It’s the end of an era. Leanna Renee Hieber’s newest release, Miss Violet and the Great War represents both the end of the Victorian era and the conclusion to her debut gaslamp fantasy series, the Strangely Beautiful Saga. Over the years, I’ve reviewed the rereleased versions of Strangely Beautiful and Perilous Prophecy. Now, after much trial and tribulation, the never-before-published final book has arrived. Miss Violet and the Great War comes out tomorrow, February 26. If you’re in the New York City area, be sure to join us at the release party at WORD in Brooklyn on Thursday.
Miss Violet and the Great War picks up with a new generation. Violet is the daughter of Percy and Alexi, who have settled into a normal family life after winning the war against Darkness in the Whisper World and relinquishing their supernatural abilities. Leaving the supernatural behind is never that easy, however. Violet is born with the ability to see visions of the future—and one vision in particular haunts her throughout her childhood. In her dreams, she sees war like the world has never known it before, with men dying by the thousands and bodies littering the trenches. Violet is determined to stop the war if she can, or else to do whatever it takes to bring peace and hope back into the world. It’s a lot for one young woman to take on, but luckily she has her family, her best friend Will, and a few ancient supernatural beings to support her.
If you’re familiar with the rest of Leanna Renee Hieber’s books, you know that she usually writes stories that take place in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the height of the Victorian era. But as she takes on the children of her earlier characters—first in The Spectral City and now in Miss Violet—we can’t help but move forward in time. At what point do we leave the Victorians behind? Technically the Victorian era ends with Queen Victoria’s death in January 1901. But things don’t suddenly change overnight. We can see the influence of the Victorians continue into the early twentieth century, even as new technologies and changing social mores begin to creep in. But the biggest, harshest changes were brought on by the onset of World War I—which Leanna presents as the definitive end to even the broadest definition of the Victorian era. Miss Violet and the Great War spans this period of awkward transition.
The story begins in 1897 when Violet is a young child. Several chapters in, we skip through the turn of the century to Violet’s teen years. Midway through the book, we finally reach 1914, the year in which most of the rest of the action takes place. During the time span covered here, Leanna takes us on a tour through a changing society, in which telephones are beginning to become the preferred method of long-distance communication, electricity is replacing gaslight, women are joining demonstrations for equal rights, and the great empires of Europe are starting to feel the strain of centuries of imperialism. I haven’t read much about this era before, and while it was sad to say goodbye to the eccentricities of the Victorians, it was fun to see how their society changed to more closely resemble the world we know today.
My favorite part of Miss Violet is a new character the book introduces, Will Page. The son of Percy’s friend from her school days, Will is born with a piece of darkness inside him—a remnant of the dreaded gorgon that Percy and her Guard defeated in Strangely Beautiful. In another author’s hands, Will might have grown up to become a villain, corrupted by the voice of evil that whispers in his mind. But for Leanna, Will represents the chance we all have to choose our own paths. His name is fitting, as it recalls the idea of free will and the strength of will that it takes for him to fight against his circumstances. Throughout the book, Will actively struggles to do what’s right and to defy his darker side. His plight mirrors the book’s overall message about humanity: the horrors of World War I prove that there is great darkness within humans, and we are capable of causing much harm and suffering—but we can always choose to do good, instead. Leanna frequently waxes philosophical in Miss Violet, and the tone of this novel may not appeal to every reader. But if you’re struggling to find meaning in dark times—particularly in today’s climate of seemingly endless bad news—Leanna has some reassuring answers. The book extols the value of things like love, family, and art. Even amidst the very worst of horrors and destruction, forming loving bonds and creating things of beauty are radical acts that kindle a little more light in the darkness.
Beginning tomorrow, you can find Miss Violet and the Great War wherever books are sold, or you can preorder it now online. If you’d like to support The Gothic Library in the process, you can buy a copy using this Bookshop.org affiliate link. Once you’ve read the book, be sure to share your thoughts with me in the comments!