"How can I confess what I don't believe I've done?"
It's 1826, and Frannie Langton is standing trial for the murder of her employers, the Benhams. She can't remember a thing from that night, but she's certain she didn't do it - because she was in love with Mrs Benham. As she awaits sentencing, Frannie makes use of her time in Newgate prison to write her confessions.
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins is a Gothic murder mystery/romance reminiscent of Alias Grace or The Paying Guests, by way of Beloved and Wide Sargasso Sea. It takes us from a Jamaican plantation, where Frannie - a mixed-race house slave - is taught to read by her bored mistress, to a London townhouse, where she works as a maid for the beautiful Marguerite Benham. As Frannie writes of her emotionally-charged affair with Marguerite, she also reveals the traumatic secrets of her childhood, unravelling the two time periods side by side.
The concept alone would have been enough to win me over: it meets all my literary tick-boxes, and how often do you get to see a Black lesbian protagonist in mainstream historical fiction? (As Collins says, she was inspired to write about Frannie after questioning "why hadn't a Black woman been the star of her own Gothic romance?")
But alongside that, Sara Collins is a fantastic character writer. She crafts a strong and distinctive voice for Frannie, who makes a compellingly unreliable narrator, veering from intimate truth-telling to coy amnesia so you're never sure if you should trust her. It takes a confident author to pull off a 'whodunit' where the main character is both the lead suspect and the lead detective, but Collins sustains the mystery to the end.
It's important with historical fiction to transport your readers into the time period, and this is another place where Collins is adept. Her descriptions of life on a plantation and in 19th century London are beautifully vivid. They're also clearly the product of careful research, with events and characters like Olaudah 'Laddie' Cambridge (a former servant of the Benhams now turned celebrity boxer) inspired by true history - in this case Bill Richmond. Although topics of racial, sexual and gender identity are often considered a modern preoccupation, Collins embeds them seamlessly into her historical setting, where they seem perfectly at home.
The Confessions of Frannie Langton is an intense, twisty read, which would appeal to anyone interested in Gothic romance, historical fiction, or a good mystery. I would give one word of caution, which is that the novel contains multiple depictions of gore and violence. It's not for the faint-hearted (or weak-stomached) - but if you're a fan of the penny dreadful genre then it's perfect for you!
CONTENT WARNINGS: Slavery, racism, miscarriage, rape mentions, murder, violence
