AustLit

The novel is set over about a month between 20 April and 28 May 1812. Ten years earlier, Lady Helen’s mother and father were killed in boating accident and she is living with her uncle, the domineering, highly religious Viscount Pennworth and aunt, Lady Leonore. Due to the widespread belief that her mother Lady Cathryn Wrexhall was a traitor, her uncle is vigilant for signs of Helen displaying any deviant behavior. As the story opens, it is six months since Lady Helen’s eighteenth birthday. Her brother Andrew has his own rooms, and she still has just over six years to wait until she can access her inheritance. Consequently, she is totally reliant on the good will of her relatives or the possibility of finding a suitable husband.

In the first four chapters readers are introduced to the various layers of restrictions placed on Lady Helen, as a member of the aristocracy, as a young woman and a family member. Related to these external restrictions, Lady Helen also places personal, internal restrictions and pressures on herself: while she has a restless and curious nature, she is aware that she needs to conform to societal expectations and meet a suitable man to survive in her world. Otherwise, she risks serious social sanctions from her family (especially her uncle) and peers. In fact, she is torn between the delights of her world (balls, dresses, friends) and its demands and expectations.

While attending the royal palace to be presented to Queen Charlotte, Lady Helen meets her distant relative Lord William Carlston, the Earl of Standfield, an infamous figure who is rumoured to have killed his first wife. He surreptitiously removes from her a special miniature painting of her parents and gifted to her by her mother. In addition, during her presentation to the Queen, doubt is cast on her mother’s reputation as a traitor. Back home, Lady Helen also discovers that one of her best friends, Delia, has ruined her reputation by running off with a man, and Helen’s lady’s maid Darby approaches her about the mysterious disappearance of Berta, one of the housemaids. Then, when Carlston visits her uncle’s house to return the miniature, she is shocked to discover she has special talents, such as preternaturally fast reflexes and the ability to see auras.

She is soon to discover that, like Carlston, she is one of six Reclaimers in Britain, humans with special gifts to fight and defeat Deceivers, life-energy-stealing demons. Indeed, her miniature painting is actually a special lens, a lenticel, which allows her to identify demons. The Reclaimers belong to the Home-Office-sanctioned Dark Days Club. Indeed, Carlston believes she is the archetypal ‘Chosen One’ and is the sign of a Grand Deceiver on the rise to which she will provide balance. However, she is doubtful of her own ability and equally suspicious of Lord Carlston and his mentor, Mr Benchley – especially when she discovers that Benchley was responsible for the particularly grisly murder of a family in the course of a reclaiming. In fact, it appears that remnants of the demons he has killed are infecting Benchley’s soul and he is descending into madness. Despite this (and her better judgement), Lady Helen risks the approbation of her uncle, brother, and potential suitor and agrees to learn more. She helps Lord Carlston save a young boy who has been possessed by a demon, and further agrees to help detect demons creating trouble at a public hanging.

However, she and her maid, Darby, come to believe that Carlston may have been involved in Berta’s disappearance. Lady Helen also becomes aware that her mother has gifted her a means to strip herself of the Reclaimer powers, a Colligat. This provides her with a real choice: to join Carlston and the other members of the Dark Days Club, or live a less exciting but ‘normal’ life as a wife and head of a household. However, a slightly insane Benchley makes it clear that the Colligat can also be used by demons to kill all Reclaimers. This sets the scene for the final part of the book which culminates in a demonic battle during a special ball for Lady Helen’s entry into society. Needless to say, her uncle is not happy and Lady Helen’s life changes forever…

Alison Goodman has said that Lady Helen and the Dark Days Club is Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Pride and Prejudice. As such, it is a rich, engaging story with a strong female protagonist and would be suitable for independent reading or close study in class.