60 pages • 2-hour read
A Curious Beginning
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Character Analysis
Veronica Speedwell
Veronica Speedwell is the narrator and protagonist of A Curious Beginning. She is an accomplished lepidopterist, or a natural scientist who studies butterflies, with several publications to her name. At the novel’s beginning, she intends to further these studies with a trip to Southeast Asia now that her guardian, Aunt Nell, has died. This appeals to Veronica’s adventurous spirit, which she feels has been stifled in the long months spent nursing Aunt Nell. Veronica prefers adventure and travel over the comforts of home, and she enjoys finding different sexual partners on her trips, which she knows to be highly scandalous according to late Victorian social mores. She keeps these liaisons short and casual, refusing to gather any longstanding emotional ties to her partners.
In addition to her liberal attitudes about sexuality and sex for women, Veronica rebels against various other Victorian social norms. She is vocal about her disinterest in motherhood and dislikes fashion trends that privilege form over function. She laments how patriarchal society has limited women’s access to education and knowledge—thereby limiting women’s power to understand a different path for themselves. She drinks liquor, smokes cigars, and holds little concern for what these habits would do for her public reputation. This disregard for social norms hinders Veronica only once in the novel, when her sexual history leaves her unable to serve as a believable alibi for Stoker, who is accused of murdering Max.
As the novel opens, Veronica knows nothing about her past or birth; her understanding of her own history extends only as far as the knowledge that her adoptive aunts were originally from London. As the mystery unfolds, she learns that she is the legitimate daughter of Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, who married her mother, an Irish actress, before Veronica’s birth. Veronica, however, is uninterested in her potential place in the royal line of succession. She prefers to live her life entirely separate from royal intrigues so that she may pursue her true passion for the natural sciences. Though she destroys the paperwork that indicates her birth, unaware these were not the real papers, she refuses to accept a bribe from the royal family to ensure her silence, which she has already promised.
Veronica’s central personality changes little throughout the novel, even as she learns more about herself. She is stubborn and determined, possessing both an immovable sense of justice and a desire for adventure. She is also intensely loyal, as is demonstrated by her growing partnership with Stoker across the novel, even when Stoker refuses to share his history. Veronica’s primary change is as an investigator, shifting from reluctant to eager. Still, she looks forward to returning to expeditions and work in lepidoptery at the end of the novel rather than in solving mysteries.
Revelstoke “Stoker” Templeton-Vane
Revelstoke “Stoker” Templeton-Vane is Veronica’s partner and ally throughout the novel. Stoker is a taxidermist with a passion for natural history, though his disgraced expedition several years before the novel’s beginning makes him believe he will never again be a success in his field. Stoker is taciturn, argumentative, and stuck in his ways. For example, when Veronica attempts to pay him simple kindnesses like tidying his workshop or cooking him soup, Stoker becomes surly.
He has a keen sense of pride that is connected to his notions of masculinity. When Veronica offers to pay for her own food while in his care, he is insulted. Her offers to let him extract himself from the political snare caused by the truth of her birth elicit similar offense. Gradually this is framed more as a matter of loyalty than one of mere price. Over the course of the novel, Stoker grows more engaged and optimistic about his life, though he continues to quarrel with Veronica over small issues. He is invigorated by the mystery that surrounds them and supports Veronica in her quest to unravel the story of her birth.
Stoker has a mysterious past that he gradually begins to reveal as he becomes closer to Veronica, though the full details of his history are not in the novel. His relationship with his family is troubled, leading to a rift between him and his brother, Rupert. Stoker uses the diminutive “Stoker,” from “Revelstoke,” as a singular name to separate himself from his aristocratic family (he is called both “Mr. Stoker” and just “Stoker”). He was previously married and still possesses his late wife’s wedding ring, though he reveals nothing else of his relationship. Veronica comes to trust Stoker despite his secrecy, which leads Stoker to offer more clues about his past in turn. Stoker is also a potential love interest for Veronica. They experience several near kisses in the novel, though one or the other pulls away from the embrace before it can become a true kiss. Despite this, they allude to attraction to one another, suggesting that Stoker might be a long-term love interest in the rest of the series.
