Gail Carriger's Etiquette and Espionage

"Mrs Barnaclegoose was a large woman of progressive inclinations - which is to say she supported vampire and werewolf social reform, played a good deal of whist, kept a ghost in her country cottage and even wore the occasional  French gown"

I have been waiting with baited breath for the release of this new series from Ms Carriger and eagerly devoured its contents in under 24 hours of junior steam-punk bliss. Existing within the same world as her adult Parasol Protectorate series, this new teen focused offering is a delight from cover to cover.

Enter the world of Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, where the emphasis is on finishing - the permanent kind. A fantastical academy where young ladies learn the essential tools of deportment, elocution, eyelash batting, poisoning and garroting. 

New student Sophronia has a knack for trouble and dumb waiter destruction; and her adventures with her new friends keep the pages flying by. Will she master the perfect curtsy? Will she uncover the plot of the mysterious package? Will there be tea and cakes? The answer to all these questions, and more is yes, yes and most certainly.

I challenge any reader not to fall in love with mechanimal Bumbersnoot, I want one of my own. The sole negative comment I can put forward is that waiting for the next instalment of the Finishing School series will be intolerable, I long to return to that crazy dirigible.
5 out of 5, always carry a handkerchief.