— 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 —

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The Housekeepers
𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬: N/A
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫(𝐬): Alex Hay
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Historical Thriller
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 6th July 2023
𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝: 6th June 2023
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 4/5

”‘Never underestimate the kitchen girls, Mr Lockwood,’ she said. ‘They’ve got brains the same as anyone. They see everyone coming and going.’”

Well, call me a maid because I swept through this.

As soon as I heard about this book that shows a revenge heist in 1900 Mayfair society that challenges power, gender, and class, I knew I needed it.

Alex Hay creates a fictional world that depicts high society as a bunch of con artists and thieves. Then puts them through an action filled ordeal that is full of suspense. I literally could not have put the book down if the house was on fire.

The story itself was fast paced, and every bit as thrilling and daring as I’d hoped. I adored the unique characters that all had one thing in common: they were all strong women. I could shed tears talking about how much I love a fierce female character, and this book is full of them.

”Winnie’s eyes brightened. ‘It should be something grand, something with meaning. What about The Fishwives of Paris? Or The Monstrous Regiment? Or The Army of Boudicca?’ ‘We’re not fishwives, we’re housekeepers.’”

The author also explores some darker themes. Female exploitation in the service trade was a huge and heavy theme that was delivered well from a historical standpoint. But there was also the more subtle idea of marriage being a type of servitude, rather than the savior many women hoped it would be.

The author said that she loved books with big houses, broken families, loyal friendships, and wild ambitions, and The Housekeepers embodies these elements to a spectacular level.

—Kayleigh🤍
@ Welsh Book Fairy🧚‍♀️✨

I thought this book was hilarious! Okay, it took a little getting into, and sorting out who was who. But as the book progressed, I found the fantastic ideas and ingenuity won me over.
Plenty of twists, quite a lot of 'a bit weird', and a lot of laughs made me quite happy. The ending I felt let it down a little, but I won't give a point less as this was such a brilliant idea.
I'm not sure that this is meant to be a funny book, but for me it was, and cheered me up.

Another historical fiction. Whilst the blurb sounded very interesting this just didn’t do it for me.

I enjoyed reading about London, the roads etc all were familiar to me. This aspect helped me relate to the book.

However, I did not want to reach for this book every day. It did not hold my interest at all, I found myself skimming through some of the pages. It felt slightly predictable, felt some of the sub-plots were pointless.

There was too many characters that it became confusing when POV changes and I wasn’t sure who we was following. POV changed mid-chapters sometimes mid and page which I found quite frustrating.

Also I can’t be the only one that felt Alice and Madame getting it off weird. Considering there are half sisters???

Thank you to headline and Alex Hay for this ARC

Another historical fiction for me and this one was a bit of a slow burner for me. I was a bit confused as I wasn’t sure what was happening. Why was Mrs King dismissed from her job as housekeeper for one of the most respected houses in Mayfair? Why feel the need to get revenge?

It was all very cloak and dagger. It then all made sense. A heist by the dismissed housekeeper, a black market lady who is revered, an actress, a seamstress and the housekeeper who was in the job before Mrs King.

The heist is planned for the same night that the lady of the house is throwing a ball. Will they pull it off? What secrets will be revealed?

This was an ok book. I didn’t love it but then I didn’t hate it either. Whilst the ending tied it all together I just felt a bit meh. Have I read better books? Yes. Will I recommend it to others who enjoy historical fiction? Yes as just because it wasn’t one of the favourite books I have read someone else will absolutely love it.

Alex has written a brilliantly observed, historical novel set in a time where big houses had lots of servants and felt they were above everyone else. A good plot with wonderful characters. Mrs King, who used to be the housekeeper decides to plan a heist whereby everything would be removed from the house in Mayfair on the night of a big fancy dress ball.

Servants are doing it for themselves.

It's a big con/magic trick of a plot: revenge on the wealthy by attempting to empty the house from around them during a party.

A housekeeper is dismissed from a very well-to-do Mayfair property. Mrs King is not about to take this lying down, no matter how quietly she leaves. With contacts, promise of payment and organisation, she's going to surround herself with allies, infiltrate the house, and hopefully steal every single item from her employer during the ball of the season.

Can it be done? And just what does everyone have to hide, or seek vengeance for?

A small group of strong female characters, with backstories and pluck. A gradually revealed set of motivations brings empathy, and every reader will want to know just how the women are going to achieve their ambitious endgame.

Very enjoyable as an audiobook, clear demarcation for characters and tension abounds as the night of the ball draws ever closer. One I'd want to see on a screen.

With thanks to Netgalley for providing a sample audio copy.

