Veiled Scarlet by K.A. Honeywell is a magical story of two women trapped together in a cozy confinement. Though imprisoned by locks and secrecy and shame, they grow close as time goes by.
A servant goes to work in the mysterious and possibly magical manor of the much feared Countess. Both the woman and the manor are shrouded in mystery but that suits the servant, who has run from her abusive father. The manor is mysteriously and sometimes maliciously changeable, but it is not the most dangerous thing she encounters.
Cautioned to always have a care because the fearsome Countess sees all that goes on, the servant is especially warned to never look upon her daughter Scarlet, who only goes out at night and completely veiled from casual view. She is said to be hidden because her beauty, which far surpasses that of her mother, has created a great jealousy in the older woman. But the servant cannot help but look.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
The first thing I noticed was the black and white illustrations that pop up in the book. Like the easygoing nineteenth century-style prose, the illustrations are old fashioned in nature but modern in design. They’re a very nice addition to the story and work well to enhance the atmosphere. I also came to appreciate the cover art, once I understood that it isn’t a random design but an addition to the atmospheric scheme.
Like a nineteenth century popular work the story unfolds slowly, with secrets revealed at a deliberate pace and each one more shocking than the last. It’s a scary, lovely fairytale, with magic and danger, and heroics. The servant is not named at all until halfway through the story, and that anonymity suits the character. Zara is only named when her character begins to change due to circumstances.
The story is clever and the prose is as pretty as the illustrations.
Spoiler:
At one point Zara repeats a fairytale story from her mother about a bear that is an obvious transgender parable and that is the moment I really fell hard for this novella. On first reading it isn’t obvious that the entire novella is a parable about a hidden and tortured transgender person. After reading the last two pages, I immediately returned to the beginning and re-read the story with even more appreciation.
Cons And Heads Up
There are incidents of parental abuse of children.
The Conclusion
Though a young woman is happy to begin working as a servant in a mysterious estate that will hide her from her abusive father, she doesn’t fully understand the new dangers she has stumbled upon. The fearsome Countess of the manor has a daughter who only emerges shrouded and at night, held captive by the mother who is jealous of her daughter’s surpassing beauty. Despite being warned against it, the servant Zara cannot stop herself from looking upon veiled Scarlet’s face.
Excerpt from Veiled Scarlet by K.A. Honeywell
I fell asleep in the basement of the Countess’s manor with the lingering fear that someone would drag me out of bed to reprimand me for trespassing in forbidden halls. But I woke in the dull dark of the room where Bryn and I slept and found myself still in place.
The sound of footsteps had pulled me easily from my restless sleep. Not on the staircase down to the basement, but on the fine gravel path that crossed the garden outside the window.
The tiny window was above Bryn, but I could stand on the dresser next to her bed and lean over her. She seemed deep in sleep so I dared to do it: I climbed up to the window, and held aside the rough, unfinished fabric that served as a curtain.
There were two women. They moved slow across the path, toward the gardens that sprawled beyond the house. One of the women wore a pale pink veil that fell over her shoulders and covered her face. Where her eyes were exposed, a second layer went over them of something more transparent. The fabric of the veil flowed down and melded into a dress of the same shade of pink, which fell unfashionably long down to her feet. Her hands emerged from long sleeves, wrapped in satin gloves that shone in the moonlight.
The Countess’s daughter appeared only at night, and for only a moment outside the basement window. People said the Countess’s daughter was more beautiful that she was, and so the Countess hid her. I knew a fairy tale about a woman whose beauty would drive people mad, and she had suitors who tried to overcome it in order to marry her, but one after another failed. The story ended when the woman married a blind man. I’d never liked it. Her lover should have to see her and be at once annihilated and revivified by her. There must have been someone who could have loved her fully.
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Bits and Bobs
ASIN number: BOBS4HNQSF
Publisher: Indie Author
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Note: I received a free review copy of Veiled Scarlet by K.A. Honeywell. No money was exchanged for this review. When you use our links to buy we get a small commission which supports the running of this site
