The Society of Literary Marauders (Sasha Wasley, Pantera)
Sasha Wasley’s The Society of Literary Marauders follows Annie, a bricklayer’s daughter from Perth, who travels to England in 1928 to pursue a long-held dream of studying at Oxford. She quickly makes friends with the privileged, sexually liberated Ridley, the disillusioned schoolteacher Norma, and Dorelia, a mathematics scholar from a wealthy Parsi family. Together, they form a club devoted to acquiring (by any means necessary) books deemed unsuitable for nice girls. The novel is rich in discussions of gender, class and colonialism. Wasley largely avoids reducing her characters to mouthpieces for these themes, instead creating multifaceted figures with convincing, often morally complex motivations. Ridley’s cousin, Lady Susan, for instance, is a progressive champion of women’s education while also being a leading figure in the eugenics movement. While Annie is a compelling protagonist with a strong moral compass, her portrayal as an unfailingly politically conscious hero occasionally stretches credibility. It would have been interesting to see her confront more directly the limits of her own perspective as a white, educated woman. Wasley’s detailed author’s note acknowledges the support of archivists and experts, including a cultural sensitivity reader, and addresses her decision to retain historically accurate but now offensive language. It outlines an intensive research process that is evident in the vivid historical rendering of Oxford. Intelligent and deftly plotted, The Society of Literary Marauders joins works such as RF Kuang’s Babel and Pip Williams’s The Dictionary of Lost Words as an ode to Oxford and an interrogation of the inequalities that underpin it.
Books+Publishing reviewer: Megan Koch is an Adelaide-based writer with a background in bookselling and libraries. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.
Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.
Category: Friday Unlocked reviews Reviews
