Based on contemporary accounts and historical research, after a slow start, the novel gathers momentum as Donoghue fleshes out the characters and evokes the courtroom drama of a notorious Victorian divorce case between Vice-Admiral Codrington and his wife, Helen. Unwittingly her friend Emily Faithful, an early feminist, becomes embroiled in the drama which involves assignations, deceits, prejudiced witnesses and the appearance of a mysterious sealed letter all of which add to the tension.
(Jenny Baker - bwl 64 Spring 2012 ) |
