|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
When Lizzie Martin arrives in London in 1864 from Derbyshire, she envisions a quiet life as a companion to an older woman, the widow of Lizzie's godfather. Lizzie's father was a country doctor who ministered to the coal miners and their families as well as the other inhabitants of their rural area. Upon his death, Lizzie, then in her late twenties with neither prospects nor inclination for marriage, needed a position. Her father’s generosity to the poorer people in his practice meant that Lizzie was left with debts and had to sell the family home to settle them. It was shocking enough to discover that Lizzie's position as companion to Mrs Parry was vacant because the previous occupant had gone missing. Soon the household learns that Maddie has been murdered. When Inspector Ben Ross arrives to question the members of the Parry household, he turns out to have lived near Lizzie's former home and was a protégé of her father, who had paid for his schooling. London was in transition during this era with massive construction projects underway and the whole country was being crossed with railroad lines. The construction of a new train station, St Pancras, necessitated the tearing down houses of the poor. Maddie, the former companion, had been found in one of the houses by workmen. The family and their friends were offended by the police having the effrontery to question them and they were very unsympathetic toward the young woman, who, they suggested, was the author of her own fate. Lizzie is an outspoken and independent sort and she bristles at the comments and opinions of her betters. Thus she does what she can to discover the truth about the case. I found the atmosphere and the historical detail to be very interesting. Times were changing, yet the poor and uneducated were still looked down upon and the attitudes of the wealthy were often appalling. Young women who, through no fault of their own, were forced to seek employment in the homes of the wealthy were often exploited sexually either by members of the family or their acquaintances. The author has deftly woven that history and those attitudes into a compelling mystery.
Reviewed by Lorraine Gelly, August 2008
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
| 
