The Housekeepers: They come from nothing. But they'll leave with everything...

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She kept her eyes fixed on the green baize door at the top. It was a partition between worlds. On the other side the air thinned and the light became frosted around the edges.’ Ocean’s Eight meets Downton Abbey! Well, maybe an Ocean’s Eight/Ocean’s Thirteen hybrid, since there are a couple of revenge elements involved.

The Housekeepers by Alex Hay | Goodreads The Housekeepers by Alex Hay | Goodreads

Dazzling, stylish and wildly entertaining, The Housekeepers lets loose an outlandish alliance of women you’ll never forget… Says Erin Kelly, author of He Said/She Said, on one of the blurbs: “Imagine Ocean’s 8 had an illegitimate baby with Fingersmith — a big fat diamond of a book, sharp and shiny, joyful and generous, intricately plotted and featuring an ingenious use for a trapeze.” Despite years of service, Mrs King is unceremoniously dismissed from her role as housekeeper at the de Vries residence on Park Lane in Mayfair. Mr Shepherd, the Butler, has advised the lady of the house, Miss de Vries, that Mrs King was seen entering the male quarters the night before. An example must be made; no whiff of impropriety can stain the reputation of the de Vries family. Just as plans are put in place to host the ball of the season, the respected housekeeper of a sumptuous abode in Mayfair is suddenly fired after years of loyal service. Understandably disgruntled with the move, Mrs King enacts a plan of revenge to send a clear message to her previous employers. As Mrs King assembles a small army of worthy accomplices, the scene is set for plenty of trouble, along with secrets to expose. Will Mrs King’s daring plan work and more importantly, will her employers get wind of this act of sabotage? Thanks is extended to Hachette Australia for providing a free copy of this book for review purposes.The novel, which won the Caledonia Novel Award 2022, follows the story of Mrs King, who on being unfairly dismissed from her position as a housekeeper in one of the grandest houses in London recruits an eclectic group of women from the fringes of society to launch an audacious robbery and enact her revenge. The strong, determined and memorable female characters pull you into their web of intrigue' JENNIFER SAINT Named a Best Book of Summer by The Washington Post * Good Housekeeping * Harper's Bazaar * Reader's Digest

The Housekeepers: A Novel - Alex Hay - Google Books

Named a Best Book of Summer by The Washington Post * Good Housekeeping * Harper's Bazaar * Reader's Digest Of course, things rarely go exactly according to plan, and there are hiccups along the way. The night of the ball is fraught with difficulties, and Mrs. King and her team of workers must adapt and think on their feet to escape the notice of others. Such is the case with housekeeper-turned-criminal mastermind Mrs. Dinah King and her eclectic gang of co-conspirators in Alex Hay’s debut novel, The Housekeepers. The novel is set in London’s wealthy Park Lane in 1905 during the height of the Edwardian era, which Hay describes in his introduction as a time of “opulence, scrappy characters, remarkable flashes of modernity, and layers of corruption that exist just underneath all that glamour.” It starts off slowly, introducing the characters and you become privy to their lifestyles and how they came to be there. Upstairs and downstairs really not being that different when you have the knowledge of Wilhelm de Vries previous identity being Danny O’Flynn. The story is quite unusual. Rather than your run-of-the-mill upstairs downstairs we get a revenge story. And this is one revenge thats served very cold. Right that's enough waffle.Still, if you are intrigued and looking for a fun read with elements of mystery, robbery and an eclectic cast then this may well be the book for you. While the heist is Mrs. King’s daring initiative, she enlists the help of a few shrewd and skilled women, including Mrs. Bone, who provides the finances, Hephzibah a talented actress, two trapeze artist sisters known as Jane-one and Jane-two, Winnie the former housekeeper and Alice, a sewing maid, to name but a few. I definitely have not read anything like this and enjoyed every minute of it. The prelude, planning, and scheming…all the way to the action, the heist, the high stakes…and finally to the conclusion and ending. The night of London's grandest ball, a bold group of women downstairs launch a daring revenge heist against Mayfair society in this dazzling historical novel about power, gender, and class Fun, fast-paced and totally immersive, The Housekeepers is a rare jewel worth coveting’ Emma Stonex

Hay’s award The Bookseller - Rights - Headline pre-empts Hay’s award

The twists or secrets were not that big, in my opinion, and, at the end, it all felt farfetched. Also, the reason for the heist was a bit weak and unrealistic. Maybe, just maybe, this plot was too ambitious for a debut novelist to carry off successfully. But there's no denying that he has the imagination as well as the talent. I love the promise he showed in this novel, and I'm sure that with some fine-tuning and experience, he can pen a winner. I'll keep an eye out for his future works. It’s 1905. Housekeeper, Mrs King, has been dismissed from her role at one of the luxurious houses in Park Lane, Mayfair, London. The Master of the house has passed away, leaving behind a daughter who grieves by hosting a ball. These events bring the opportunity for Mrs King and some close friends to right some wrongs - planning an Oceans 11 style heist to rob the big house while the ball is underway!I was impressed by how this was written because there is a vast cast of characters, some by first name, others by Mrs/Mr/Miss and somehow I was able to keep pace while identifying the who's who; that has to be down to the writing. Senior commissioning editor Frankie Edwards won world rights to the Edwardian heist novel from Alice Lutyens at Curtis Brown. Headline Review will publish it as a lead launch title in spring 2024.