Kaoru Mori's Shirley is a collection of short stories about maids in Victorian London. The main story is about Shirley, a thirteen-year-old maid for young old maid Bennet Cranley. Bennet places an ad in the newspaper for a maid because she runs a diner and has no time to clean. She comes home from work one day to find Shirley on her doorstep. Shirley is young and chose Bennet because there was no age requirement in her ad. Bennet takes to Shirley quickly; Shirley works hard and makes the home spotless. Bennet begins to treat Shirley almost like a daughter. She purchases her a doll, but then questions if it is too childish for her. She finds Shirley making clothes for the doll and discovers that Shirley is a very able fashion designer.
Shirley admires Bennet for her beauty and intelligence. She wants to be exactly like her and you can begin to see this taking shape from the beginning of the story. She defends her against those who treat her wrongly and becomes a little possessive of her.
The second story is called Me and Nellie and One Afternoon. This is about another young maid named Nellie whose child master wants to play with her. His parents are gone and Nellie is the only person close to his age. She has to make him happy even though he is a complete brat. She is able to feel empathy for him when she finds out about his mother's alcoholism from another maid.
The final story is about Mary Banks, who is a maid for an unruly old man. He loves to play pranks on all of his help and makes things extraordinarily difficult for them. While most maids don't last a day there, Mary Banks is able to stick it out until the old man's death.
I didn't enjoy this one as much as Emma: A Victorian Romance Volume One. The story was nice and sweet, but it didn't deal with as much of the cultural and societal issues as Emma did. This isn't a bad thing, I did enjoy it, but I just enjoyed Emma more. If you've never read anything by Karou Mori then I would suggest readivng that before this, although if you're looking for something nice and simple that takes place in Victorian London then this is a good one to check out.
Pub. Date: July 2008
Publisher: DC Comics
Format: Paperback, 208pp
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