Booklog 89/2025: Jodi Taylor: The Ballad of Smallhope and Pennyroyal – Audiobook

[jacey]

Re-read via Audible. Audiobook Narrated by Zara Ramm

Hugely enjoyable revisit via audible recounting the origins of Smallhope and Pennyroyal, recovery agents extraordinaire. Beautifully read by Zara Ramm.

Original review of the Kindle version: This is the origin story of Lady Amelia Smallhope and Pennyroyal, butler of many talents. When Millie Smallhope's brother George marries a fortune hunter and her family falls apart, she's shuffled off to a finishing school. Trying to get her diamonds back from her sister-in-law, she comes nose to nose with a burglar who turns out to be much better at thievery than she is, and she ends up throwing her lot in with him - Pennyroyal - who just happens to have a time-travelling pod, and be a product of Butler school, though Millie suspects he learned all he knows in the nick. The two embark on a career as bounty hunters - err - recovery agents - and we follow their exploits, including where their story intersects with the St Mary's crew of disaster-magnet historians, and the Time Police, especially Team Weird. This is very engaging, and I stayed up far too late into the night because I couldn't put it down. Shades of Modesty Blaise and Willie Garvin with a time pod.