Set in 1905 in Mayfair, London, Mrs King, has been dismissed from her role as Housekeeper in a grand house. The Master of the house has recently died, and his daughter intends to throws the ball of the season whilst still grieving.

This gives Mrs King and her close friends an opportunity to get revenge by planning a heist on the house during the ball.

This was an enjoyable heist tale which was fun to read - both on audio book and ebook but at times I was a little lost in the narrative.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I wanted too - was so unrealistic to me and some of the plot went off into subplots and so I did not get attached to any of the characters. It was off putting and irritating, but that being said I'm sure others will enjoy this style.

It took me a while to get into this book and I wouldn’t say that I was ever truly engrossed in the story but it did get interesting once the heist was taking place, however that was in the last third of the book so there’s a bit of a wait. It’s well written but I felt quite detached from the characters throughout and not invested in the outcomes, and perhaps too much of the plan was hidden and there were too many secrets that weren’t revealed until very late in the game. The concept was great and it’s great to see a female led heist, and the historical setting was interesting, and discovering more about all the characters and how their pasts were interwoven. The Janes were definitely my favourite characters - easily underestimated but incredibly skilled and intelligent, they carried the story for me and I would have liked to know more about them.

I received a free copy of this book. All views are my own.

I loved the concept of this novel – a historical heist, with the downstairs staff robbing the aristocracy of a Park Lane mansion. However, despite being told it is 1905, the characters felt often too modern to me. They wore the costumes, as though it were a drama, but neither their thought processes or their behaviour, never really felt authentic to me.

That said, this was a lot of fun. Miss de Vries is throwing a ball, shortly after the death of her father, Wilhelm de Vries, who once went by the name of Danny O’Flynn. Miss de Vries is looking for an aristocratic title, and a good marriage, but despite her wealth, she is looked down upon by many of those on her guest list. Meanwhile, her former housekeeper, Mrs Dinah King, has an audacious plan to rob the house during the ball. She has a group of accomplices and a desire to redistribute wealth in her favour.

Although this did not quite work for me, it is certainly an interesting idea with a lot to say about the upstairs downstairs dynamics, loyalties and relationships. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

Rated 3.5

Absolutely loved this book.itvteallyvwould make a good tv programme. Strong characters, humourous in parts and an unbelievably believable story line. Highly recommended

I absolutely loved everything about this book! From the setting and atmosphere to the stunning characters and intricate storylines. I could have kept reading way beyond the end of the book!

After holding the position of housekeeper at one of the best houses on Park Lane for many years, Mrs King is let go from her role and sets about forming a plan of revenge.

So often in this era, we focus on those upstairs and those downstairs are kept quiet and in their place. Here, however, we focus very much on the voices of those below and we see how the underdogs can rise up and work together to get what's owed to them.
Mrs King starts to recruit a concoction of colourful characters to help her implement a devious and complicated plan....but is it all just about revenge?

There is a big cast involved in this book, but I totally loved every single character, personality and their roles in the plan. Each of them just jumped right off the page and although set in the Victorian era, this was so relatable and utterly believable. As the storylines develop, more and more connections are revealed and more secrets surface.

The storylines weaved beautifully around each other for a fair part of the book but as they came together and the plan is executed, we see how truly genius the whole plot is.

The writing style was so easy to read and had me racing from chapter to chapter, I could not put this down. I also haven't stopped thinking about it since.
Alex Hay has catapulted onto my auto buy list - I am obsessed!

3.5 / 5

"The Housekeepers" is a fun, fast-paced story about a heist in an Edwardian household, taking place during the party of the century. Led by Mrs King, who is supposedly just a former disgruntled employee (we will later learn that's not the whole truth) a rag-tag gang of women plan to liberate the grand house - and its current mistress - of all its belongings. Sounds complex and detailed, right? Well, I think it got a bit too complex and detailed, so much so that rather than getting a grand, intricate, tight story, we got a chaotic, skimming-the-surface-of-the-iceberg one.

There are positives. A fantastically original plot with some really terrific characters - particularly Mrs Bone, Mrs King and Miss De Vries. As more was revealed about their backgrounds and the ways in which they operated, they became far more fascinating to me as a reader. Though I didn't find the heist particularly clever in a way one would expect for a heist novel, the back and forth was well written and there were some really funny moments within it.

I think where this book suffers is trying to cram too much into one book. Most of the supporting characters were rather unforgettable (save the Janes and Hepzibah) to the point where I was getting thoroughly confused trying to work out whose story was whose. There are a number of twists in the book and I felt only a couple really worked. The connection between Mrs Bone, Mrs King and Miss de Vries worked really well, but there were others I found myself actively annoyed by. They seemed to just be there to try and give the characters a reason for existing, rather than holding up the core themes and ideas of the book.

