Strange secrets are let out by Death, Who blabs so oft the follies of this world. Robert Browning, 1835
Deborah Challinor ushers in the first book in a new series, Tatty Crowe, with a gorgeous title: Black Silk & Sympathy.
Black Silk & Sympathy introduces Tatiana Crowe, a lady undertaker fighting overwhelming odds to forge a career in a male-dominated business, in 1860s Sydney.
The book begins with a court case to decide Tatiana's fate. She's accused of culpability in the death of her husband, Titus. What follows looks like a historical novel tracing the fortunes of a woman operating in a man's world. However, there is murder afoot, and more than one.
In 1864, Tatiana Caldwell, known as Tatty, emigrates to Sydney seeking her fortune with a mind to owning a business - a strong ambition when odds were against women being independent business owners. Educated in letters and numbers, Tatty is offered a position as an undertaker's assistant and soon sees the practical advantages when her employer, Titus Crowe, makes her an offer of marriage.
In the nineteenth century marriage laws prevented wives owning property or a business and Titus expects his newly wedded wife to hand over her savings.
Challinor portrays Titus as unlikeable, mean, dishonest to an exploitative extent in business and abusive to those close to him. Readers' sympathies are guided from "did she do it" to hoping she did!
...she realised the door was still open and someone might see her like this, and carefully sat up. She touched her face and her fingers came away bloody. Her nose? She thought she still had all her teeth, thank God. She crawled to the door to close it, but it was too late.
Is Tatty guilty? or has this all caused been cooked up by her jealous and bigoted rival, Elias Nuttall? Nuttall isn't above the law, but he does business like he is. And then there are his actions. After Titus' death, he's determined to ruin Tatty by fair means or foul. (Well mostly foul.) Titus' passing, signed off by a doctor as caused by perforated stomach ulcers, is suddenly cast under suspicion of poisoning by the Crowes' devious competitor.
There are some terrific moments of hilarity in this story, particularly a riot between Catholic and Anglican mourners:
At that moment, Titus and Nuttall, clutching each other's coats, reeled a good yard towards one side of the circle, which broke open, leaving Nuttall teetering on the edge of a gaping, newly dug grave. Titus promptly gave him a hard shove, and Nuttall went down with a shout and a splash into the mud-and-water-filled hole. Most of the crowd cheered - including Titus.
Black Silk & Sympathy also examines sensitive issues - such as the abhorrent practice of stealing heads from Māori, and the bodies of people disinterred: for medical purposes or collectors of 'specimens'. The history and motivation for these themes are discussed in Challinor's epilogue.
Challinor adds a flourish to each part of the story with quotes from poetry that reflect the time of the setting, while there's almost another book in the aftermath of Tatty's court case as our heroine is hell bent on taking down her tormentor, Elias Nuttall, for good.
Deborah Challinor is the acclaimed author of Tamar and the hugely popular Convict Girls series. She has a PhD in history, and at last count has penned eighteen novels. In 2018 Challinor was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature and historical research.
Tatty Crowe looks set to be a beloved character with a new instalment, Black Silk & Buried Secrets, out at the beginning of April.
When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me. Christina Rosetti, 1862.
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