London in the early part of the 19th Century does not sound like a fun place to be an actress of a certain vintage. older parts are being played by young women with large bosoms and the witches of oacbeth are about to be replaced by an elephant, for heaven’s sake!
For these reasons, Cordelia Preston and Rillie Spoons need a career change, lickety-split. So, taking a leaf out of her late aunt Hester’s book, Cordelia reinvents herself as a Lady Phreno-oesmerist and before long, thanks to a smattering of talent and a lot of common sense, she and Rillie and their extended family are dragging themselves out of poverty. Never has the workhouse looked further away.
But Cordelia has a painful secret and when a body is found in Bloomsbury Square it seems she will have to give up any chance of a respectable life to protect those close to her. The workhouse again looms unbearably close.
A wonderful read, meticulously researched so that the foggy streets of early Victorian London seem right on your doorstep. Barbara Ewing must be one of our most accomplished exports. She’s a New Zealander but lives in London where she has worked as an actress for many years. Readers might recognise her from the long-running English spoof soap, Brass, but she’s had many other high points on the stage and screen and this is her fifth novel. Better still, she is most definitely a New Zealander so we don’t have to fight the Australians for her!
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