Etiquette & Espionage

It’s one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It’s quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners–and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine’s, young ladies learn to finish…everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage–in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year’s education.

The hardcover editions of the Finishing School series are no longer in print. However, Gail occasionally has excess stock which she offers to her newsletter subscribers only. 

Like this series? Want to know what happened to Geraldine’s Girls all grown up?

Try the Delightfully Deadly series.

Want more YA from Gail?

Try the Tinkered Starsong trilogy.

Behind the Scenes of Etiquette & Espionage:

• Special Extras for this book.
• Gail’s articles, thoughts & tidbits on E&E.
• Check out Sophronia’s character design board

LISTEN TO A SAMPLE OF THE AUDIOBOOK? 

Accolades

Etiquette & Espionage was a New York Times and Locus bestseller, was nominated for the Sakura Medal (Japan – 2015) and a Goodreads Choice Award (2013), made YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list (2014), the ALA’s Notable Books for Children List (2014), top 10 YALSA’s Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults List (2014), and won the Prix Elbakin Award (France- 2014).

Looking for content & trigger warnings for this book? Please check StoryGraph. 

Praise for Etiquette & Espionage

“Readers will love the well-developed characters and the quirky charm imbued into every page, and will eagerly await the sequel.”

Romantic Times, 4 stars

“Somewhere between Steampunk, Oz, and Jane Austen, you can find the world of Gail Carriger’s wonderful new young adult series...”

Orson Scott Card

“Gail Carriger has the deft storytelling of Jones and the whimsy of Jasper Fforde. It’s fun, fresh, witty, exciting, and is full of dastardly doings and an easy absurdity that leaves a smile on your face.”

Publishers Weekly Galley Talk

“...delightful...a brisk romp about the value of knowing the rules, so that you can subvert them...here the gears and steam feel like so much wallpaper rather than grafted-on decorations and signal flags.”

Locus

“Blending intrigue and elements of the school story, Carriger introduces teen readers to a supernatural-meets-steampunk world full of action and wit.”

Horn Book

“Of course, as with much YA fiction these days, the book’s appeal crosses generations; Carriger’s whimsical sense of humor and lightness of touch is entertaining regardless of age.”

Tor.com

“Absolutely charming, comical, and full of whimsy. I wish I could attend a school as fun as this finishing academy, with its host of endearing, headstrong characters. It was like the perfect steampunk version of Harry Potter. I seriously need my own Bumbersnoot. Like, NOW. More, please!”

Marie Lu
New York Times bestselling author of the Legend trilogy