Books
by Essie Fox
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The Somnambulist |
Inspired by the moody interior of Wilton's Music Hall, this historical novel has a number of familiar scenarios from Victorian gothic: the sleepwalking old lady with a disturbed mind; the young lady companion swept from urban squalor to rural idylls; religion; music hall; dark secrets and forbidden love. It's less 'penny-dreadful' and more 'penny-all right really' which strangely works against it. The set pieces are fine but overall it's not the page-turner I'd hoped for.
(Clive Yelf - bwl 80 Spring 2016) |
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