Content levels
Trigger warnings
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
In a Regency London that isn't quite the one we know, young women of family whose reputations have been ruined are known as the Fallen. Young Sarah Tolerance is one such: a daughter of the nobility who ran away with her brother's fencing-master. Now that the fencing-master has died, everyone expects her to earn her living as a whore. But Sarah is unwilling. Instead, she invents a new role for herself, and a new vocation: "investigative agent." For Sarah, with her equivocal position in society, is able to float between social layers, unearth secrets, find things that were lost, and lose things too dangerous to be kept. Her stock in trade is her wits, her discretion, and her expertise with the smallsword -- for her fencing-master taught her that as well. She will need all her skills soon, when she is approached by an agent of the Count Verseillon, for a task that seems routine: reclaim an antique fan he once gave to "a lady with brown eyes." The fan, he tells her, is an heirloom; the lady, his first love. But as Sarah Tolerance unravels the mystery that surrounds the fan, she discovers that she--and the Count--are not the only ones seeking it, and that nothing about this task is what it seems.
Is Point of Honour appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 16 and up.
This alternate Regency mystery features a socially disgraced heroine who becomes an investigator, with themes of sex work and fallen women. Contains sword fighting, mild sensuality, and exploration of social stigma around ruined reputations.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, mild sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include sex work, class struggle, and social stigma.
Who'll love this
Teens will enjoy a clever female detective solving mysteries with her sword skills in an alternate historical London.