The House on Durrow Street by Galen Beckett – review

Ivy, now Mrs. Quent, and her sisters are now ensconced in their father’s house on Durrow Street in this follow up to The Magicians and Mrs. Quent.  Ivy and Mr. Quent are working on repairing and renovating the house and find out more about the house and her father along the way.  Additionally, Mr. Quent’s work in quelling uprisings has put him in favor with the king.  Becoming Sir Quent, Ivy’s husband has even more work to do to protect Altania and a harder time doing it while staying within society’s rules.  Meanwhile, Ivy, too, must move about in high society, something she has little training for, though she manages quite well.

Much like the first book, the plot moves along slowly in a stately and serene manner in this second volume–almost mimicking the pace of the aristocracy, where no one is in a hurry.  Ivy unearths clues about her father and the house on Durrow Street, while Mr. Rafferdy toddles along learning a bit here and there about magic and the House of Lords.  Some of the secondary characters are quite interesting, and I hope that some of them make it into further books in this world.  Ivy discovers some very interesting facts about her father’s contemporaries and what they discovered as younger men.  Their long lost secrets are no longer secret, and those in the know might be in peril from old enemies and otherworldly dangers.

I did have some issues with the story, though they were minor.  I found it interesting that the man who confesses his love for Ivy is the secondary main character behind Ivy instead of Mr. Quent, her husband–who had a very minor role in this tale:  he provided Ivy with time, money, and reasons for doing things, and nothing else, while Mr. Rafferdy imbued his portion of the story with his love for Ivy.  While this isn’t a horrible thing, it did seem to be very “broken love triangle” to me and made the relationships between the three feel a bit odd.  Additionally, Ivy, while quick, intelligent, and clever in the first book, seems to put her brain on a shelf for this one–making poor decisions and making herself subservient to her husband.  While this may feel right historically, it isn’t nearly as fun to read as those stories full of daring and smart women who don’t need men to validate them.

However, the above issues were very minor, and the story was engaging, charming, and fun.  A little darker than your average historical fantasy, The House on Durrow Street was a satisfying follow up to The Magicians and Mrs. Quent.  I don’t know yet if there will be a third book, but if there is, I’ll definitely look forward to it.