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"[A] charming fantasy from a Singaporean writer...Leda Cassidy is something else. An unusual mix of myths and legends from around the world, this feels like a classic-in-waiting." -- The Guardian "A rollicking good ride!" -- Time Out "A highly entertaining mix of fantasy, romance, and historical fiction." -- Historical Novel Society "An utter delight. Combines several [genres]--from the Victorian comedy of manners to the fairy tale--to effervescent effect. The best thing about this novel is its intrepid, no-nonsense heroine...a charming adventure [with] a competent heroine and a middle-aged romance you find yourself rooting for. It is very good fun." -- The Straits Times "What a delight--I haven''t enjoyed an adventure this much in years. Great fun, completely immersive and bursting with characters who leap off the page. A debut as impressive as Miss Cassidy herself!" -- Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling author of The Other Side of the Sky "Formidable indeed! An effortlessly readable novel, with a stunning blend of history, myth and magic from Singapore and beyond." -- Ng Yi-Sheng, award-winning author of Lion City " The Formidable Miss Cassidy is a page-turner exuding the daylight smells and colors, and the cicada-singing nights, of Old Singapore. The borders between the real and mythological realms are presented as porous veils. At the center of the magic, mystery, and mischief, Miss Cassidy delights--a ghost-busting Mary Poppins with the proprieties, deportment, with a wicked sense of humor and fearlessness." -- Nuraliah Norasid, award-winning author of The Gatekeeper
About the author
Meihan Boey is the author of the novels The Formidable Miss Cassidy, which was the co-winner of the 2021 Epigram Books Fiction Prize and winner of the 2022 Singapore Book Award for Best Literary Work; and The Enigmatic Madam Ingram, a finalist for the 2023 Epigram Books Fiction Prize; as well as the science fiction novella The Messiah Virus. She is also the vice president of the Association of Comic Artists of Singapore and has scripted several comics, including Supacross and The Once and Marvellous DKD. She is a dedicated comic book and manga fan, an enthusiastic gamer, a persistent triathlete, and not yet a Super Saiyan, though she keeps trying.
Summary
A Scottish governess arrives in Singapore to take up her new post, only to find a host of problems await that require her very unique skills in this award-winning and incredibly entertaining historical fantasy novel.
There has never yet been a crisis that Miss Leda Cassidy hasn’t been able to fix, be it a lovelorn young charge, perpetually distracted students, or an unruly and malevolent ghost. When she arrives at her new employer’s home and discovers the family is being terrorized by a vampiric spirit, she sets about righting the situation without delay.
But it seems that as soon as she puts one supernatural creature to rest, another appears to take its place. A woman’s work is truly never done, is it?
When she meets Mr. Kay, a widower whose greatest worry appears to be making matches for his twin daughters, she is happy to take a post that might provide her a bit of respite from her more “spirited” friends. But she soon realizes that the Kays are in far more trouble than she realized—and that her presence in their home might have put the family she’s grown to cherish in even more jeopardy. Will she be able to save them all before it’s too late, or has she finally stumbled upon the one problem she isn’t able to solve?
