A really solid mystery -- with nice historical touches.

Review copy provided by publisher.

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The audiobook experience for this book was quite fun. The narrators did a great job in making me feel the story and transport me to that time period. I really loved their cadence, the way the story flowed out of their mouth. As for the story itself it was an average mystery/thriller with a few moments that kind of shocked me. I don't think it is something groundbreaking, but yes, it is quite enjoyable especially the audiobook.

Thank you Netgalley, Bolinda audio and Alis Hawkins for the audio arc of A Bitter Remedy.
Narrated by Ffion Aynsley, Iestyn Arwel

A Bitter Remedy is a wonderfully written historical mystery set in 1881 when women of intelligence are still struggling to make their presence known in a male oriented world. Basil Rice and Rhiannon "Non " Vaughan strike up an unlikely alliance when an undergraduate is found dead and the 2 of them start investigating.

Only in the last few years have I started picking up and reading historical mystery thrillers and really enjoyed them. This one is no exception. I loved Nons brazen and pushy personality that pushes past the constraints of misogyny and chauvinism of that time period. The duo POV from them both coupled with the narrators had me gripped from beginning to end. This is the first book of The Oxford Mysteries so I'll be reading the second one too.

4.5 stars for Storygraph . 5 Stars for Amazon,Goodreads and Netgalley

This was a good murder mystery. A struggling woman student, Non, faces all the prejudices of the time, and a queer hero professor Basil, tries valiantly to hide his sexuality adds a different twist to the main characters. The narration was very well done, the mystery had a lot of twists and turns and the side characters were well done. I will give book 2 a try, but this book is not completely capturing me.

#netgalley #ABitterRemedy

4 stars
🌕🌕🌕🌕

🧠 My thoughts
The book was very well-written, atmospheric, and depicted very well the time that the book was set in. The mystery part kept me on edge and wanted to know what happened next. I also really liked the historical notes at the end of the book because they clarified nicely for me what was real and what was fictional.

However, since I’m a crime mystery fan, I felt that the mystery part didn’t satisfy me that much. I felt the main part was about Non, not the mystery. Non was such a character, I liked it so that she was a strong female character but she was very close to being arrogant in my opinion. It was a bit annoying reading the chapters about her. Basil’s chapters were pretty ok on the other hand.

Thanks NetGalley, Bolinda Audio publisher, and the authors for a great advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

What a treat. I love a book set in the nineteenth century. Add to this Oxford University, the experience of women, and a mystery, and I am in.
I loved Non (Rhiannon), a young woman struggling to live with the norms and expectations of women attending Oxford in 1881. She is such a fiesty and likeable character. Her back story is revealed well and provides the layers required to really engage with a character. I could imagine her rising around Oxford on her tandem, and the shocked looks of those she passed.
The addition of a wider cast of varied and colourful characters makes this an entertaining and vivid novel, that I highly recommend.
Listening to the narration from Ffion Aynsley (Non) and Iestyn Arwel (Basil) was a great way to read the book, with their Welsh accents (and even the addition of some Welsh language quotes) really brought the tale alive for me.
I am also delighted to learn that this is the first book of a planned series, the Oxford Mysterys, and I am totally up for that. I am already looking forward to Book 2. I am very happy to give Book 1 a very well deserved 5 stars.

4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this first installment in The Oxford Mysteries series. Non & Basil are such great characters- Victorian Oxford academics with an inquisitive bent. I’m looking forward to more of their adventures! I was late listening to this one, which means I only have one month to wait for the second book to release. 🎉
I’m so glad I listened to this story as I loved the Welsh narrators. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
*Thanks to Bolinda Books and NetGalley for the audiobook copy

I absolutely adored this book! It's unique and entertaining and has a broad variety of characters, each well-developed and with their own quirks, backgrounds, and motives. I loved the main character Non and all of her righteous anger at the way of the world and how women were treated during the late 1800s. I also adored Basil and the LGBT+ representation he brought to a book set during a time period where there usually is none. The murder mystery and all that came with it was certainly one of a kind, but rather than coming across as crass or inappropriate, it was masterfully written! The entire novel had me hooked from page one and I greatly enjoyed each of the twists and turns that were scattered throughout!

