Name: The Strange Adventures of H
Rating: 3.714285714285714 (7 reviews)
ISBN: 9781004023158

Sarah Burton

Orphaned young, H is sent to live with her doting aunt in London. H's life is a happy one until her lecherous cousin robs her of her innocence, and the plague takes away the city and the people she loves. H is cast out - friendless, pregnant and destitute - into the rapidly emptying streets of London under quarantine.

The Strange Adventures of H

Orphaned young, H is sent to live with her wealthy and doting aunt in London. London is good to her, and H's life is a happy one until her lecherous cousin Roger robs her of her innocence, and the plague arrives to take from her the city and the people she loves. H is cast out, friendless, pregnant and destitute into the rapidly emptying streets of London under quarantine. When the plague finally lifts, and without a home or family to return to, H falls into the care and employment of Mother Cresswell, an infamous Clerkenwell bawd. It is under her watch that H endeavors to make a new kind of life for herself, and to use all the tools at her disposal to ensure that she never falls into poverty again. H will face a villain out for revenge, find love in the most unexpected places, and overcome a betrayal that she never could have foreseen. Weathering it all, she will charm or scheme her way to the life of freedom and autonomy that she longs for.

Sandrin

a 17th century checklist for misfortunes

Even though the plot was very and I mean VERY predictable, I found the characters likable and charming. They were the ones that kept me from not finishing the book.

Orphaned young, H is sent to live with her doting aunt in London. H’s life is a happy one until her lecherous cousin robs her of her innocence, and the plague takes away the city and the people she loves. H is cast out – friendless, pregnant and destitute – into the rapidly emptying streets of London under quarantine.

the enchanting rags-to-riches story set during the Great Plague of London

Shannon Thomas

The Strange Adventures of H, quite honestly, had me drawn in from the second I saw it’s ambiguous title and gothic style cover.
To put it simply, The Strange Adventures of H, is exactly that. From childhood to womanhood we follow our protagonist H, as she reflects over the happenings in her life that brought her to present day. Told in first person by H herself, she talks us through her life, occasionally addressing the reader. It felt very classical and fit perfectly with the timeframe the book supposedly takes place.
We’re taken through the plague and the Great Fires of London via what felt like an astonishingly real perspective, which in itself was harrowing.
H suffers a great deal of trauma and turmoil and I think the thing I enjoyed the most about this book is watching her strength prevail time after time. In many ways, this is a feminist novel of sorts. H deals with a number of things that could set her back as a woman, due to the horror of them as well as the timeframe being the 17th century. By the end of the book, H is a powerful woman. A woman with money, with friends, with found family. A woman who needed nothing but herself to get to the point she reaches. She is turfed from her home during the plague, whilst carrying twins and still finds a means of helping herself. During the Great Fire when she hears her aunt will not leave despite her house being set to burn down, H devises a plan to get her to safety all whilst making sure H’s aunt doesn’t realise that she is in fact, H.
H is ASTONISHINGLY strong and powerful. A complete force to be reckoned with and I thoroughly enjoyed reading her strange adventures.
I finished it this morning, and many hours after I just can’t stop thinking about this book.

Moray Lyle McIntosh

This is the story of H, a woman born to a large family of sisters in the seventeenth century. After the death of her father she removes to the London home of a kind and generous aunt. But the seventeenth century is a perilous time in the capital and H persists through ill-treatment, plague and fire. Separated from her family she finds that prostitution is the only way to survive. 

For a book with so many dark themes it never feels depressing or overly weighty. There are many sad, difficult moments but H is so full of heart and determination, she always lifts her narrative above the things that happen to her. She is also surrounded by a host of excellent characters who add humour and depth. The setting is well-rendered and while the plot is outlandish, its twists and turns and coincidences mirror the style of contemporary writing.

It was a pleasure to read from start to finish and is the first book in a long to make me shed a few happy tears.

The Strange Adventures of H

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