kate Beaton's art is very rough and stylized and yet it just works. Her style and writing fit together like peanut butter and jelly or pastries and gooseberries as the case may be. Whereas Violet Charles's style is cartoonish, and not in a good way. Kind of like Adam Ellis, whose work is good but best in small doses. Or like that Sense and Sensibility graphic novel Marvel released a few years ago which missed the mark so badly and very much because of the art. And this disparity for who will like this book and who won't is problematic for me because I fall on the graphic novel end of the spectrum because I've only been a Bridgerton fan for a year and a graphic novel addict my entire life. I have favorite artists and creators I follow just for the look if not for the story as well. I have high expectations in art and this just didn't float my boat. And as for the story? I kind of wish it had stuck more to what we know the plot was from what Hyacinth and Lady Danbury have said. There needed to be more hills, more than one cliff, and Priscilla needed to be a little stupider and not so resilient. Personally, what I think would fix it would be annotations by Lady Danbury. That would be enough.
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