Amongst the scholars, secrets and soporifics of Victorian Oxford, the truth can be a bitter pill to swallow….

Jesus College, Oxford, 1881. An undergraduate is found dead at his lodgings and the medical examination reveals some shocking findings. When the young man’s guardian blames the college for his death and threatens a scandal, Basil Rice, a Jesus college fellow with a secret to hide, is forced to act and finds himself drawn into Sidney Parker’s sad life.

The mystery soon attracts the attention of Rhiannon ‘Non’ Vaughan, a young Welsh polymath and one of the young women newly admitted to university lectures. But when neither the college principal nor the powerful ladies behind Oxford’s new female halls will allow her to become involved, Non’s fierce intelligence and determination to prove herself drive her on.

Both misfits at the university, Non and Basil form an unlikely partnership, and it soon falls to them to investigate the mysterious circumstances of Parker’s death. But between the corporate malfeasance and the medical quacks, they soon find the dreaming spires of Oxford are not quite what they seem.…

An intriguing first installment of The Oxford Mysteries series by master crime writer, Alis Hawkins. Perfect for fans of Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Sarah Waters and Kaite Welsh.

My Review

I knew as soon as I started reading A Bitter Remedy that it would become one of my favourite books of the year so far. In fact I’ve already recommended it to my brother and downloaded a sample of the next book in the series.

Set in 1881, we meet Rhiannon ‘Non’ Vaughan, an unusual and very liberated young woman, who has come to Oxford from semi-rural Wales. Life was different there and Non hates that she has to keep her mouth firmly shut at Oxford, so as not to hinder other women from being admitted to the university. She is so far only allowed to attend lectures – she cannot be a ‘proper’ student as such. Any bad behaviour could put the women’s movement back years.

But Non isn’t one to keep quiet and immediately puts the back up of a male student, by discussing the story of Lysistrata in detail, a subject considered unseemly for a woman. He complains and she is banned from lectures for a term.

Non forms a partnership with lecturer Basil Rice, who has enormous respect for her intelligence and initiative – but then he has his own secrets to keep.

When student Sidney Parker is found dead in his lodgings, Rice is called to investigate and to try and steer the blame away from the college. But Parker’s guardian George Reardon has other plans and it all becomes very complicated and lurid. Can the university prevent a scandal? Was Parker murdered? We shall have to find out. And Non is not to be deterred from becoming involved.

But probably the most important aspect of the book revolves around a disease known as spermatorrhoea, which young men were diagnosed with in the 19th century. It was supposed to cause every malady known to man (it didn’t affect women – if you read up about it you’ll understand why). And of course every quack in the country was selling their own cure to alleviate the symptoms. Poor Sydney was treating himself for an illness which didn’t even exist.

I simply adored A Bitter Remedy. I am always a bit wary of historical fiction as it can be overlong and frankly a bit boring, but this book is amazing. It’s got drama, it’s got murder. It’s even got humour. I couldn’t get enough of it.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Alis Hawkins grew up on a dairy farm in Cardiganshire. Her inner introvert thought it would be a good idea to become a shepherd and, frankly, if she had, she might have been published sooner. As it was, three years reading English at Corpus Christi College, Oxford revealed an extrovert streak and a social conscience which saw her train as a Speech and Language Therapist. She has spent the subsequent three decades variously bringing up two sons, working with children and young people on the autism spectrum and writing fiction, non-fiction and plays. She writes the kind of books she likes to read: character-driven historical crime and mystery fiction with what might be called literary production values.