Baron Maximillian von Stauffenbach
Baron Maximillian von Stauffenbach, known to Stoker as “Max,” is the victim in the murder mystery portion of the novel. Veronica learns in the novel’s climax that he is killed when he refuses to share any information about Veronica’s royal birth. Max appears for only a short period in the novel; while he is on page, he is shown as a kindly older gentleman. His concern for Veronica’s safety arises in part from his intense love for Veronica’s late mother, Lily. More of Max’s character is revealed after his death, primarily via Stoker, who knew him well. Stoker frames Max as a loyal, supportive friend who provided Stoker with a safe and affordable place to do his taxidermy work after Stoker’s failed expedition left him with little money. Max also traveled all the way to South America to retrieve Stoker after a wildcat attack left him injured and despondent, which earned him Stoker’s loyalty. This also constituted the debt that led Stoker to agree to protect Veronica. Max was a collector who introduced Stoker to Lord Rosemorran and Lady Cordelia; upon his death, he left his fortune to various museums and charitable organizations.
Edmund de Clare
Edmund de Clare is Veronica’s maternal uncle and a primary antagonist in the novel. He is an agitator for Irish Home Rule who intends to kidnap Veronica, marry her to an Irish loyalist, and force her to produce a male heir who would be loyal to Ireland and of the British royal bloodline. De Clare attempts to present himself as a sympathetic ally or family member at various points in the novel, though Veronica finds this presentation unconvincing. De Clare seems possibly convinced of his own arguments; even when he kidnaps Veronica, he insists that he is doing things for her own good.
De Clare reveals in the novel’s climax that his associate Silent John accidentally killed Max while de Clare interrogated him about the proof of Veronica’s birth. Though he is burned with formaldehyde-fueled fire, Veronica believes that his quick jump into a shallow portion of the Thames indicates that de Clare survives at the end of the novel, suggesting that he may reappear as an antagonist in later installments in the series.
Inspector Mornaday
Inspector Mornaday is a police inspector with the Special Division of Scotland Yard. Mornaday first appears in the novel in the guise of a groom working for Professor Pygopagus’s Traveling Show. His various conversations with other characters such as Salome provide “red herrings” in this portion of the novel, as Salome ultimately contributes nothing to the solution of any of the novel’s mysteries.
Mornaday’s status as an ally or antagonist is uncertain in the novel. Though he helps Veronica and Stoker at various points in the text, such as when his boat arrives at the ideal moment to save them from de Clare, his loyalties are uncertain. Mornaday confesses to ambition, which leads him to wish to undermine his superiors without getting caught. Despite this, he is beholden to Sir Hugo and acts accordingly whenever it best serves him. Mornaday claims that he is more interested in safeguarding Veronica than in protecting the Crown, but the credibility of this claim is unclear.
Veronica finds herself instinctively trusting Mornaday, something that irritates Stoker, who intensely distrusts the inspector. Veronica often notes Mornaday’s good looks, indicating that he might have potential as a future love interest, though she seems more invested in using these comments to irritate Stoker than in envisioning any potential romantic or sexual future with Mornaday.
Sir Hugo Montgomerie
Sir Hugo Montgomerie is a secondary antagonist in the novel. Though he does not appear in the text until shortly before the novel’s climax, Montgomerie has a history with Stoker, leading to an animosity between the two. When Stoker ran away from home as a child, a young Inspector Montgomerie was dispatched by Stoker’s aristocrat father to retrieve him. Montgomerie is intensely loyal to the Crown. He possesses a sense of honor that sometimes comes into conflict with this loyalty. As Veronica outlines in the denouement, she believes that Montgomerie would not have murdered an innocent woman just because his royal handlers demanded it; however, she believes he would have been tempted to follow those orders, even if they went against his sense of morality.
Montgomerie is Mornaday’s superior, and it is Mornaday’s obligations to Montgomerie that leads him to act in ways that work against Stoker and Veronica. Despite this position of authority, the novel notes Montgomerie’s subordination to another power, an unknown but very powerful woman. This suggests that Montgomerie will recur as an antagonist across the series but that he will not prove the “big bad” or ultimate antagonist that Stoker and Veronica face.
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