3.0
Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar
ByPublisher Description
Never underestimate a librarian. Comfortable padded and in her middle years, Shona McMonagle may look bookish and harmless, but her education at the Marcia Blaine School for Girls has left her with a deadly expertise in everything from martial arts to quantum physics. It has also left her with a bone-deep loathing for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, that scurrilous novel that spread scandalous untruths about the finest educational institution in Edinburgh.
Shona's skills, her deceptively mild appearance, and her passionate loyalty make her the perfect recruit for an interesting new project: time travel to Tzarist Russia, prevent a gross miscarriage of romance, and—in any spare time—see to it that only the right people get murdered. It's a big job, but no task is too daunting for a prefect from Miss Blaine's.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesMiss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar Reviews
3.0
Youmi
Created 12 months agoShare
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Bill Wallo
Created over 1 year agoShare
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Reader365
Created over 2 years agoShare
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Sonja Charters
Created over 2 years agoShare
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“This is book 1 in the Miss Blaine's Prefect series and I have been lucky enough to get the first 3 books to review for you over the next few weeks.
Shona McMonagle, well educated, ex-pupil of the Miss Blaine's School for Girls is honoured when chosen by Miss Blaine herself to travel back in time to 19th century Russia to help bring together heiress Lidia and Sasha, a man of unknown origins. But as she sets about matchmaking, things are not all as they seem.
I found this quite difficult to get into - I think just because the beginning was quite slow going whilst trying to get my head round the character introductions and the time travel aspect as well as cementing the setting. It just took a while to get settled for me.
Once we got into the main storyline of Lidia and Sasha though, the pace picked up and the narrative flowed more easily.
There were many, many characters and it did take me a while to work out who we were meant to be focussing on, but once it clicked into place it became a much more enjoyable read.
The writing was packed with humour - both "visually" and vocally. I loved the tea party scene, where Sasha was invited to be waiter for the day as the ladies took tea so that Shona could sneak him into the party. I also loved that Shona was forever throwing little barbs around her that would have meant nothing much to the people of that era but were there to make us chuckle.
I feel as though I enjoyed this more because it was on audio and maybe would have struggled more than enjoyed had I read the physical book - but that's obviously just a personal thing - but I loved that this was narrated by the author which meant that every interpretation was presented perfectly and made this easier to get along with.
Overal though, I have come out of it feeling like I enjoyed it and am keen to see what Shona gets up to in book 2.
I think the parts that threw me in this book, won't even feature in book 2 now that I'm used to the writing style and know Shona and her personality already.
I'm looking forward to bringing you my review for Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Vampire Menace soon.”
_lozzieloves
Created over 2 years agoShare
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“This was a very enjoyable listen. I loved the way the characters were brought to life in an almost comical way through their accents and I think I benefitted more for listening than I would have from reading.
The storyline was odd but in a good way if that makes sense! There was comedy and satire throughout but I felt there was something missing to make the storyline move a bit faster and really grip the reader/listener.
The characters are cute and endearing too. I look forward to listening to the next in the series!”
About Olga Wojtas
Olga Wojtas was born and raised in Edinburgh, but canny readers will have spotted her lack of a traditional Scottish name. Her father was in fact one of the Polish soldiers who settled in the UK after the Second World War, and her mother was a teacher assigned to teach the soldiers English. Olga attended James Gillespie's High School (the same school that Muriel Spark went to and later immortalized in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie), where she fell in love with Russian literature: Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar was inspired in roughly equal parts by Muriel Spark and Leo Tolstoy. After graduating from the University of Aberdeen, Olga became a journalist, eventually working in England, France, and Washington, DC, as well as in Scotland. Though she has had more than 30 short stories published in literary magazines and anthologies, Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar is her first novel. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband, Alistair. If you are lucky enough to meet her, ask her to tell you about Wojtek the bear.
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