MacEnulty has created an unusual and thoroughly engaging new partnership in this, the first installment of her mystery series set in Gilded Age New York City.

Louisa Delafield is the only surviving child of a once-prominent member of the upper echelons of New York society; the scandal which resulted in her father’s destruction has stripped almost everything that remained to the family and has forced Louisa to step up and become the breadwinner. A talented writer, Louisa becomes a journalist with a regular society column in one of the city’s newspapers. But that’s not what the increasingly insightful and independent Louisa wants to write about, and being forced into that socially approved box is infuriating.

Ellen Malloy is a lady’s maid in the household of a family well-known to Louisa. Recently arrived from Ireland, Ellen befriends another maid who has been impregnated by the master of the house. In witnessing the botched abortion, Ellen’s life is in peril.

How these two women join forces to confront their mutual lack of equality and power in this dramatically changing society is a well-plotted and marvelous journey. The critical issues of women’s suffrage, contraception, abortion, and living in a closeted world—all issues still in play more than 100 years after MacEnulty’s narrative—are all focal to the character development and point of view. It’s also a glorious trip through 1913 New York City, and traveling around Manhattan (and getting to attend the opening of Grand Central Station where I commute to and from) was utterly enjoyable for this New Yorker.

I highly recommend The Whispering Women and am anxiously looking forward to MacEnulty’s next installment in the series.

Set in the early 1900s in the glittering New York City, The Whispering Women by Trish MacEnulty tells the story of Louisa Delafield, a woman born into a wealthy family who must learn to work and support herself and her mother following the murder of her father. Louisa begins working as a journalist to make ends meet. She finds herself in the middle of the muckraker news era. She shies away from this news style and focuses instead on the society events that she would have been attending as a young socialite if her father had not been murdered leaving her and her mother with little money.

When Louisa’s path crosses with Ellen, a woman working as a maid, Louisa begins to understand that there are forces at work hiding the questionable things that are happening within the city after Ellen witnesses the death of a fellow servant from an illegal abortion gone awry. Ellen and Louisa think they have very little in common. They come from different classes, have different ideas about sexuality, and have had vastly different experiences. They will quickly develop a relationship and armed with Ellen as her ally, Louisa will need to embrace the muckraking journalism style she had avoided to uncover those responsible for several unsavory things going on in New York City all while she searches for her father’s murderer.

The Whispering Women challenges traditional values about marriage, independence, sexuality, birth control, and more that are just as relevant today as they were in the early 1900s.

Richly drawn characters, the vibrant historical setting, and a suspenseful mystery create strong currents that pull readers into this delightful novel. But it’s the women’s issues—as relevant today as they were in the early 1900s—that will linger long after the last page.