{"id":19846,"date":"2022-03-06T07:51:11","date_gmt":"2022-03-06T12:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=19846"},"modified":"2025-10-01T18:54:42","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T22:54:42","slug":"a-sanctuary-for-soulden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19846","title":{"rendered":"A Sanctuary for Soulden"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Sanctuary for Soulden<\/a><\/em> (2021) J.A. Rock and Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Set in an alternate England in the early 1800s.<\/p>\n

Philip Winthrop, Viscount Soulden is easily bored. But you wouldn’t guess that if you saw him out on the town, where he presents himself as a fop, concerned with little other than clothes and games, to cover his secret work in intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are a rake and a cad, sir!\u201d Soulden sipped his port. \u201cYou are not the first to mention it, it\u2019s true, so there may be something in it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Edmund Fernside is a surgeon who does his best to learn from the dead to save the living. To do that he must have dead bodies, which he tries to source as ethically as possible. <\/p>\n

He is more than a little surprised when one of those bodies sits up and tries to leave.<\/p>\n

Important note: the description makes the story sound light and fluffy.<\/p>\n

Philip Winthrop, Viscount Soulden, is a fop. An idle popinjay with nothing more on his mind than how to best knot his cravat. He definitely doesn\u2019t spy against the French. Or arrange hasty weddings. Or occasionally commandeer the navy. And he certainly doesn\u2019t seek out mortal danger in order to combat his pervasive ennui. It\u2019s all just a big misunderstanding when he\u2019s shot by a French intelligence officer during a merry riverside chase.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This book is many things, but light and fluffy it is not. <\/p>\n

Philip throws himself into danger in order to distract himself from the past, which is full of blood and loss and grief.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father wears a set of false teeth. Expensive things, wondrously made. Do you know what they call them? Waterloo teeth. I asked him once if he ever wondered if it was my brother\u2019s teeth rattling around in his skull now.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fernside may present himself as a misanthrope, but (like Lord Christmas) he does so to hide that he does care about the world and those who populate it.<\/p>\n

Fernside drew a long breath. \u201cAfter Waterloo, there were so many injured. So many men who desperately needed medical treatment. And there were not enough doctors, not enough by half. Medical students did not have enough cadavers on which to learn. I saw many things that summer, and beyond, that I shall never unsee.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So: dark, with damaged characters, and a mystery: my favorite!<\/p>\n

As with the previous book, the only fantastical element about this story is that it’s an alternate history where same-sex marriages were legalized to help preserve the wealth of the ruling class. The mystery was interesting, the characters were both deeply damaged by their pasts, but still try to better the world, in their own ways.<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Sanctuary for Soulden (2021) J.A. Rock and Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club) Set in an alternate England in the early 1800s. Philip Winthrop, Viscount Soulden is easily bored. But you wouldn’t guess that if you saw him out on the town, where he presents himself as a fop, concerned with little other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,27,30,292,204,33,207,8,148,26],"tags":[581,50,213,816,739,579,544,548],"class_list":["post-19846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-alternate-history","category-british","category-ebook","category-good","category-historical","category-mental-health-rep","category-mystery","category-queer","category-romance","tag-bisexual","tag-boinking","tag-grief","tag-j-a-rock","tag-lisa-henry","tag-lords-of-bucknall-club","tag-mm","tag-regency"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-5a6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24323,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24323","url_meta":{"origin":19846,"position":0},"title":"A Sanctuary for Soulden","author":"Michelle","date":"March 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A Sanctuary for Soulden (2021) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club #4) Set in alternate England during the Napoleanic Era he caught sight of Lord Christmas Gale, on his hands and knees, searching under a table in the near-empty Green Room. This was a bit unusual,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Sanctuary for Soulden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/A-Sanctuary-for-Soulden.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24221,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24221","url_meta":{"origin":19846,"position":1},"title":"A Case for Christmas","author":"Michelle","date":"January 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A Case for Christmas (2021) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club #2) Set in alternate England during the Napoleanic Era Chant was well versed in the difference between rudeness for rudeness\u2019s sake and rudeness born from an anxiety that was rapidly becoming unmanageable. \"What do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Case for Christmas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/A-Case-for-Christmas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24435,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24435","url_meta":{"origin":19846,"position":2},"title":"A Scandal for Stratford","author":"Michelle","date":"April 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A Scandal for Stratford (2022) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club #6) Set in England in 1818 James Lewis became Earl of Stratford after the unexpected death of his parents. It stood empty now except for the servants. Had done for years, ever since Lord and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Scandal for Stratford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/A-Scandal-for-Stratford.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/A-Scandal-for-Stratford.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/A-Scandal-for-Stratford.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":24352,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24352","url_meta":{"origin":19846,"position":3},"title":"An Affair for Aumont","author":"Michelle","date":"March 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"An Affair for Aumont (2022) J.A. Rock & Lisa Henry (The Lords of Bucknall Club #5) Louis-Charles Aumont was in love with Luke Winthrop, but turned down his offer of marriage, after which Luke joined the army and was killed at Waterloo. 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The only thing that makes this a fantasy is this bit: In 1783, the Marriage Act Amendment was introduced in England to allow marriages between same-sex\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Case for Christmas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/A-Case-for-Christmas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/A-Case-for-Christmas.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/A-Case-for-Christmas.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/A-Case-for-Christmas.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/A-Case-for-Christmas.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/A-Case-for-Christmas.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10979,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/10979","url_meta":{"origin":19846,"position":5},"title":"Within the Sanctuary of Wings","author":"Michelle","date":"August 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Within the Sanctuary of Wings (2017) Marie Brennan Lady Trent has become a force in her own right--she has made amazing discoveries and published scientific papers, yet she still has not be accepted by the Fellow of the Philosophers\u2019 Colloquium. 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