Three Miss Kings (Cambridge)

The three Miss Kings was a very kind surprise Christmas gift from a librarything.com friend. It wasn't a title that I had heard of so I am very pleased that she sent it my way. One of the things I love about the Virago Modern Classics series is the scope of geography; whilst many of the books written are set in the UK by British writers, there are many set in the US, and I have written about a couple set in New Zealand, and also Australia. This book is an Australian one, and it's nice to have the chance to read something from an area that otherwise I probably might not.

The Miss Kings of the title are orphans, their father having died recently, and need to decide what to do next. The two youngest sisters, Patty and Eleanor, really aspire to European travel, but Elizabeth, the eldest, tries to be sensible and suggests that they should become accustomed to living on their own first, and they move to Melbourne, renting rooms and then later half of a house. In some ways, very Jane Austen-esque, the girls try to get involved in society there, and are introduced to a woman who attempts to match-make for them. There are a couple of exciting twists (such as the discovery of a legacy), and it is a fairly light and entertaining read.

Just published the once, I am sure this is a much overlooked VMC. Virago don't published any more of her titles but I understand from the introduction that Cambridge wrote many more books. 3*