It's the anglophilia arc! We're starting on a series of books which are fantasy British - we set out initially to critique teaboo tendencies in sf but we accidentally picked a bunch of good and fun books, of which this is one. Or maybe we're both just weak to this stuff, having been raised on a diet of Terry Pratchett.

This specific example involves charming old ladies, Victorian drug labs and the requisite terrible mom, and is very funny.