Another amazing read from Stacey Halls. I love how she envelopes you in history and immerses you right into worlds gone by. This time Victorian England and the time of Charles Dickens. A really interesting peek into a piece of history I knew very little about. Highly recommended.

Didn't get on with this one unfortunately. Gorgeous cover, great historical settings but the characters were a bit bland and nothing really happened for a very long time. Didn't connect with it at all.

I have loved every Stacey Halls book I have read but unfortunately this one fell a little short of the mark for me. I enjoyed the setting and the premise was a good one but with the exception of a couple of characters I found I couldn't connect with the others. I also felt like the middle section of the book got a little muddled. It definitely won't put me off picking up another Stacey Halls book but I wouldn't want to reread this one.

The Household by Stacey Halls

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to NetGalley and Manilla Press and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

In a quiet house in the countryside outside London, the finishing touches are being made to welcome a group of young women. The house and its location are top secret, its residents unknown to one another, but the girls have one thing in they are fallen. Offering refuge for prostitutes, petty thieves and the destitute, Urania Cottage is a second chance at life - but how badly do they want it?

Meanwhile, a few miles away in a Piccadilly mansion, millionairess Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the benefactors of Urania Cottage, makes a discovery that leaves her stalker of 10 years has been released from prison . . .

As the women's worlds collide in ways they could never have expected, they will discover that freedom always comes at a price . . .

My Opinion

I have read a few books by Stacey Halls and whilst I am not usually a fan of historical fiction, I am definitely a fan of Stacey’s writing. This is the sort of book that would normally take me a few weeks to get through, but in this case, it was so well-written I only needed a few days. For me this was an interesting read.

Rating 4/5

Based on true events, this tells the story of Martha, Josephine and Angela. Martha and Josephine have both fallen on hard times and end up in a home for young women. Angela is the wealthy benefactress who is struggling with a big problem of her own: for the past decade she's been persecuted by a stalker.

Somehow this ended up being less than the sum of it's parts. There are many offshoots from the main storylines, all three women have something of a rollercoaster ride, and it should have been amazing. It was compelling, I finished it in one sitting, but it sort of left me cold. Some of the events were very rushed, especially towards the end, and although it was clever how all the stories intertwined I didn't feel it was totally believable.

So overall this was a bit of a miss for me, and I am disappointed. It just didn't go as I expected. I still like Halls' writing, though, and I'm sure I'll try her next book.

I'd like to thank the publishers and Netgalley for kindly providing me with an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I really wanted to love this book but sadly it didn’t keep my attention well.

The pace was slow and I felt there were too many characters which I kept losing track of.

I was gifted an ARC through #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely love Stacey Halls and I haven't found a novel of hers I didn't like.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Household. I enjoyed how Stacey transports you into the world of the story.

I have loved all of Stacey Halls previous works so was excited to have the opportunity to read her next historical fiction, The Household, set in Victorian England. The main focus is Urania House, a place which offers charitable help to women in need, and is owned by Angela, but is essentially 'run' by the matron, Mrs Holdsworth. I loved the characters and the plot twists and didn't find it too complex to follow despite all the different characters. With the book having its links to Charles Dickens was a lovely bonus and it was definitely a book worth reading in winter for the atmosphere.

Sadly ,I've had to do a soft dnf for now and come back to the book in the future. I think the writing was very good. Based on what I've read so far I would still recommend this to people I know would love this type of story.

Set in the 1840s at Urania Cottage in then-rural Shepherd’s Bush, a philanthropic experiment where ‘fallen women’ get a second chance, and in London’s fashionable Piccadilly, it revolves around Martha and Josephine (two of the cottage’s first fallen residents) and the cottage’s patron Angela (one of the wealthiest women in Britain). It’s inspired by the real Urania cottage, brainchild of banking heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts and administered by Charles Dickens.

Most of the fallen females want to leave parts of their past behind, but can’t bear to leave other pieces of their former lives. In spite of her wealth, Angela, their benefactor, has problems of her own in the form of a stalker who has just been released from prison. She also has a massive, semi-requited crush on the Duke of Wellington (hugely relatable).

The plot follows several expertly drawn strands - a missing sister, a no good lover, a family tragedy, and the poverty trap - before drawing everything back together in a clever and immensely satisfying climax.

