This is the first novel of Stacey Halls' that I've read and I must say I very much enjoyed it. I knew nothing about the charitable endeavour of Dickens and the immensely wealthy Angela Burdett Coutts in starting Urania Cottage and providing a future for 'fallen women'. Indeed I read the book not knowing it was based on fact and only looked up the details when I had finished the text. It is a testament to the writing that it all feels very authentic and genuine.
This is the story of a group of girls/young women, who have ended up in jail, yet are chosen by a committee of well minded people as being redeemable. When they have finished their sentences they are taken to Urania Cottage where they are taught how to be a servant and cook, and how to read and write and even how to play. musical instruments. The thought is that they will then leave England and take up a new life in the colonies away from the temptations that put them in jail in the first place.
The stories of these girls are intricately tied up in the novel with the life of the benefactress, Angela Burdett Coutts. There are some good twists in the plot so their stories blend together, with a satisfying ending.
It was good to follow the different characters's journeys through the story and the sense of place and the rather varied Victorian morals come through very well. I did find the pacing a little slow in places and I wasn't entirely blown away by the character of Richard Dunn but I was happy to suspend judgement and read to the end.
With thanks to Netgalley and Bonnier Books UK for an early copy in return for an honest review.

Anyone who knows me will know that queen of historical fiction, Stacey Halls, is one of my favourite authors ever - so I'm very grateful/excited to have been approved for an advanced copy of her newest novel, The Household! (Huge thank you to NetGalley and Manilla Press!)

The Household is set at Urania Cottage, a real-life house for 'fallen women' founded by Charles Dickens and Angela Burdett-Coutts (who feature as characters in the book!) back in the 1800s. We follow a group of young women who are sent to the institution following release from prison - and in true Stacey Halls style, there's some dark twists and turns along the way.

Did I love this one as much as Stacey Halls' other books? Maybe not. My attention started to waver a little bit, hence the 4 stars, but I did still love it nevertheless. If you've got this one on pre-order or are planning to buy it in April, then you're in for a treat!

Having loved all of Stacey Halls previous books, I was very excited to get reading this one. The story really intrigued me, but unfortunately, I really struggled to get into it and feel anything for the characters, of which it felt like there were too many.
Stacey Halls has such wonderful writing and unique stories. This one just wasn't for me, but I will still look forward to future releases from her.

Having read all of this author’s previous books & really enjoyed them, I was excited to get stuck into The Household as my first read of the New Year. I knew absolutely nothing about Urania Cottage & found the whole idea of it intriguing & inspiring. The characters in this story are well written & the girls from the Cottage stayed with me for a few days after I’d finished the book. However, I feel that the Richard Dunn storyline just didn’t add anything to the story. I still enjoyed the book, it’s just that he felt almost like a pantomime baddy to me at times & with everything going on as it was, the story didn’t need any more drama. With many thanks to NetGalley for an early copy.

I loved this book, absolutely filled with mystery and intrigue that is so decadent. The characters - individuals woven and their stories told so beautifully.

Thank you to NetGalley and Manilla Press for sending me this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

The Household by Stacey Halls is based on real historical figures and some real life events, although it is historical fiction. The book had me hooked from the start.

The story explores how women were treated during the Victorian era, as well as how easy it was for ordinary women to fall into the seamier side of society. Plus there is a twist in the tale that I did not see coming, one that made the book almost impossible to put down.

Angela Burdett-Coutts, heiress to the Coutts fortune, funded the establishment of a halfway house, Urania Cottage, for a few young women near the end of their jail terms in the mid 1800’s. Following their stay at the cottage, the idea was that the women would emigrate to Australia.

While Urania Cottage was not exactly freedom, there were clean linens, hot food and the promise of an education, a paradise compared to the prisons and the lifestyle the young women had left. The Household explores how powerless women were in the Victorian era, and how many were forced into lives of crimes.

Despite her wealth and position, even Angela Burdett-Coutts had to rely on the help of more powerful men. Angela also had issues of her own, including a stalker and extortionist, Richard Dunn, who plagued her for years.

As the story evolves, Angela’s life becomes terrifyingly entwined with the lives of the young women at Urania Cottage in ways she and they cannot possibly have imagined.

From Martha, the first inhabitant of Urania Cottage to Mrs Holdsworth and Angela Burdett-Coutts herself, Stacey Halls has built on historic events to create rich, complex characters I felt real empathy for. Her portrayal of Richard Dunn shows him as the villain he was, and in the story, he threatens not only Angela, but also the whole future of the household. I was on tenterhooks as the story played out.

The Household is fascinating, a real page turner, and I highly recommend it.

