What a discovery this was! Elaine diRollo's A Proper Education for Girls is very funny and very original.
It's about two sisters in Victorian England who are raised by their father, their eccentric aunts, and an odd assortment of hangers on, including a mysterious man who is building a flying machine on the roof. The father is a collector of scientific and natural curiosities. One sister works as the curator of this bizarre collection, while the other sister has been banished to India after a youthful indiscretion.
A Proper Education for Girls shifts back and forth between India and Britain, and mostly concerns the sisters' efforts to reunite, as their father conspires to keep them apart. The novel has a high level of whimsy. Its acerbic tone and throwaway asides reminded me a lot of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events, but for grownups. I mean that as a compliment.
