Shades of Milk and Honey

Mary Robinette Kowal

Aug 2010 · Glamourist Histories Book 1 · Sold by Tor Books

About this eBook

The fantasy novel you've always wished Jane Austen had written

Shades of Milk and Honey is exactly what we could expect from Jane Austen if she had been a fantasy writer: Pride and Prejudice meets Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. It is an intimate portrait of a woman, Jane, and her quest for love in a world where the manipulation of glamour is considered an essential skill for a lady of quality.

Jane and her sister Melody vie for the attentions of eligible men, and while Jane's skill with glamour is remarkable, it is her sister who is fair of face. When Jane realizes that one of Melody's suitors is set on taking advantage of her sister for the sake of her dowry, she pushes her skills to the limit of what her body can withstand in order to set things right-and, in the process, accidentally wanders into a love story of her own.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Ratings and reviews

I found this book accidentally while browsing online, but was intrigued enough to buy it. It seemed to combine two things that I was definitely interested in, and in that regard I wasn't disappointed. I had magic, and it was set in the Regency period. However, I wasn't all that thrilled with the plot. It all seemed very awfully familiar, in that large chunks of it might as well have been taken from at least one Jane Austen novel. I get that this was inspired by Jane Austen, but there is inspiration and then there is Shades of Milk and Honey. I found a few parts difficult to read as I felt I had to slog through them, as though they weren't flowing well with the rest of the story or were just... difficult to push through. They didn't mesh well. Still, I was pleased when I finished it, and I will read the sequel and hope that it deviates more from its inspiration into a world more the author's own.

This book was a great book for me. I loved the interesting concept of magic being an art form. I enjoyed the mousey heroine's growth in condience and her navigating family and love. Overall, a fun read.

About the author

Mary Robinette Kowal was the 2008 recipient of the Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a Hugo nominee for her story "Evil Robot Monkey." Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Asimov's, and several Year's Best anthologies. Mary is an active member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and currently serves on the Board of Directors.

A professional puppeteer and voice actor, she grew up in North Carolina and spent five years touring nationally with puppet theaters. She wrote Shades of Milk and Honey while living in Iceland and performing on the hit television show Lazytown. Mary currently lives in Portland, OR with her husband Rob and nine manual typewriters.