The Secret Book Society
by Madeline MartinSetting: England
Genres: Fiction / Historical / General
Published on August 26, 2025
Pages: 336
Format: eBook Source: Library
A captivating new historical novel from Madeline Martin, set in Victorian London about a forbidden book club, dangerous secrets, and the women who dare to break free.
You are cordially invited to the Secret Book Society…
London, 1895: Trapped by oppressive marriages and societal expectations, three women receive a mysterious invitation to an afternoon tea at the home of the reclusive Lady Duxbury. Beneath the genteel facade of the gathering lies a secret book club—a sanctuary where they can discover freedom, sisterhood, and the courage to rewrite their stories.
Eleanor Clarke, a devoted mother suffocating under the tyranny of her husband. Rose Wharton, a transplanted American dollar princess struggling to fit the mold of an aristocratic wife. Lavinia Cavendish, an artistic young woman haunted by a dangerous family secret. All are drawn to the enigmatic Lady Duxbury, a thrice-widowed countess whose husbands’ untimely deaths have sparked whispers of murder.
As the women form deep, heartwarming friendships, they uncover secrets about their marriages, their pasts, and the risks they face. Their courage is their only weapon in the oppressive world that has kept them silent, but when secrets are deadly, one misstep could cost them everything.
I loved this book! Lady Duxbury has found three women who she suspects have been stopped from reading. She invites them to her house to join a secret literary society. They can pick any book they want from her library to read. Their cover is that they are having tea with a countess.
Each of the women is being told that they are not acting appropriately for their assigned place in society. Each is being threatened with further suppression of their freedom up to and including being put into an asylum to get them out of the way.
“Did you worry you were mad?” Lavinia asked.
“What woman does not?” Rose asked with a brittle smirk. “When every deviation from a pleasant, empty smile is marked as hysteria.”
The women’s friendship gives them the ability to change their circumstances in small ways that may lead to big results for each of them. It may make their lives better or it could lead to disaster. This is a good reminder of the lengths that women had to go to when just reading too much and getting too many ideas was seen as a major threat to society.
“The women of England will no longer be silent in their screams, their suffering no longer unheard.”
It will make you want to stand up for your rights – while sitting and quietly reading – but also learn how to stab and poison people (hypothetically of course.) I mean, accidents happen. Sometimes they happen to bad people who have been harassing nice quiet women who just want to read their books…