I loved every moment with Martha, Josephine, Mrs Holdsworth, Frank, and Angela and found them so deftly drawn I felt I had a sense of who they were from the word go. The historical detail was also in the sweet spot for me: perfectly chosen to give an immersive read without swamping the action.

This was my first book by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was drawn by the historical fiction elements and the sinister atmosphere was perfect.

I loved the multiple points of view, and all of the main characters. I wanted more from each of the characters although was very satisfied with the way the story wrapped up.

I really enjoyed The Household—a solid 4 stars for me! 🙌🏼

It’s historical fiction, but it didn’t feel too heavy, making it easy to get lost in the story. The characters were so well-developed, and I felt like I truly got to know all the girls. Despite their different backgrounds, they’re smart, loyal, and just looking for a place to belong and start fresh. You can’t help but root for them.

What made it even more fascinating was the fact it’s based on real historical events! Charles Dickens did indeed set up a home for ‘fallen girls’ in an attempt to reform women who had been led astray, and Angela Burdett-Coutts, one of the richest women in Victorian England, really did have a stalker who tried to worm his way into her life, tied up with a rather dramatic inheritance scandal.

There’s also a great plot twist towards the end that totally caught me off guard—I actually gasped! 😮 The only thing that holds it back from being a 5-star read is that I sometimes found the plot a bit hard to follow. But overall, it’s a gripping read for fans of historical fiction with strong female characters.

Thankyou to netgally and the publishers for an arc.

I'll be honest some of this might be because historical fiction is not really my thing.

This story follows multiple characters as a group home for women who have had difficult pasts in order to have a second chance at life. We also follow a wealthy upperclass socialite who's living a life in fear fater her stalker gets released from prison.

The major issue I had with the book was that the beginning was a whirlwind where I struggled to keep all the characters staright as I feel like the book just kind of jumps in and I didn't feel like I had a solid foundation on the plot or the characters. And it made it hard to get into the story throughout.

I also had a really hard time liking Angela who is caring enough to help set up the house but also ignorant to the girls true struggles. I honestly didn't fully connect with any of the other chracters either, they were..... fine I guess.

Thats my overall feeling of the book to be honest "alight I guess" it feels very middling and average and I had a very hard time pushing through it.

I love Stacey's books, so when I got the chance to read this I, jumped at the chance.
Unfortunately, it became confusing remembering all the names of the girls and whose back story was whose.

Thank you Bonnier Books and Netgalley.
Stacey Halls never fails to deliver - I am usually a crime person but I really enjoy Stacey's books.
This may be Stacey's best book yet.
Brilliant characters, the atmosphere she creates makes you think you are there and the plot mixes fact and fiction.
This is absolutely first rate and not to be missed.
You must read this - I will be buying this for my mum.

Sadly lacked something for me, maybe wanted more information about Dickens' involvement than the background cameo role.
As other books, the writing and main character development is strong, but this one lacked plot, and some of the multi layered storylines seemed to become lost and unresolved. However, the two main characters' stories shone out beautifully.
The book seemed to want to show that not all 'fallen women' wanted to be saved, but their seemingly continued reliance seems to fail to achieve this. The story lacked a strong feminist lead. Angela herself, separately, experiences the vulnerability of continued stalking and harassment.
Maybe I was seeking more about Dickens' potential philanthropy, or wanted the duet to win over the exploitative power and poverty?

A good book for me has strong characters that you can connect to. Bonus points if they are strong women. This book had so many strong women it was right up my street. I felt connected to each of them in a different way and loved them all.

I received an ARC of this book via netgalley. It fictionalises an actual event - the 1847 opening of Urania Cottage funded by Charles Dickens. There were parts of this book that I enjoyed and it opened an event in history that i had not heard of before. We meet the girls, staff and supporters of the venture over the course of the novel. My difficulties arise in that it felt like two different novels - that of the household and that of the life of one of it's mains Supporters Angela Coutts. These were eventually drawn together but for the most part it felt disconnected.

Excellent read, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for letting me access an advance copy of this title in exchange for my feedback.

Stacey Halls has once again captivated me! She is the author of The Familiars, The Foundling and Mrs England, all are amazingly brilliant books. This new book The Household did not disappoint and actual exceeded my expectations.
Stacey takes historical events and adds her own fiction to them to create a bewitching retelling. I loved the characters and their stories. I couldn’t get enough of them.
I have given this a 4 star review just because it took me a chapter or two to get hooked.