As a big fan of turn of the century thrillers, I was eager to read A Bitter Remedy and truly enjoyed this book. It's reminiscent of the 'Botanist Guide to Murder' series, with a strong female lead who is plucky, capable, and constantly dismissed by her male counterparts in the story. While the story itself does drag on for a bit, it was overall enjoyable and I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys a good Agatha Christie-style mystery.

Thank You for the opportunity to listen to A Bitter Remedy by Alis Hawkins.

This is a historical murder mystery set in Jesus College, Oxford, 1881. Rhiannon ‘Non’ Vaughan, a young Welsh woman, newly admitted to university lectures, stumbles upon this mystery and sets out to solve it. It isn't easy because society or rather institutions are not ready to accept women in spheres they consider fit only for men.

This is supposed to be the first installment of The Oxford Mysteries series by, Alis Hawkins and I'm looking forward to reading the next after this one.

Definitely worth my while.

A historical nystery novel set in late 1880s Oxford as college tutor Basil and newly admitted female to lectures, Non, find themselves thrown together to investigate the truth behind the death of a Jesus College student in his private rooms. Drawing on the quack medicines that flourished at the time, they are determined to get to the truth of the mysterious death rather than allow a coverup of the scandal Richly narrated on audiobook this made for an absorbing listen. #abitterremedy #alishawkins #netgalley

Cover art hooked me in and it reminded me of a trip to Alnwick Gardens poison garden area, great fun and very interesting. The strength with this book was the plot and characters. I kind of wanted a second book after listening. Found it a really easy listen, great for driving

There is no shortage of crime fiction and even more so in the historical crime genre
I enjoyed the book and the narrator was ideal to tell the tale

A great start to what promises to be a fascinating and entertaining mystery series from established crime writer, Alis Hawkins. A Bitter Remedy is set in 1880s Oxford with a wonderful Welsh female protagonist who absolutely will not let the patriarchy or late Victorian bigotry stop her from achieving her goals.
I loved Rhiannon ‘Non’ Vaughn’s character, and she was expertly brought to life by Ffion Aynsley. A polymath, and one of the women given permission to attend lectures at Oxford, Non teams up with (although, in fairness, he doesn’t really have any say in the matter) Basil Rice, a Jesus College fellow, to get to the bottom of the mysterious death of a college student.
It’s fortunate she’s so determined and bright, as she’s the driver in getting to the truth of what’s happened, which it seems to me would have lain buried if left in the hands of the chaps.
Marvellous stuff! I’m already looking forward to their next adventure.
With thanks to NetGalley and Bolinda audio for the chance to listen to an ARC.

I very much enjoyed the narration for this story and felt that it brought it to light very well. I particularly liked Non's character and her determination to not just compete with the men, but to outshine them. It was a clever ploy to use her twin sister as the voice of her conscience.
I did struggle with Basil's character as he felt weak and unsure of himself much of the time. His torment due to the feelings he had for Teddy, that were mostly unreciprocated were well described though, and the dangers of not acting 'conventionally' at this time were only too clear and obvious.
It is interesting that much of the story's premise is based on fact, and I enjoyed the historical insights.
It has peaked my interest to seek out book 2 in the series.

I tried so hard to like this book. I tried even harder to finish it. I took breaks. I rewound chapters to interesting bits. I tried everything. I just couldn't finish it.

I can't even say what it was I didn't like. Normally I would listen to someone reading the phone book if it was read ina Welsh accent but even the beautiful narration couldn't hold my interest.

