A Curious Woman by Jess Lea

I was really looking forward to Jess Lea’s debut full-length novel, “A Curious Woman,” ever since Lee Winter mentioned it and having recently read its excerpt on Ylva. To say that I was excited and thrilled about exploring the tale after reading the excerpt would be an understatement! I must say, when I finally received my ARC copy and read the entire story, Ms. Lea didn’t disappoint. Not at all! Not with her writing style nor her storytelling method and certainly not with all that eccentricity oozing out of literally every page, all those oddball characters, and quirky surroundings, that kept me entertained until the every end! So, well done, Ms. Lea! This story, right off the bat, was one eccentrically original and creatively intriguing tale weaved in the world of mystery. I mean, I can safely tout that I’d never come across a book in lesfic that was written THIS atypically before and Ms. Lea sure had some fascinatingly creative juice flowing in her story-weaving of this particular story of mystery and intrigue, nevermind that little hint of romance, too! I certainly never came across anything quite this original in lesbian fiction, which is reason enough to pick this one up to read and explore its thrilling oddities yourself, not to say there aren’t other reasons to do so, mind! Once you read it, you’ll know! Lea quickly painted a visual description of the world Margaret and Bess were living in from the start, which was nothing short of colourful, whimsical, odd, quirky and weird, to say the least! I immediately knew I was reading something unique here. The visual images that popped inside my mind as I read Lea’s descriptive words were vivid, real and strangely hypnotic, because of their peculiar, Bohemian-like quality. The one that really stood out for me was Bess’ workplace, “Cabinet of Curiosities,” which instantly reminded me of Dickens’ “The Old Curiosity Shop” (shop of odds and ends where Nell Trent lived, if you’ve read the classic novel) and the 16th century literary landmark shop of the same name in Holborn (if you’d seen or visited it), arguably an influence to Dickens’ novel. I was captivated by all the weird oddities sold and exhibited at the Cabinet of Curiosities that Lea described so well. And then there was Margaret’s maritime museum, which was described as the polar opposite of the Cabinet. What was colourful, unorthodox and artistically bizarre (or just plain weird) at the Cabinet was positively contrasted with grey, old, historical, antique artefacts that were dull in comparison. But to each their own, innit? Lea nailed the stark differences between the two competing shops, nevermind the two polar opposite owners in persona, character and all-around likeability in a small quaint town that was filled with secrets and lies. Obviously, when a murder most foul occurred, seemingly out of the blue, right smack in the middle of the two shops involving Bess and Margaret, the entire town erupted with hidden rumours and unsavoury characters coming out of the woodwork! Just like any other small, sleepy town, innit? Before I delve into the mystery, I want to mention Lea’s protagonists – Bess and Margaret. First off, I applaud Lea for creating, in Bess’ character, one of the most idiosyncratic and nonconformist, original lesbian characters – in appearance and persona – I’ve ever come across in lesfic. I won’t elaborate in detail here because you have to read and visualise her yourself when you read the book because when you read Lea’s description of Margaret’s character (inside and out), you’ll realise and appreciate that rare visual contrast between two lesbian characters in lesfic that not only screamed quirky and peculiar but also aesthetically whimsical with an air of chemistry that bizarrely worked! Highly irregular but totally enthralling, to say the least! We always hear this “opposites attract” term, don’t we? But this pairing takes on a whole new level of the term with a refreshing perspective! Margaret and Bess’ pairing shouldn’t work but it did! Resoundingly so, I might add! You simply have to read it to recognise it yourself! I, myself, utterly loved it and couldn’t get enough of them! I love me some oddball, unusual, bizarre, quirky, freaky, weird when it comes to characters because these terms almost always spell individualistic. Always embrace the different, the individualistic, the non-conforming, the original, the unique. My personal mantra. Both Margaret and Bess’ characters personified these qualities.  As a huge fan of ice-queen personas, I was dead chuffed about Margaret’s character. But Lea took the ice-queen persona to a whole new level, cranking down the icy temperature to a solid deep freeze, really! Read it and find out for yourself just how subzero Margaret’s “ice-queen” status was! The level of awkwardness, aloofness and detachment that Margaret embodied made her all the more fascinating and captivating to me because beneath all her caustic and sardonic behaviour lied a layer of innocence, purity and adorableness, something which she desperately tried to hide from the public. But clearly Bess didn’t get the memo because nothing about Margaret repelled her, much to her own puzzlement. Same sentiment with Margaret when it came to Bess, too. I thought their chemistry was very organically structured, matching their personalities to a tee – awkward and clumsy, tentative but the invisible thread of connection between them seemed to be present from the start, slowly pulling them together, the energy flaring more powerfully as their relationship deepened whilst the mystery they were knee-deep in took a turn for the worse, getting more threatening. Needless to say, I simply loved their pairing so much! Ice-queen, or rather, Subzero-queen meets Ms. Eccentric! Oh, what delicious pair of characters Lea had created here – so unique,  so different and simply too adorable for words! And did I mention there’s an age-gap twist, too?  You simply must read it to discern and appreciate their intriguingly esoteric journey from the beginning to the end yourself!  