Overview

Deep-diving, elegant + tough. --Margaret Atwood via @MargaretAtwood By turns lush, gritty, wry, gothic and compulsive, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a dazzling page-turner. With as much psychological savvy as righteous wrath, Sara Collins twists together the slave narrative, bildungsroman, love story and crime novel to make something new. --Emma Donoghue A startling, compelling historical debut novel. . . . Should be on top of your vacation reading pile. --The Washington Post Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace. . . . [A] devious, richly detailed debut. --O: The Oprah Magazine A servant and former slave is accused of murdering her employer and his wife in this astonishing historical thriller that moves from a Jamaican sugar plantation to the fetid streets of Georgian London--a remarkable literary debut with echoes of Alias Grace, The Underground Railroad and The Paying Guest All of London is abuzz with the scandalous case of Frannie Langton, accused of the brutal double murder of her employers, renowned scientist George Benham and his eccentric French wife, Marguerite. Crowds pack the courtroom, eagerly following every twist, while the newspapers print lurid theories about the killings and the mysterious woman being tried at the Old Bailey. The testimonies against Frannie are damning. She is a seductress, a witch, a master manipulator, a whore. But Frannie claims she cannot recall what happened that fateful evening, even if remembering could save her life. She doesn't know how she came to be covered in the victims' blood. But she does have a tale to tell: a story of her childhood on a Jamaican plantation, her apprenticeship under a debauched scientist who stretched all bounds of ethics, and the events that brought her into the Benhams' London home--and into a passionate and forbidden relationship. Though Frannie's testimony may seal her conviction, the truth will unmask the perpetrators of crimes far beyond murder and indict the whole of English society itself. The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a breathtaking debut: a murder mystery that travels across the Atlantic and through the darkest channels of history. A brilliant, searing depiction of race, class and oppression that penetrates the skin and sears the soul, it is the story of a woman of her own making in a world that would see her unmade.

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9781443456203

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Reviews

A book of heart, soul and guts...beautifully written, lushly evocative, and righteously furious. Frannie might be a 19th century character, but she is also a heroine for our times. --Elizabeth Day By turns lush, gritty, wry, gothic and compulsive, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a dazzlingly page turner. With as much psychological savvy as righteous wrath, Sara Collins twists together the slave narrative, bildungsroman, love story and crime novel to make something new. --Emma Donoghue, award-winning author of Room and The Wonder [A] bold and vibrant jolt to both the gothic and historical genres. . . .a dynamic and compelling as any character conceived by a Bronte sister...[a] gripping, groundbreaking debut. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A seductive and entrancing read, with captivating historical detail...The Confessions of Frannie Langton is an extremely powerful book that resonates long after the final page has been turned. --Laura Carlin, the author of The Wicked Cometh A story that twists and turns until the very last page. I did not want it to end...and when it did, I was both surprised and satisfied. The perfect combination. --Jael Richardson, Artistic Director of The FOLD and author of The Stone Thrower An absolute gem that points at you and asks whether it might be a sign of horrifying privilege, to enjoy a genre devoted to the grotesque. --Natasha Pulley, author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

A book of heart, soul and guts...beautifully written, lushly evocative, and righteously furious. Frannie might be a 19th century character, but she is also a heroine for our times. --Elizabeth Day By turns lush, gritty, wry, gothic and compulsive, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a dazzlingly page turner. With as much psychological savvy as righteous wrath, Sara Collins twists together the slave narrative, bildungsroman, love story and crime novel to make something new. --Emma Donoghue, award-winning author of Room and The Wonder [A] bold and vibrant jolt to both the gothic and historical genres. . . .a dynamic and compelling as any character conceived by a Bronte sister...[a] gripping, groundbreaking debut. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) A seductive and entrancing read, with captivating historical detail...The Confessions of Frannie Langton is an extremely powerful book that resonates long after the final page has been turned. --Laura Carlin, the author of The Wicked Cometh An absolute gem that points at you and asks whether it might be a sign of horrifying privilege, to enjoy a genre devoted to the grotesque. --Natasha Pulley, author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street A story that twists and turns until the very last page. I did not want it to end...and when it did, I was both surprised and satisfied. The perfect combination. --Jael Richardson, Artistic Director of The FOLD and author of The Stone Thrower

A book of heart, soul and guts...beautifully written, lushly evocative, and righteously furious. Frannie might be a 19th century character, but she is also a heroine for our times. --Elizabeth Day By turns lush, gritty, wry, gothic and compulsive, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a dazzlingly page turner. With as much psychological savvy as righteous wrath, Sara Collins twists together the slave narrative, bildungsroman, love story and crime novel to make something new. --Emma Donoghue, award-winning author of Room and The Wonder [A] bold and vibrant jolt to both the gothic and historical genres. . . .a dynamic and compelling as any character conceived by a Bronte sister...[a] gripping, groundbreaking debut. --Kirkus Reviews (starred review) An absolute gem that points at you and asks whether it might be a sign of horrifying privilege, to enjoy a genre devoted to the grotesque. --Natasha Pulley, author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street A story that twists and turns until the very last page. I did not want it to end...and when it did, I was both surprised and satisfied. The perfect combination. --Jael Richardson, Artistic Director of The FOLD and author of The Stone Thrower A seductive and entrancing read, with captivating historical detail...The Confessions of Frannie Langton is an extremely powerful book that resonates long after the final page has been turned. --Laura Carlin, the author of The Wicked Cometh

Author Information

Sara Collins is of Jamaican descent and grew up in Grand Cayman and studied law at the London School of Economics and worked as a lawyer for seventeen years before doing a Master of Studies in Creative Writing at Cambridge University, where she was the recipient of the 2015 Michael Holroyd Prize for Creative Writing. Twitter: @mrsjaneymac

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