There is also a subplot involving - as insinuated - the purchasing / sexual assault of vulnerable women within this house. It serves as motivation for one character and the evil backstory of another and gave me an enormous ick. I'm immediately wary when male writers put female characters at the forefront of their novels and, whilst it was generally alright, I didn't feel this plotline was needed. There were other routes the writer could've taken that weren't 'a bunch of women are being actively violated upstairs' - especially as it wasn't explored very deeply.

Structurally, things also start to fall apart around the third act. The heist starts at the 50% mark - and I was wondering where on earth things were going to move or develop considering we still had half the book left. I also found the ending wholly unsatisfying - things are pulled off with remarkable ease and for about 10% of the book, we just get additional tags that mean very little. In fact, I wonder if the last 20 pages or so could have been rolled up into one epilogue. The energy and pacing dips. The ending does a disservice to the rest of the novel - indeed, it's pacing and snappy writing are on of its highlights. I kept waiting for a twist or an 'a-ha' moment - and I was either too dense to get it or there wasn't one. For my self-esteem, I lean towards the latter.

It reads like a debut; trying to do a lot and just not quite hitting the mark. The writing is strong and it's an interesting concept - it's by no means a bad book. But, it's trying to do too much. In fact, it feels like it started life in a different format (screenplay more specifically). But, it's enjoyable.

This was a very different story as it was an almost impossible to consider robbery that went well. It was difficult to conceive as it was purely a robbery created by women and so fantastically thought through.. The other amazing thing about this book was the fact that it has been set in the Edwardian period. It was a read that kept me absorbed and wanting to find out more but with such a large set of characters it was not easy to always remember who as related to whom and it made it difficult to really get into the character of them all. The descriptions of the scenery and the lifestyle were fantastic and it was easy to believe that this was truly happening.
Overall a great read but I wanted to get some more in depth on each of the characters.

This is a really entertaining read. I didn’t want to put it down. Downton Abbey crossed with Ocean’s Eleven gives you a flavour of the story. Upstairs shenanigans of money, position, debauchery and power with downstairs planning the heist of the era. With other tensions thrown in. Thank you to Headline Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC. The views expressed are all mine, freely given.

When a housekeeper is dismissed from a nouveau riche household, the life upstairs goes on as usual. A ball is being planned, the dress for the heiress is being made, and there are servants coming and going. But outside, the wronged women are planning their revenge.
The Housekeepers is a thrilling caper set in the upper and lower echelons of the early 20th Century society. The story concentrates on a heist but it also reveals a darker, grimmer side of life for those from the low margins of society, especially vulnerable women and young girls. Opulence and privilege contrast with the poverty and disadvantage of women and poor – maybe it’s nothing new but the author clearly had so much fun writing it it’s a joy to read.
I loved the sheer audacity of the plot, which is revealed in stages and glimpses. And it was great to read about such a great cast of female characters that would usually be omitted and ignored. I did not care if the heist was realistic or not, I just wanted them to succeed. I hope that Alex Hay produces another novel soon – he’s a new author to watch out for.

In “The Housekeepers”, we meet Mrs King as she is dismissed from her position of housekeeper at a grand house at the turn of the 20th Century. Intent on getting the justice she feels she deserves, Mrs King puts together a band of servants with one aim – robbing the house of all its possessions on the night of a ball attended by the top members of London society.

This is, at heart, a kind of Edwardian heist story, with all of the meticulous planning and varied characters that you might expect from that. There is also more revealed as we dig a little more into the background of the team of Housekeepers, and realise they are all more connected with each other, and the occupants of the grand house, than it would originally appear.

I enjoyed this story, and liked the period details and setting, but didn’t really feel as though I got to know any of the characters terribly well. Perhaps because the cast was so large, it was hard to get any more than slightly beneath the surface of each member of the Housekeepers, and there were certainly some characters that I wanted more back story for. Overall, though, it was entertaining and different.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

A great female heist story set in the early 1900s.
Mrs King is suddenly let go from her job as housekeeper. She decides to exact revenge by recruiting a group of women who all have particular skills to carry out the perfect heist.

Lots of secrets are unraveled, lots of tension and suspense, it's an exciting tale of strong resourceful women, who do what they have to in order to stay at the top.

This one was alright. I wouldn’t say it was anything revolutionary or particularly new but it was an enjoyable and quick read!

What fun this book was, though I did find the premise pretty unbelievable. However it was a page turner and I really enjoyed reading a out. Great descriptions and realistic characterisations.. This would make an excellent film..