I can venture to assume that you’ve prolly never come across a pairing like this, let alone their highly irregular romantic journey! Even if you have, you won’t regret exploring their story, is all I’m gonna say. Back to the murder mystery, I thought the mystery-solving flavour with a couple of amateur sleuths in Bess and Margaret that Lea crafted felt very Agatha Christie-esque with a dash of “X-Files” quirks and oddities, I might add! Not just that, at every end of the episode there would be a new revelation, making the reading experience all the more thrilling and exciting. I couldn’t help reminiscing about Agatha Christie’s mysteries as I explored Lea’s effective mystery-writing style. Well done, Ms. Lea! This story’s right up Ms. Christie’s alley, if you ask me! As far as secondary characters went, they were all interesting, with some I wanted to strangle or shake because of their lousy demeanour and bigotry! Urgh! Lea did a fabulous job in crafting out personalities that would garner a reaction from her readers. Well, it did to me! But my absolute favourite ones were the Midnight Hags. Yup, apart from their nickname paying homage to Shakespeare’s three witches in “Macbeth,” for me, I immediately equated those teen trio to “The X-Files”‘s “Lone Gunmen.” Oh yeh. If you’re an X-phile, you’ll instantly recognise the similarities these three hackers had with the Lone Gunmen! I literally squealed with delight when the Hags were introduced! Now, if only they were confirmed to be lesbians, too! Then, hurrah, we’d have our very own lesbian-Lone Gunmen, innit? Heheh! Well, since Lea didn’t specify, I imagined them to be, in my mind, so there! Nonetheless, cheers, Ms. Lea!! I utterly enjoyed their interactions with Margaret which was totally different than how they behaved with Bess later on. I had a blast reading all their bickering and sneaky activities! So very Lone Gunmen especially with their verbal sparring and quirky squabbles with each other! LOVED them!! Wonder if Lea would give the trio their own so-called spin-off novels, eh? Awww…that’d be simply wicked! Oh well, a reader can wish, can’t she? This book was primarily a mystery. The romance was minimal, seemed more like an afterthought, really. If you took it out, it wouldn’t affect the overall feel of the story or its characters at all because whether or not there was any romance between Margaret and Bess, their affinity, friendship and camaraderie, at the end of the day, would have sufficed already because the mystery plot took centre stage which they were heavily involved the entire time. So, Lea’s injection of a romance between this unlikely pair was icing on the cake, really. Nevertheless, I thought their romance bit gave the story more purpose, though, increasing its thrill and intensity as the mystery was reaching fever pitch. I appreciated that Lea spent time providing me with Margaret and Bess’ back stories at intervals. As they slowly converged when Lea revealed more, especially about Margaret, I found that both of them experienced similar predicaments and problems in life (shunned, misunderstood, gossiped about, blamed) – they were more or less outcasts trying to escape life’s cruelty but were instead stuck in the mud, what with all the circumstances thrown at them at the most inopportune times. So, their connection was fascinating to explore. Whilst clearly Bess was the main protagonist, hence, Lea delivered more of Bess’ POV, I appreciated that she also included Margaret’s, however limited. Bess’ home deserves a mention because it was literally hidden away from civilisation, in the middle of nowhere and her pets? OMG, chooks?!! Yup, chooks as pets! Bloody ingenious!! I’m not a fan of the avian species but Genghis changed my mind! Oh, that rooster!! Feisty and adorbs at the same time, if that’s even possible? Strange, innit? Well, I have Ms. Lea to thank, me reckons! And then, there was also the antique dildo…or as Margaret insisted…the faux-Roman fertility symbol! Guffaw!!! Won’t divulge any more here. The standing issue stemming from this “artefact” needs to be read in order to appreciate the hilarity of it, starting from how the whole incident came to be involving Margaret and Bess, no less! Lea even created a motif for this artefact, ffs! Yup, its introduction marked the start of Margaret and Bess’ journey, circling back to it at the end of the book! Ingenious, I must say! Well done, Ms. Lea! All in all, I had so much fun with this story and I thought Lea’s ingenuity in crafting this mystery was brilliant especially with all the twists and turns – honestly, it read like an Agatha Christie mystery with similar tone of intrigue, surprises, quirks and thrills. Except, Lea’s level of quirkiness and oddities was positively more pronounced, giving the story and its characters more “oomph” in general, so to speak, hence, increasing the level of my curiosity, engagement and all-around FUN!! YEH! In terms of Lea’s style and tone, I could detect some influence from Lee Winter’s style, especially in the crafting of the ice-queen persona. Wonder if Winter was Lea’s mentor… If so, what a fantastic influence, indeed, imo. Another thing worth mentioning is, this book sure didn’t read like a debut novel to me. Exceptional writing, confident storytelling and skilful weaving of the intricate web of secrets, lies, mystery, and a touch of romance, with a satisfying conclusion in the end. I’m going to be keeping a look out for Lea’s future work, that’s for sure! “A Curious Woman” is a MUST-READ if only to appreciate its utter originality and uniqueness, tbh! It’s not often I come across something so different and non-formulaic in lesfic writing. And I highly recommend this book to all fans of mystery especially if you’re a fan of Agatha Christie’s type of mysteries. If you’re also a fan of quirky, offbeat, different, unique, geeky/nerdy, pure eccentric characters and surroundings, look no further. This book gives you all these delish nuggets to chew on and then some! Read it and judge for yourself, why don’t ya? Congrats, Ms. Lea for a brilliant debut effort! *An ARC copy of this book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review*