Review: Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger

Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger

Copy Courtesy of First Reads and Simon and Schuster/Touchstone
Already Published

Summary
Sally is a lady's made to a vibrant Lady of London society - Lady Duff Gordon. Lady Gordon is sick with tuberculosis, and the doctor has prescribed the treatment of going to Egypt to help clear her lungs. Once in Egypt, despite having served her lady faithfully for many years, something happens, and Sarah find that she is mistress of nothing.

Commentary
The preface of the book (as well as the title and summary) informs you of the impending disaster so you are anticipating it the entire time. I think this expectation marred the otherwise pleasant journey through Egypt. Granted, without the expectation, I might have found the journey to be boring so obviously I'm just hard to please.

Mistress of Nothing reads very much like a diary. The story takes place in a time of political turmoil in Egypt, and I found the greater surrounding Sally's journey to be a very interesting setting despite the fact that the politics really didn't intrude very often. I could sort of connected with the characters, but I can't say that I really liked any of them.

If you like slice of life stories, you may enjoy reading this one The disaster, when it happens, is one that I'm not sure fits into the picture very well. It should be noted that this is based on a true story so it must be somewhat accurate, and real life in general is messy unlike nice neat books.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

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