Dark And Intriguing || Review Of Flowers For The Devil

He's a devil and she's a saint…then they fall in love!

This may sound cliché but trust me when I say, it's not. I love historical novels and a touch of romance makes for some icing on the cake. I'll admit the title of the book caught my attention—Flowers For The Devil. Intriguing! I assumed at first glance that it probably has some horror in it. It kind of does and that's why some copies of the book add "A Dark Victorian Romance" to the title.

From the first page, it is evident that the author is highly educated, has a keen mind and good command of the details in the book. So I was curious and checked their website and this short author's bio proved my point:

Reared on the love for music and literary classics, Kahany later studied philology and religion. Hobbies include playing the piano, making art (surrealism and photo-realism mostly), travelling the world, reading, as well as gathering with friends for drinking nights that usually include a lot of wine or vodka, enormous amount of food, and all-night conversations on religion, spirituality, philosophy, and many other peculiar topics.

Vlad Kahany's, (I don't know if the author is male or female but feels male to me) writing is lucid and their grammar is superb. Every word used serves a purpose and is not superfluous. This is my first time reading one of their books, I enjoyed it and I'll certainly be reading others.

This dark Victorian romance is set in 1851, a period in central London where social injustice reigned and the upper class trampled on the poor. The system did not care about the less privileged until a myth started to spread about their saviour, a notorious villain, who lined the streets of London with bodies of culprits that the law wouldn't punish—Harlan Krow, aka the gentleman-devil. The wealthy dare not venture to the slums because the poor would most likely harm or harass them.

But Countess Alina Bronskaya is wealthy and different. A Russian immigrant, her heart is drawn to helping the poor in the medical sector. She devotes her time, every Friday, to St. Rose medical centre until one night when she's harrassed in the dark, her life on the line. Out of the shadows, the gentleman-devil appears and saves her.

She's a witness to a crime but is unable to decipher the identity of her saviour. Is the gentleman-devil real? Will Alina succeed in her exciting mission to uncover the identity of this legend?

Review

When I started reading, images of Batman in the Victorian era crossed my mind. The plot is brilliant, and thought-provoking, bringing to light social issues that are prevalent in almost every society, whether modern or Victorian. I love that the author explored themes of race, nationality and politics in this book.

Flowers For The Devil is a focus on English society in the Victorian era where the gap between the upper and lower classes was wide and vigilante justice seemed the best option. It's also a focus on the people taking matters into their own hands when the law and government fail them.

These parts of the story put me in an introspective mood as I read. Often authors write from their experience. I weighed the author's mindset and perspective (because they were clear as day from the writing) with the realities of the present day. It's clear that they have strong opinions about these wrongs and want a society free of them.

Dark tales of every form of corruption such as murders, sexual assault, child rape, fraud, greed etc., flood the pages of this book and one man takes it upon himself to right the wrongs. Then he meets a young lady like himself, who fights the wrongs in her own way and falls in love with her.

The pacing, action and character development are exquisite. The storytelling was so eloquent that I was glued to every page and finished the book in two days. The author tells the story from the gentleman-devil's POV in a confessional with a priest and also in the third person. The switch is seamless and enjoyable.

The romance part is endearing—a case of forbidden love; the woman falling in love with the villain or the upstanding, delicate lady loving the bad boy. Are there steamy scenes in this book? Of course but they don't overshadow the core themes of the book. I also love the acknowledgement of the Russian language and references to interculturalism in this book.

I didn't expect to enjoy this gothic Victorian tale as much as I did. I'll give it a 3.9 stars out of 5. It's worth reading and I'll recommend this book for anyone searching for a dark Victorian romance.

Have you read this book or would you like to recommend similar books?

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^{Book cover is from my e-library and edited in Canva
Image credit: Nóra Zahradník}