Bibliographic Information
Title: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
Author: Mackenzi Lee
ISBN: 978-0-06-238280-1
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Copyright Date: June 27, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Genres
Fiction, Historical Fiction, Action, Adventure, Romance, Comedy, LGBT
Awards
Stonewall Honor Book
Reading Level/Interest Level
Young Adult
Plot Summary
Monty is a young English nobleman. He is best friends with Percy, who is Black and, therefore, not a nobleman, though well-educated. Monty is charming and has a way with the ladies and the gentlemen. In fact, he is rather promiscuous. What gets his heart going, though, is Percy. They embark on a journey to the Continent for a year. They will be under the guardianship of Mr. Lockwood, after Monty’s expulsion from his school. He has a year to get his act together (no gambling, smoking or drinking, and no sex with boys). If he gets his act together, he will begin working alongside his father. If he doesn’t, he will be disowned. Felicity, Monty’s sister, will spend the summer with them in Paris and then be taken to Marseilles in the fall. They will then go on to Italy, and either Geneva or Berlin. Unfortunately, getting his act together proves difficult. Monty has lived a life of privilege and has never examined the effects of his behavior. When he vindictively steals something from one of his royal acquaintances, things take a turn for the worse, and Monty, Percy and Felicity are on the run and on their own.
Author Background
Important things to know about Mackenzie Lee: she loves Diet Coke, sweater weather and Star Wars. She also has a BA in history and an MFA in writing for children and adults. In addition to The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, she has written The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky, The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks, and This Monstrous Thing.
Critical Evaluation
The characters are multidimensional and complex. The dialog is intelligent and witty. The author perfectly captures the characters’ Victorian dialect, which helps you become completely immersed in that time period. The cover of the book is generic-looking and gives the impression of being a romance book. While there is romance in this book, it is really a literary piece of work.
Programming Ideas
This would be a good choice for a teen book club. There is a lot that could be talked about that teens could identify with: Monty’s difficulty with his father, his acting out, his difficulty expressing his love for Percy. You could talk about their journey after he stole the trinket and what they could have done differently.
Book Talk
Monty is a young English nobleman…who is not so noble. He rallies against his strict and unloving father by excessive gambling, drinking and smoking, being sexually promiscuous, and whatever else that might tarnish the family name. So his father is sending him with his best friend to the European Continent with a guardian, who will introduce them to culture and network with other nobles for a year. While there, Monty continues his errant behavior, but things go unexpectedly awry when he steals something important from royalty.
Three words to describe this book: adventurous, character-driven, suspenseful
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation
The book opens with the person narrating pondering if he’s slept with the boy in bed with him after a night of smoking and drinking. There is profanity. Books are places where teens can try on controversial ideas, without having to actually do anything. Through books, they can wrestle with their own sense of morality and come to an authentic ownership of it.
Justification for Inclusion in Collection
The writing, alone, is enough to justify this for the collection. It is beautifully written. However, the diverse characters are another reason to include this in the collection. This is a book that will speak to the contemporary teen. The back matter has notes on the historical aspects of the book (the gentleman’s tour, the politics of the time, thoughts on epilepsy at that time, race relations, and queer culture). It’s fascinating!
Image Source Titlewave. (2020). The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue [Book Cover]. Retrieved from https://www.titlewave.com/ebookpreview?flrid=529RIZ6&inside_view_for=1527BF5
YA 4 All 