A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller

Lovely cover, isn't it? Victoria Darling is a young girl trying to become more independent, but she's been raised in an elite family in early 1900's London.  Her family is new money and she's been raised to marry well, not cause any trouble, and increase the family fortune by marrying up.  The only problem is that Vicky loves art and hopes to study at an established art school.  She's kicked out of her French boarding school when it's discovered that she posed nude for fellow artists during a class and her family has to try to re-establish her reputation by marrying her off soon.

This novel is full of contradictions to me.  I love that Vicky gets involved with suffragettes, even if it is just to draw them and increase her own portfolio.  Vicky never does really grow up--she's very selfish, so it's hard to like her. Even when she's trying to make it on her own, she can't get used to not having servants and not acting like the world owes her everything.  I always have trouble liking a novel when I don't like the main character. 

A Mad, Wicked Folly is a debut novel for Waller, and I am looking forward to her next one. If the main character isn't someone so stereotypical in behavior and thought processes, I think it will be a great read.