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Summary
Summary
Amid the drama of the suffragette movement in Edwardian London, the disappearance of a famous trapeze artist in the middle of her act leads a young Fleet Street reporter to an underworld of circus performers, fetishists, and society columnists.
London, 1912.
The suffragette movement is reaching a fever pitch, and Inspector Frederick Primrose is hunting a murderer on his beat. Across town, Fleet Street reporter Frances "Frankie" George is chasing an interview with trapeze artist Ebony Diamond. Frankie finds herself fascinated by the tightly-laced acrobat and follows her to a Bond Street corset shop that seems to be hiding secrets of its own. When Ebony Diamond mysteriously disappears in the middle of a performance, Frankie and Primrose are both drawn into the shadowy world of a secret society with ties to both London's criminal underworld and its glittering socialites.
How did Ebony vanish, who was she afraid of, and what goes on behind the doors of the mysterious Hourglass Factory? From newsrooms to the drawing rooms of high society, the investigation leads Frankie and Primrose to a murderous villain with a plot more deadly than anyone could have imagined.
Author Notes
Lucy Ribchester lives in Edinburgh. She was a recipient of a 2013 Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award and a 2016 Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship. Her short stories have been shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award and the Manchester Fiction Prize, and her first novel The Hourglass Factory was longlisted for the Goldsboro HWA Debut Crown. She also writes about dance and circus for Scotland's The List magazine. Find out more at lucyribchester.com.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Ribchester's energetic debut builds a quirky mystery around the 1912 suffrage demonstrations and hunger strikes in London, which authorities met with mass arrests, later force-feeding the prisoners. Aspiring journalist Francesca "Frankie" George, who wears men's clothes and chafes at her lowly newspaper job, senses an opportunity for advancement when asked to profile trapeze artist and suffragette Ebony Diamond. Instead, she discovers two deaths that seem to be failed attacks on the acrobat shortly before Diamond suddenly disappears. Frankie's quest for answers threatens her life and leads her to Frederick Primrose, a weary detective inspector at the Scotland Yard squad tasked with controlling the suffragettes' constant disruptions. Their converging investigations wend through harrowing prisons, seedy variety shows, a suffrage leader's office, and a corset shop that is more than it seems. The novel's phantasmagoric world and complex themes, from gender and class inequity to the justifications for violent activism, are fascinating. But Ribchester fails to give her idiosyncratic characters or her story's myriad elements (the Titanic, Jack the Ripper, fetishism, poison ivy, snake charming, and the Tarot, among other things) the full development they deserve, making the book feel overcrowded and emotionally flat despite its imaginative strength. Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Ribchester's debut: in shadowy 1912 London, an intrepid female reporter tries to interview a sexy, mysterious suffragette/trapeze artist only to be thrust into a complex intrigue involving corsets, bomb plots, and exotic dancers. Francesca "Frankie" George has fled marriage to the butcher's son to live her journalistic dream in the big city, but her editor only publishes the society column she writes each week with the input of Twinkle, an aging courtesan. When he asks her to interview the infamous Ebony Diamond, Frankie discovers that the beautiful trapeze artist and former suffragette has become the target of a murderer. Then Ebony disappears, and Frankie enlists help from Milly, an "Egyptian" dancer with her own snake; Liam, an errand boy; and, eventually, Inspector Frederick Primrose of the "suffragette squad." Soon they're confronting, in no particular order: militant suffragettes; a (possible) victim of Jack the Ripper; a secret club for powerful men who like to wear corsets; an escaped tiger; a man sent to prison for smashing windows; a militant moralist; a bomb plot to rival Guy Fawkes'; and Ebony herself, the shadow at the heart of all this drama. Ribchester leaves nothing out, no stone unturned and no drama unexplored, which is a big gamble, but the novel feels expertly paced and plotted. Despite all the drama, there are some very tender and slow unspoolings of character development and relationship, and these moments help anchor those more histrionic points. The characters complement one another brilliantly, and the novel actually brings some sharp insights to the history of the women's movement, its worth and its foibles, and the horrible realities of force-feedings and other jailhouse humiliations. How can one resist such a deliciously over-the-top, historically savvy novel? A romp with flair and substance. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Suffragettes, fetishists, murder, a missing trapeze artist, and the opportunity for a career-making news scoop set the stage for Ribchester's entertaining debut. Frankie, the plucky young heroine, is doing her darndest to cover some real news for the London Evening Gazette, which keeps her entrenched in fluffy women's-interest pieces. An assignment on aerialist and suffragette Ebony Diamond turns into the chance she's been hoping for, as two people close to the performer wind up dead, and Ebony herself vanishes. Intertwined with Frankie's story is that of the upstanding Detective Inspector Primrose, whose suffragette detail draws him into the fray. Set in 1912 London, the story brims with historical events (e.g., Jack the Ripper, the Titanic disaster, Holloway Jail hunger strikes), and readers will recognize prominent names in the women's rights movement, such as the Pankhursts, Pethick-Lawrences, and WSPU. Frankie, who wears slacks, smokes, and guzzles gin, is more naive than radical, and readers can't help but root for her success. A fun and fast-moving mystery, perfect for fans of Kerry Greenwood's Miss Fisher series.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2015 Booklist
Library Journal Review
[DEBUT] This debut, which earned the author a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award, is both a satisfactory mystery and well-researched historical novel set against the backdrop of England's 1912 suffragette movement. Eager to move from the ladies column to real news, young reporter Frankie George thinks a profile of suffragette and trapeze artist Ebony Diamond will be her big break. As she tries to find Ebony, it is increasingly clear someone is trying to murder the notorious feminist activist. Enlisting the aid of a showgirl snake charmer, a street urchin, and an aged socialite, Frankie and Insp. Frederick Primrose uncover a plot reaching into the halls of Parliament. Verdict Ribchester successfully captures the sights and smells of Edwardian England at a time of tumultuous social change and events-suffragette window smashing, the sinking of the Titanic, and even the Jack the Ripper murders. History and mystery buffs will enjoy this lively look at an era now popularized by Downton Abbey.-Cheryl Bryan, Orleans, MA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
