A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

Narrated by David Thorpe

Freya Marske’s debut novel A Marvellous Light is the first in a new historical/fantasy romance series set in Edwardian England. I read it back in December 2021 and enjoyed the clever blend of magic, humour, mystery and antagonists-to-lovers romance, so I decided I’d give it a go in audio as well.

Although he inherited his baronetcy upon the recent death of his father, Sir Robert (Robin) Blyth needs to continue to work in order to support himself and his younger sister; thanks to the excessive spending habits of their parents, their meagre inheritance isn’t enough for them to live on. Robin arrives at the Home Office to take up his new position of Assistant in the Office of Special Domestic Affairs and Complaints without a very clear idea of what the position actually entails; all he knows is that the previous incumbent – Reggie Gatling – disappeared suddenly a couple of weeks earlier, and he honestly suspects his appointment was a mistake. He’s barely taken his seat when a man enters his office and abruptly demands to know where Reggie is. When the man, who introduces himself as Edwin Courcey, liaison to the Chief Minister of the Magical Assembly, starts talking about magic and spells and imbuement, Robin is further baffled and even more convinced that someone is having a joke at his expense. Edwin, exasperated at having to work with someone so obviously clueless, insists it’s no joke, and proves to him that magic really does exist.

Robin is still trying to make sense of what he’s learned when he leaves the office at the end of the day. He’s heading off for a bite to eat when he’s accosted by a man whose face seems to have been obscured by fog, and before Robin can say or do anything, the man loops a glowing piece of yarn around Robin’s wrist and he finds himself being led away, unable to protest or try to escape. Their destination is a deserted alley well away from the main thoroughfare, and there, Robin finds two more men wearing “fog masks” waiting for them. The men tell Robin that Reggie hid something very important in his office, and that Robin is going to help them find it. Even though he’s unable to move or speak, Robin is determined to do no such thing – but before the men let him go, he feels a horrible, burning pain as something is burned into his arm. When he’s able to see it, it looks like a tattoo of some kind, although he doesn’t know what the design is or what it means. Although he quickly finds out what it does, when he’s doubled over by excruciating pain a few hours later.

The next morning, Robin arrives at his office to find it’s been ransacked and realises that it must have been the men he’d encountered the previous evening. When Edwin arrives for their scheduled meeting, Robin tells him what happened and then shows him the “tattoo” – which Edwin identifies as some sort of curse. Despite the fact that Edwin clearly wishes to have as little to do with him as possible, Robin can see no other way forward but for them to work together to try to find out what happened to Reggie Gatling and maybe locate whatever it is the ‘fog men’ are so desperate to find – and work out how to lift the curse. Edwin reluctantly agrees, and suggests Robin should accompany him to his family home in Cambridgeshire where they can use the extensive library for research. As they dig further into the mystery of what may have happened to Reggie, they uncover a plot that threatens the existence of every magician in Britain – a terrible secret people have died to keep.

Much of the story takes place at the Courcey estate, where the initially fraught relationship between Robin and Edwin begins to morph into a genuine friendship as the time they spend together allows them to get to know each other better. They’re both likeable, three-dimensional characters, whose outward differences complement each other and make them a good team. Robin is generally optimistic, outgoing and impulsive with a good sense of humour, where Edwin is more reserved and cautious, and generally prefers books to people. He’s a brilliant scholar with a massive amount of magical knowledge, but sadly little magical ability, something his family clearly views as a serious shortcoming and for which they treat him with open contempt.

The romance between Robin and Edwin develops organically from their friendship, although the sizzle of attraction is quite obviously there right from their very first meeting. They have terrific chemistry and their perfectly paced slow-burn romance is full of lots of delicious sexual tension as something which begins as convenience (or so they tell themselves!) gradually turns into something built on mutual trust and passion.

The worldbuilding is clever and clearly well thought-out. The art of “cradling” – using a system of hand movements based on Cat’s Cradle to cast spells – is quite unique, and the magical house with its murderous maze (“I can’t believe we were almost killed by a hedge!”) is inspired. I loved the idea that a person can be magically connected to – even chosen by – a particular place.

There are, however, a few places where the pacing flags – the shenanigans at the Courcey home go on a little too long, for example – and the ending is overly drawn out, plus the secondary characters are rather one-note, although I’d definitely like to see more of the enigmatic Lord Hawthorn and the very capable Miss Morrissey. I had also hoped to learn a little more about the Magical Assembly, but this is the first in a series, so perhaps there will be more of that in future instalments.

David Thorpe is a highly experienced narrator (he has over 500 titles to his credit at Audible) and I’ve listened to him a couple of times in historical fiction titles, but not in anything with a romance at the centre. He delivers a solid performance, and his RP accent is perfect to depict upper class men of this particular era, although there were times in the first few chapters where I found his voicing of Robin and Edwin to be a little too alike when they were in scenes together, so I sometimes had to rely on the dialogue tags to work out who was saying what in their conversations. Despite that, however, he does characterise them well, giving Robin a sort of bluff heartiness that speaks to him as a good-natured, sociable individual, while Edwin’s tone is sharper and sometimes has a slightly nasal quality (not too much, fortunately), which, given his tendency to snappish pronouncements, works well. Once Edwin and Robin start to become friends though, there’s a gradual smoothing of those sharp edges, a nice reflection of their changing feelings for one another. Their deepening emotional connection is well conveyed overall, and the love scenes are performed with energy and conviction. Mr. Thorpe provides appropriate vocal characterisations of the secondary cast; the puffed-up pomposity of Edwin’s older brother is nicely-judged, with an aspect of cruelty to his tone that befits his arrogance and condescension – and he differentiates effectively between them. I wasn’t wild about his female voices though. They’re far from awful; I just thought he could have done a little more with tone and timbre to delineate the female characters in the story.

But even taking my reservations into account, A Marvellous Light worked as well for me in audio as it did in print. I’m happy to recommend it.

Caz

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