#141 The Girls at the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine

A retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses set during the Jazz age. The girls are an embarrassment to a man who desperately wanted a son to continue the family name and business. There are a two sets of twins among the sisters in order to keep the ages closer together and the storytelling works hard at making each sister distinct. Jo is the eldest and is the surrogate mother to the girls since their father dismisses the nannies to save money and their mother dies. He seems embarrassed right from the start that he has only daughters and as the numbers go up he never allows them in public. The older ones were allowed out where they wouldn't be noticed by high society. A trip to the movies for Jo as a young girl starts a love affair with dancing that she passes to each of her sisters in turn. Once the nannies are fired there are no more trips to the movies but the desire to dance continues to grow.  The eldest four start sneaking out and going to nightclubs. As the girls get older more of them come to the clubs even the ones that certainly should never be out but Jo watches them all like the General her sisters call her. Their father knows they are going out and is desperate to stop them before they can "ruin" his name. He decides to start marrying off the girls to men he has picked out for them. Jo is desperate to find a way to fix things and by the end of the story there is a happy ending even if you want more story for each of the girls. A good retelling of the fairy tale and no need to know the fairy tale at all in order to enjoy this one.


Digital review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss