![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
The streets of Georgian London can be dangerous. Not everyone is what they seem …
Lizzie Sancho and Dido Belle live very different lives.
Lizzie works at her family’s buzzing Westminster tea shop, while Belle leads a quieter life at the majestic Kenwood House. Their worlds collide when disaster strikes at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Lizzie’s father’s life is put under threat.
Why is someone after Ignatius Sancho?
And who is the shadowy figure on the theatre balcony?
Friendship, a fight for freedom and a race against time to solve the mystery before danger strikes again!
It’s 11th April 1777.
12-year-old Lizzie Sancho lives with her father, Ignatius, and mother Ann, older sisters Frances (17), Mary (a gifted musician, aged 15), younger sister Kitty (5) and brother Billy (3) above the grocery store and tea room that her parents run in Westminster. Born on a slave ship, Ignatius is now a grocer and noted man of letters, composer and abolitionist who is well known on the London scene. Recently he has developed a passion for acting and thanks to his friend, noted actor and theatre owner David Garrick, tonight he is to debut as Othello - the first time a Black man has ever played the role - at the Drury Lane theatre.
Lizzie and the rest of her family are at the theatre to watch him when Lizzie - who her mother has noted has a gift for noticing things that other people miss - sees someone on the balcony above the stage as her father begins to deliver his first lines. Suddenly a chandelier crashes onto the stage, where it would have crushed Lizzie’s father were it not for the quick reaction of William Ash, who is playing Iago. As it is, Ignatius has suffered a concussion and it is not clear whether he will be able to return to the stage, but he and everyone else at the theatre seems to think that his injuries were due to a tragic accident.
Certain that something more sinister is going on, Lizzie is determined to investigate and finds an unlikely ally in Lady Dido Elizabeth Belle, the Black niece of Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice who recently delivered a highly controversial decision in Somerset -v- Stewart, which established that an enslaved person in England could not be forcible removed to the Caribbean on the basis that slavery had never been legalised in English law. Dido was also in the theatre for Ignatius’s performance and like Lizzie, spotted someone on the balcony.
As the girls team up to uncover the truth, they discover that there are people in London who really object to Lord Mansfield’s decision and want to see Black people confined to slavery and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it …
J. T. Williams’s historical mystery novel for readers aged 8+ (the first in a series) has a solid central mystery combining suspense and a wide array of suspects whose motives are seen through a Shakespearean lense while Simone Douglas’s illustrations bring atmosphere. However, there is little sense of period here and I’m uncomfortable with the use of two real life historical people because it risks doing a disservice to their actual story.
I feel genuinely torn about this book. On the one hand, I like the fact that this is a historical book that draws attention to the fact that Black people played an active part in British history. It’s something that we should be celebrating and anything that puts Black characters front and centre is something to be applauded. On the other hand, Williams is using two real people from British history each of whom had their own actual lives and experiences and by positing a friendship that simply would not have existed due to their class backgrounds I worry that it actually does a real disservice to what actually happened to them. This is particularly the case with Dido Belle who had a peculiar position in British society because she was in the upper echelons on British society thanks to her uncle but does not appear to have been recognised as such. Williams does not really address this in the book at all, suggesting a close relationship between Dido and Lord Mansfield when what documentary evidence is available suggests something more nuanced.
Matters are not helped by the fact that there is no real sense of period in this book. Told by Lizzie, her narrative first person voice was too modern for me. I didn’t need the language to be 100% authentic but the use of modern terms and phrases kept throwing me out of the story, plus Lizzie’s penchant for wearing britches and running around unchaperoned without anyone saying anything left me a little irritated (as did Dido’s habit of answering her own front door). The failure to recognise the role of class in society also grated on me because it would have been so ingrained and although Ignatius was acquainted with Garrick and a number of other celebrities of the period, he would have still been aware of his place relative to Lord Mansfield. Again, I don’t need it to be 100% accurate (and no doubt younger readers will not be attuned to any of this) but it was noticeable and although this is countered slightly by Simone Douglas’s illustrations, which do give more of a sense of period atmosphere, it did affect my enjoyment.
That’s a massive shame because the central mystery here works quite well. Williams knows how to build suspense and I enjoyed the way she links in the attack on Ignatius with a series of disappearances of Black people from the London streets (including Mercury, a friend of Lizzie’s). The idea of a society of Black people trying to help people escape from slavery and campaigning for abolition likewise works well and the forces set up against them are suitable sinister and threatening.
Likewise, the friendship that develops between Lizzie and Dido (looked at purely on the terms presented here) is convincing and Williams’s decision to tell some of the story by having them write letters to each is clever - allowing her to fill in background and move on developments. I was less sold on the case notes element because it does bring the action to a stop and although it helps the reader to recap what’s been learned, it was all too detailed to me and could have been shorter and punchier.
I finished the book kinda wishing that Williams had just created her own completely fictional characters and dropped them into the period because I think I would have been much more forgiving. The book finishes with the set-up for a new mystery but also leaves some loose ends with regards to the disappearances of Black people, which does actually interest me because of the way Williams is handling it.
My misgivings aside, I think that there was enough here for me to at least check out the next book to see where Williams is taking this.
The Verdict:
J. T. Williams’s historical mystery novel for readers aged 8+ (the first in a series) has a solid central mystery combining suspense and a wide array of suspects whose motives are seen through a Shakespearean lense while Simone Douglas’s illustrations bring atmosphere. However, there is little sense of period here and I’m uncomfortable with the use of two real life historical people because it risks doing a disservice to their actual story.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
Lizzie Sancho and Dido Belle live very different lives.