3.5 stars. Loved the era this book was set in, the evocative descriptions of both high and low class life in London and the Dickens references. Some great writing as expected from Stacey Halls, one of my favourite historical fiction writers. However... none of the characters enamoured me. I was not fighting their corner, and indeed I did not even grasp who the 'main' characters actually were until a long way in. Some characters came and went and I wasn't bothered, because I had no idea who they were anyway!! Perhaps too many of them? Some storylines just vanished and others appeared for no apparent reason. I literally lost the plot half way through! Maybe I was just not in the mood for what is a relatively complex book. It picked up towards the end, and some loose ends were tied up, although the end itself was 'meh'. Worth a read, but not for me I'm afraid.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the chance to read an ARC of The Household, in exchange for an honest review. This one’s a stunner., a captivating decadently rich story full of an entire cast of wonderful characters. It’s got it all, mystery, romance, intrigue. I’m a huge fan of historical/ period drama type books, so this was just like settling down on Sunday night for me. It’s definitely got echoes of Upstairs Downstairs and Downtown Abbey at its heart. I hope it gets adapted, because what a read.

I really enjoyed this historical novel. I have read others by Stacey Halls and equally enjoyed this one.

Urania Cottage is a charitable project involving Charles Dickens and an heiress, Angela Burdett-Coutts. Here young women are offered the chance for a new life away from the temptations of London. We met Martha, Josephine, Polly and Annie - all of whom have suffered and need a new start.

Angela is dealing with her own issues - a long-term stalker and an unrequited love interest - her story becomes embroiled with the cottage and its occupants.

The characters are well drawn and complex - very quickly you are feeling empathy for both the girls and Angela as they seek to escape their ‘demons’. I liked the historical details and found myself immersed in London of Dickens’ time.

A satisfying read. To be recommended.

A brilliant historical novel. I was hooked from the start.
The story of Angela Coutts and her relationship with the residents of Urania House is fascinating.
Urania House, co -founded by Angela Coutts and her friend Charles Dickens, is a home set up to educate and train wayward young women in household duties so that they can eventually start a new life in Australia.
The author's descriptions of the seedier parts of London and the violence towards young women are particularly vivid.
Angela herself has had a stalker for many years and her fear is so well portrayed.
I was rooting for the characters who come and go from Urania House, especially Martha and Josephine.
I am a big fan of Stacey Halls and I think this novel is her best to date. Highly recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC.

Wow a fascinating and interesting novel. Loosely based on real events ‘The Household’ tells the story of a group of young women who find themselves at Urania Cottage, a home for fallen women that was set up by Charles Dickens and Angela Coutts amongst others. The characters were well drawn, even Dickensian I’m some instances and the writing carried the plot along at a pace.
Excellent read!

Another great book from Stacey Halls. I first discovered Halls as a random pick on @borrowbox a few years ago, and have read all of her books so far. She writes primarily about women in historical times. The women are usually at the bottom of the social system and I think she brings great insight into what it was like to live at these times. So her books are always worth reading for this insight alone.
In this book, there is a generous benefactor (Angela) looking to help women who have struggled get back on straighter life path. But Angela has her own demons and they start impacting on the women she is trying to help. There is a great housekeeper in the story, a tough nut who really wants to help too. The story kept me engaged. As ever it is the detail in how people lived at these times that makes this book enjoyable for me. If Marian Keyes wrote historical fiction, I think this is how and what she’d write.
I was gifted an ARC from @bonnierbooks_UK via @netgalley
Published on 11th April 2024

Urania cottage, a real life venture founded by heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts and Charles Dickens in the late 1840s, serves as the setting for this novel in Victorian England about the rehabilitation, retraining and redemption of ‘fallen women’. Namely, those driven into prostitution by circumstance and poverty.

There is a wide array of characters and the girls are drawn sympathetically. Halls gradually provides lots of hints and little details about these girls’ stories, but they are never salacious, instead they provoke empathy and in some cases rage on their behalf from the reader. However, I found that there were very few strong and moral male characters. They are generally certainly less likeable and have multiple dubious motivations. Even Charles Dickens is portrayed as partly keen to establish the cottage so as to provide first-hand observation and information about the women, following lengthy one to one interviews with them, to use in his writing.

I really liked the characters of Mrs Holdsworth and her son Frank, they and the Browns, who work for Angela, seemed to be the only steady and reliable characters for most of the tumultuous events.

I had some reservation concerning the arc of one of the characters (based upon a real-life person) as I found a strand of their storyline rather unbelievable and cringeworthy. They are said to have been deeply religious and with extremely good intentions towards others in real life, their actions seemed impulsive and implausible, but I will not spoil any of the storyline.

