Lying With Lions by Annabel Fielding | Blog Tour Book Review

[AD/Gifted - I received an e-book copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.]

Lying With Lions by Annabel Fielding - 4/5

Blurb:

"Edwardian England. Agnes Ashford knows that her duty is threefold: she needs to work on cataloguing the archive of the titled Bryant family, she needs to keep the wounds of her past tightly under wraps, and she needs to be quietly grateful to her employers for taking her up in her hour of need. However, a dark secret she uncovers due to her work thrusts her into the Bryants’ brilliant orbit - and into the clutch of their ambitions.

They are prepared to take the new century head-on and fight for their preeminent position and political survival tooth and nail - and not just to the first blood. With a mix of loyalty, competence, and well-judged silence Agnes rises to the position of a right-hand woman to the family matriarch - the cunning and glamorous Lady Helen. But Lady Helen's plans to hold on to power through her son are as bold as they are cynical, and one day Agnes is going to face an impossible choice..."

Review:

Historical fiction would never be a genre that I'd actively seek out and I am unsure why but I was intrigued by the synopsis for this one. 

Agnes is employed by the Bryant family to curate archives about Lord Alistair and Lady Helen Bryant and their family. The two have three children, one of whom died when he was 10. Agnes is thrown into the secrets that this family hold and it is just captivating.

Fielding has a wonderful way of writing and the prose is beautiful. The family drama, the inserting of actual events that happened in the past and an LGBTQIA+ romance thrown in - I am here for it. The hierarchical differences between and women were interesting and especially the quote "Don't you know that mud sticks to women much easier than it does to men?" Still a very real thing.

I really enjoyed Lying With Lions and it has definitely changed my opinion on historical fiction.