Lizzie works at her family’s buzzing Westminster tea shop, while Belle leads a quieter life at the majestic Kenwood House. Their worlds collide when disaster strikes at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Lizzie’s father’s life is put under threat.
Why is someone after Ignatius Sancho?
And who is the shadowy figure on the theatre balcony?
It’s 11th April 1777.
12-year-old Lizzie Sancho lives with her father, Ignatius, and mother Ann, older sisters Frances (17), Mary (a gifted musician, aged 15), younger sister Kitty (5) and brother Billy (3) above the grocery store and tea room that her parents run in Westminster. Born on a slave ship, Ignatius is now a grocer and noted man of letters, composer and abolitionist who is well known on the London scene. Recently he has developed a passion for acting and thanks to his friend, noted actor and theatre owner David Garrick, tonight he is to debut as Othello - the first time a Black man has ever played the role - at the Drury Lane theatre.
Lizzie and the rest of her family are at the theatre to watch him when Lizzie - who her mother has noted has a gift for noticing things that other people miss - sees someone on the balcony above the stage as her father begins to deliver his first lines. Suddenly a chandelier crashes onto the stage, where it would have crushed Lizzie’s father were it not for the quick reaction of William Ash, who is playing Iago. As it is, Ignatius has suffered a concussion and it is not clear whether he will be able to return to the stage, but he and everyone else at the theatre seems to think that his injuries were due to a tragic accident.
Certain that something more sinister is going on, Lizzie is determined to investigate and finds an unlikely ally in Lady Dido Elizabeth Belle, the Black niece of Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice who recently delivered a highly controversial decision in Somerset -v- Stewart, which established that an enslaved person in England could not be forcible removed to the Caribbean on the basis that slavery had never been legalised in English law. Dido was also in the theatre for Ignatius’s performance and like Lizzie, spotted someone on the balcony.
As the girls team up to uncover the truth, they discover that there are people in London who really object to Lord Mansfield’s decision and want to see Black people confined to slavery and are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it …
J. T. Williams’s historical mystery novel for readers aged 8+ (the first in a series) has a solid central mystery combining suspense and a wide array of suspects whose motives are seen through a Shakespearean lense while Simone Douglas’s illustrations bring atmosphere. However, there is little sense of period here and I’m uncomfortable with the use of two real life historical people because it risks doing a disservice to their actual story.
I feel genuinely torn about this book. On the one hand, I like the fact that this is a historical book that draws attention to the fact that Black people played an active part in British history. It’s something that we should be celebrating and anything that puts Black characters front and centre is something to be applauded. On the other hand, Williams is using two real people from British history each of whom had their own actual lives and experiences and by positing a friendship that simply would not have existed due to their class backgrounds I worry that it actually does a real disservice to what actually happened to them. This is particularly the case with Dido Belle who had a peculiar position in British society because she was in the upper echelons on British society thanks to her uncle but does not appear to have been recognised as such. Williams does not really address this in the book at all, suggesting a close relationship between Dido and Lord Mansfield when what documentary evidence is available suggests something more nuanced.
Matters are not helped by the fact that there is no real sense of period in this book. Told by Lizzie, her narrative first person voice was too modern for me. I didn’t need the language to be 100% authentic but the use of modern terms and phrases kept throwing me out of the story, plus Lizzie’s penchant for wearing britches and running around unchaperoned without anyone saying anything left me a little irritated (as did Dido’s habit of answering her own front door). The failure to recognise the role of class in society also grated on me because it would have been so ingrained and although Ignatius was acquainted with Garrick and a number of other celebrities of the period, he would have still been aware of his place relative to Lord Mansfield. Again, I don’t need it to be 100% accurate (and no doubt younger readers will not be attuned to any of this) but it was noticeable and although this is countered slightly by Simone Douglas’s illustrations, which do give more of a sense of period atmosphere, it did affect my enjoyment.
That’s a massive shame because the central mystery here works quite well. Williams knows how to build suspense and I enjoyed the way she links in the attack on Ignatius with a series of disappearances of Black people from the London streets (including Mercury, a friend of Lizzie’s). The idea of a society of Black people trying to help people escape from slavery and campaigning for abolition likewise works well and the forces set up against them are suitable sinister and threatening.
Likewise, the friendship that develops between Lizzie and Dido (looked at purely on the terms presented here) is convincing and Williams’s decision to tell some of the story by having them write letters to each is clever - allowing her to fill in background and move on developments. I was less sold on the case notes element because it does bring the action to a stop and although it helps the reader to recap what’s been learned, it was all too detailed to me and could have been shorter and punchier.
I finished the book kinda wishing that Williams had just created her own completely fictional characters and dropped them into the period because I think I would have been much more forgiving. The book finishes with the set-up for a new mystery but also leaves some loose ends with regards to the disappearances of Black people, which does actually interest me because of the way Williams is handling it.
My misgivings aside, I think that there was enough here for me to at least check out the next book to see where Williams is taking this.
The Verdict:
J. T. Williams’s historical mystery novel for readers aged 8+ (the first in a series) has a solid central mystery combining suspense and a wide array of suspects whose motives are seen through a Shakespearean lense while Simone Douglas’s illustrations bring atmosphere. However, there is little sense of period here and I’m uncomfortable with the use of two real life historical people because it risks doing a disservice to their actual story.
Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.