When I finished The Household I found myself wanting more. I wanted to remain at the cottage and meet more new arrivals.

The long voyage to Australia was fraught with danger and uncertainty from the perils of the sea, overcrowding and the danger of catching fatal disease, not to mention that the country was still in a rather rough and fledgling state. I would love a further instalment about what happened next should any of the inmates emigrate…

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book.

The Household by Stacey Halls
I have read all of Stacey Halls previous novels and therefore was delighted to receive a copy of her latest novel to review. It is set in Dickensian London and features real characters such as Dickens and Angela Burdett Coutts. I was fascinated to find out about this aspect of history with which I was unfamiliar; Urania Cottage did actually exist and was established as a home for fallen women so that they could be housed, and educated ready to be deported to Australia. The author raises some very interesting issues related to the lives of women who were repressed within society and even those who had money had little power to control their own lives.
I was fascinated by the story related to the heiress Angela Burdetts Coutts, of Coutts Bank, and her stalker who pursued her determinedly for years on end. Her persecution only paused whilst her stalker was imprisoned. It was fascinating to see the way in which Charles Dickens, who supported Urania Cottage, was portrayed. I was impressed by the way in which these fascinating characters were developed the story of their lives was engaging and the twists and turns which the story took were numerous. I particularly liked the characters of Josephine (whose badly scarred face gives her an element of freedom) and poor Martha, searching endlessly for her sisters who she feels she has betrayed.
I will be recommending this book at my various book clubs and would like to thank the author, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the book in return for an honest review.

I was intrigued by the original story in this new book by Stacey Halls. A project to rehabilitate young girls who have spent time in prison, a stalker of the project’s very wealthy benefactor and the shadow of Charles Dickens in the background. As ever the writing is beautiful ( although I don’t enjoy the use of the present tense to write in) and the descriptions are vivid.However…. I failed to fully engage with the characters as I was constantly unsure of who the protagonist was or where the story was heading.There seemed to be too many sub-plots ,any one of which could have been developed in more depth and pulling it all together in the final ten per cent of the story felt unsatisfying.

The Households’ tells the story of the inhabitants, employees and the benefactress of Urania Cottage, a home set up by the wealthy Angela Coutts for unfortunate women. Featuring a host of brilliantly drawn women in 19th Century London, the reader quickly becomes absorbed into the challenges these women face, the friendships that help them through their struggles and the hopes that may or may not be realised.

These characters include Josephine (a young woman newly released from prison), Martha (who is desperately searching for her missing younger sister, Emily) and Mrs Holdsworth (the well-meaning but overworked matron of the cottage). Throw into the mix a cruel and relentless stalker for Angela, as well as sense of unfulfilled love for more than one of the characters … and we have an absorbing and thoroughly entertaining novel. We even have some cameo appearances for Charles Dickens.

Stacey Halls is a brilliant writer and her latest narrative doesn’t disappoint.

Having seriously loved all Stacey Halls' other books, I was thrilled to read an ARC of The House Hold. An interesting tale set in Victorian England of a house for fallen women.

Surprisingly, it took my the first half really to get into the story Nd even then the second half was luke warm. Overall, it felt a bit disjointed. Tgere were quite a few characters and although it was easy yo keep track of who's who a number of characters felt undeveloped. The subplot following the Richard Dunn character didnt seem necessary. I feel a little disappointed by The House Hold but will still be reading anything Stacey Halls writes.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

I loved this book-I knew nothing about Urania Cottage,where Dickens ,along with a group of benefactors ,set up a scheme to give ex-prisoners and prostitutes a chance to make a new start in life.It also involved the wealthy heiress,Angela Burdett-Coutts, whose life was fascinating ,and it made me go and find out more about her.
Angela was stalked for years by an Irish lawyer called Richard Dunn ,and this forms quite a large part of the story.I thought this was a 21st century crime,but I checked online,and it really happened .
There are some great characters in the book,and the women are very sympathetically portrayed.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review which reflects my own opinion.

Set in 1847 in London centering around Urania Cottage, a home for "fallen" women co-founded by Charles Dickens. The story follows wealthy heiress Angela Coutts, who becomes involved with the young women residing in the cottage as she grapples with her own demons.
I loved this as much, if not more than I loved Mrs England and the Familiars!!!
A highly recommended well-crafted novel by this accomplished author.

I loved this! I wasn’t a huge fan of The Familiars so I wasn’t expecting much from this but I was very pleasantly surprised! The characters were all well-drawn individuals, each with attributes that allows the reader to empathise with them in some way. The plot was strong and intriguing yet still gave room for the characters to take centre stage. This is a triumph of a novel and one that I’m sure will be a great success.