TW: Lots of aggressive misogyny and talk of issues related to the LGBTQ+ issues of the 1800s. Also some talk about a man who is finding himself not "manly" enough and the lengths he goes to to fix that, it feels like that needs a tw, but I'm not sure what to call it.

This book was really great, and I liked the characters a lot. I thought it was going a different place then where it ended up, which is rare for me. Non is a great lady, and I thoroughly enjoyed her story. Basil was a bit harder for me at times, but I understood the decisions being made and the place they came from. Non verges occasionally on being a bit of a "strong female character," but didn't ever really fall fully into that for me which I found refreshing.

I'd recommend this a bit as Enola Holmes all grown up, but with a twist of what you expect from a more adult historical mystery. This was a very fun read.

A Bitter Remedy is the first book in new a historical murder mystery series by Alis Hawkins. The second addition, The Skeleton Army was released in Spring of 2024.

Set in the rarified surroundings of Oxford, our protagonist is Rhiannon ‘Non’ Vaughan, a young woman, who has been newly admitted to Oxford to lectures but is barely welcome. Our second narrator is, Basil Rice, a Jesus College fellow and countryman od Non's. Together, they are investigating the suspicious death of a young student.

A Bitter Remedy provides a fantastic combination of medical history and womens' educational history, with trendils of a murder mystery, winding throughout.
To be honest, I found Non's interactions with the senior college members, the AEW etc often infuriating and could sympathise with her frustrations - but I say this in 2024. I'm not sure, if I would have her bravery in 1881.

I liked both of the narrators - with clear voices, and easy differentiation between their chapters, eliminating that common problem with eaudiobooks of confusing narrators, but I did find the narration a little slow in parts and for the first time, I actually sped up the narration.

I look forward to following their adventures in The Skeleton Army shortly.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great mix of medical history and womens' educational history, with a bit of a mystery wound through. The plot progressed well, and the characters were well developed. I didn't see the twist at the end coming!
The audiobook reading was very clear, and I enjoyed have both a male and female narrator. However, I did find both readers quite slow, especially the male, and had to increase my listening speed to 1.4x to make it a comfortable listen.

*Thank you to Bolinda Audio and Net Galley for the Audiobook in exchange for an honest reivew*

Set in 1881, this is the story of Rhiannon (Non) a young woman at the vanguard of Oxford University's new program to allow female scholars. While pushing against the barriers of what Victorian England thinks a woman should be, she becomes entangled in the investigation of a mysterious death of a fellow student.

There were parts of this book that I really enjoyed: the atmosphere and historical details were masterfully presented and were extremely good at creating an engrossing setting. It's clear the author put a lot of research into the setting of this book and I appreciated that so much.

The overall thematic elements of patriarchy, feminism, and women's rights was great, and I especially liked that the people you thought might be on Non's side sometimes were and that she found support in unlikely places (no spoilers!). It acknowledged the complexity of the Rights for Women movement really well.

Unfortunately there were also some things that were not as enjoyable. While I liked both of the main characters of Non and Basil, I felt both of them were underdeveloped. There were hints of interesting details and experiences that didn't get fleshed out enough, and I didn't end up feeling much of a connection to either one of them.

I also found the "mystery" element of the story lacking. If this hasn't been advertised as a mystery I probably would have enjoyed that element more, but as it stands it's more of a secondary storyline that just makes for an interesting thing for the characters to talk about, but it didn't seem to be what this book was actually about. I was very underwhelmed by it.

A note specifically on the audio:

I really enjoyed the male narrator. Zero complaints!

The female narrator took deep breaths before many of her lines that were audible in the recording, and I found that very off-putting and distracting. She also had some odd cadences and pacing, many times stopping long enough that I thought a new chapter was starting, only to have her monologue continue (and I was listening on 1.25 speed!). Her voice was absolutely lovely so I think my primary issue was the editing of her performance.

Overall this is a solid work historical fiction and I enjoyed my read, but the mystery element of the storyline was a disappointment.