Just Finished Reading: The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins (FP: 2019) [371pp] 

The Central Criminal Court, London, 1826. On trial for her life, housemaid and companion Francis Langton is accused of the willful and savage murder of her employer and her wife. Given to them as a ‘gift’ by her own father, a slave owner in Jamaica, Francis is the result of a wager between friends – a wager regarding the intelligence and educability of those of mixed race. Proving herself beyond all expectations Francis is well-read, intelligent and incisive. But in England she is hardly more than a toy, a plaything, an aberration even for the bored and melancholic Mrs Benham. Almost immediately there is a frisson between Francis and her erstwhile Mistress of the house. Francis is captivated by a beautiful, willful and sometimes eccentric force of nature whilst Marguerite Benham sees an opportunity to escape her boredom and the oppression of a loveless marriage. As brief as the passion was it could only lead to ruin. In the early years of the 19th century Francis Langton had the world against her. She was a woman educated above her ‘station’ in life, she was a whore (so they said), she was unnatural (so they said) and she had been a slave and the product of that noisome trade. But was she also a murderess and if she was what drove her to kill her employers seemingly in cold blood? More importantly, would anyone care or want to find out before they hanged her? 

This was one of those works that wasn’t exactly as advertised – or at least not explicitly advertised. I was expecting a murder mystery probably told in flashbacks (which I don’t mind if done well) during the progression of an Old Bailey trial. The trial itself only happened in the very last part of the book and barely lasted long enough to qualify as such. The confessions themselves were penned by the accused during her brief stay in prison both prior to and during the short progress of her trial and directed towards her defence lawyer. Most of the tale however was related in ‘real-time’ from Frannie’s perspective as she grew up on the Jamaican sugar plantation and eventually found herself in ‘service’ in London. Despite being somewhat disappointed by both the lack of a good murder – at least early on – and the lack of much mystery I was very impressed overall by the story itself. Frannie Langton was a very interesting ‘creation’ and deserves the praise she received from the critics – as does the author herself of course! As a first novel this was an outstanding work of historical fiction and I enjoyed it a great deal. I did find it a fascinating insight into the reasoning behind some of the debate about Slavery taking place at the time in England. I was actually rocked back on my heels by the (in hindsight) obvious revelation that the end of the slave trade within the British Empire by 1826 did not actually end the practice of slavery and much debate was still taking place regarding compensation for the owners of slaves prior to its final abolition. Naturally there was not debate about compensating the slaves themselves who lived and died to sweeten the Empire’s tea. There was much food for thought and reflection here and interesting avenues of further reading and research to follow in future non-fiction reading on the subject. Part murder mystery, part love story (with some not particularly explicit sex) and part critique of the hypocrisy of Victorian society this is definitely worth your time. Some of it will, no doubt, make some readers uncomfortable for a number of reasons but that’s how we often grow, right? Recommended.   

Awards:

Costa Book Award - Best First Novel 2019.