The Confessions of Frannie Langton
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4.4 • 7 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
'Deep-diving and elegant' Margaret Atwood
'Takes the gothic genre by the scruff of the neck' Bernadine Evaristo
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'They say I must be put to death for what happened to Madame, and they want me to confess. But how can I confess what I don't believe I've done?'
1826, and all of London is in a frenzy. Crowds gather at the gates of the Old Bailey to watch as Frannie Langton, maid to Mr and Mrs Benham, goes on trial for their murder. The testimonies against her are damning - slave, whore, seductress. And they may be the truth. But they are not the whole truth.
For the first time Frannie must tell her story. It begins with a girl learning to read on a plantation in Jamaica, and it ends in a grand house in London, where a beautiful woman waits to be freed.
But through her fevered confessions, one burning question haunts Frannie Langton: could she have murdered the only person she ever loved?
A haunting tale about one woman's fight to tell her story, The Confessions of Frannie Langton leads you through laudanum-laced dressing rooms and dark-as-night alleys, into the heart of Georgian London.
WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK AWARDS FIRST NOVEL PRIZE 2019
SHORLISTED FOR HWA DEBUT CROWN 2020
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'A dazzling page-turner' Emma Donoghue
'A star in the making' Sunday Times
'Gothic fiction made brand new' Stef Penney
'Dazzlingly original' The Times
'A heroine for our times' Elizabeth Day
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Collins's debut is a powerful portrayal of the horrors of slavery and the injustices of British society's treatment of former slaves in the early 1800s. Frannie Langton lives as John Langton's slave in Jamaica from 1812 until 1825. When the harvest burns, ownership of the land reverts to Langton's wife and her brother, and Langton returns to London with Frannie. Once in London, he gives Frannie as a servant to fellow scientist George Benham and his wife, Meg, a woman intrigued by Frannie and the breadth of her education. Benham asks Frannie to spy on Meg, whom he thinks might do something to embarrass him socially; meanwhile, Frannie and Meg become lovers. But when Benham and Meg are murdered, Frannie is arrested. She claims no memory of the crime, and a good defense seems unlikely both because of her race and her spotty memory. Frannie's dislike of Benham, her jealousy of his relationship with Meg, and memory gaps caused by Frannie's use of laudanum add to the reader's uncertainty of her involvement. This is both a highly suspenseful murder mystery and a vivid historical novel, but best of all is the depiction of Frannie, a complex and unforgettable protagonist. This is a great book sure to find a wide and deserved audience.
