There is a particular kind of YA novel that announces its pleasures immediately and then delivers on them consistently for three hundred pages. The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue is that kind of novel. It is funny — genuinely, consistently funny in a way that is rare in any genre — and it is also, by the time it is finished, unexpectedly moving.
Henry “Monty” Montague is a bisexual English nobleman in the 18th century who has spent his adolescence being spectacularly irresponsible, and who is taking a Grand Tour of Europe before his father ships him off to manage an estate and behave himself. His companions are his best friend (and secret love) Percy, and his sensible sister Felicity. What begins as a pleasure trip through Paris and Venice becomes considerably more complicated when a stolen snuff box connects them to alchemists, pirates, and a European conspiracy they very much did not sign up for.
Monty
He is one of the great comic protagonists in recent YA, and what makes him work is that Lee never lets the comedy obscure his actual interiority. Monty is funny because he is oblivious and self-destructive and constitutionally unable to make the sensible choice — but the reasons for those qualities are real, and the book takes them seriously without taking itself too seriously.
His relationship with his own bisexuality, and with Percy, is handled with care. The period setting makes his self-understanding complicated in historically plausible ways without becoming a lecture.
Percy
Percy, who is Black and epileptic, navigates an 18th-century Europe that has specific cruelties prepared for him, and Lee does not flinch from those while keeping him fully realised as a person rather than a symbol. His patience with Monty is earned, not a character flaw.
Felicity
Monty’s sister gets her own spin-off novel (A Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy) and absolutely deserves it. She is the sharpest person in the room in every scene she occupies.
Why YA Readers Will Love This
For readers who want LGBTQ protagonists in historical settings — where the history is accurate but the narrative treatment is compassionate — Monty’s story is one of the best examples in the genre.
For readers who love road-trip narratives — the picaresque structure, the series of escalating misadventures, the ways that travel reveals character — the Grand Tour framework gives this book a shape that sustains its comedy and its emotion simultaneously.
For readers who have ever felt like the family disappointment, who have been told their instincts are wrong and their interests are shameful: Monty’s journey to understanding his own worth is the book underneath the comedy, and it is genuinely good.
This is an immensely fun book that earns its emotional resonance. A rare combination.
Published: June 2017 · Genre: YA historical fiction · Series: Montague Siblings, Book 1
Frequently Asked Questions
What is The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue about? Henry ‘Monty’ Montague is a bisexual English nobleman in the 18th century, taking a Grand Tour of Europe before his father ships him off to manage an estate. His companions are his best friend and secret love Percy, and his sensible sister Felicity. What begins as a pleasure trip through Paris and Venice becomes complicated when a stolen snuff box connects them to alchemists, pirates, and a European conspiracy they didn’t sign up for.
What makes Monty a great comic protagonist in The Gentleman’s Guide? The review praises Lee for never letting the comedy ‘obscure his actual interiority.’ Monty is funny because he is ‘oblivious and self-destructive and constitutionally unable to make the sensible choice’ — but the reasons for those qualities are real, and the book takes them seriously without taking itself too seriously. His bisexuality and relationship with Percy are handled ‘with care,’ complicated by the period setting ‘in historically plausible ways without becoming a lecture.’
How does the novel portray Percy’s experience as a Black epileptic man in 18th-century Europe? Percy navigates ‘an 18th-century Europe that has specific cruelties prepared for him, and Lee does not flinch from those while keeping him fully realised as a person rather than a symbol.’ His patience with Monty is described as ’earned, not a character flaw’ — a distinction the review presents as evidence that Lee is writing Percy with genuine care rather than as a supportive device.
What is the underlying emotional journey in The Gentleman’s Guide? The review describes ’the book underneath the comedy’ as Monty’s journey to understanding his own worth — for readers who ‘have ever felt like the family disappointment, who have been told their instincts are wrong and their interests are shameful.’ The comedy and the emotion coexist, and the review calls the combination ‘immensely fun and rare.’
Does The Gentleman’s Guide have a sequel? Yes — Felicity, Monty’s sister who is ’the sharpest person in the room in every scene she occupies,’ gets her own spin-off novel: A Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy. The review states she ‘absolutely deserves it.’ The series is called the Montague Siblings, with The Gentleman’s Guide published in June 2017 as Book 1.
Further Reading from Authoritative Sources
- Mackenzi Lee — Wikipedia’s Mackenzi Lee article provides biographical and bibliographical context for the author, including the full Montague Siblings series, helping readers understand the scope of the world Lee has built and what to read next after finishing The Gentleman’s Guide.
- the Grand Tour — Wikipedia’s Grand Tour article contextualises the 18th-century European educational travel tradition that provides The Gentleman’s Guide with its picaresque structure — helping readers understand the social and historical framework that makes the novel’s road-trip premise historically grounded.
