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In the spirit of Sarah Waters and Geraldine Brooks, the bestselling author of The Rose of Sebastopol presents a dramatic mystery about love, secrets, and discovery in post–World War I London.
Set in 1920s London, McMahon's suspenseful story weaves together three seemingly unrelated threads in the life of trailblazing female attorney Evelyn Gifford, as sordid secrets among the city's most influential and respected families come to light. Josephine Bailey does an especially masterful job contrasting the carefree North American speech patterns and boldness of a mysterious Canadian visitor named Meredith with the repressed manner of Evelyn and her relatives. Bailey also nicely captures the indignant determination of young mother Leah Marchant, one of Gifford's down-and-out clients. As the story progresses, keeping track of the characters --particularly the male figures involved in the climactic courtroom showdown--may require some effort, but attentive listeners should find the overall experience both engaging and entertaining. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 2). (Apr.)
| Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
| $99.99 | Digital |
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Charles Wheeler
reviewed The Crimson Rooms on August 06, 2011
The Crimson Rooms
I recently read and loved 'The Alchemist's Daughter' by Katherine McMahon and was eager to see if her other novels were as good. This one certainly was and I think I may have found a new favorite author. One of the things I liked about 'The Alchemist's Daughter' was the strong female protagonist that McMahon created and while their characters are completely different the strong female protagonist in this story is equally compelling.
Evelyn Gifford is a thirty year old, Cambridge educated, lawyer earning a living as an assistant clerk in a law firm. She faces constant sexism in her daily work and when at home feels a similar bias from her own mother. Seven years after the death of her brother James, during World War I, her family still hasn't recovered from his loss. Now a woman has arrived on their doorstep with a child who is the spitting image of James. She claims he is James's son but Evelyn and her family are unsure about the woman's motives. At the time of the woman's arrival Evelyn has taken on a case representing a woman charged with kidnapping her own son from his foster mother and her law firm is involved in the defense of an accused murderer.
Once again I don't want to give away any details that might spoil the story for a potential reader. But I will say that I enjoyed everything about this novel, it was flawlessly written with great attention to detail, the characters were alive with emotion, their interactions were realistic and every turn in this story was believable. I especially liked Evelyn Gifford and the work she does investigating the murder of Stella Wheeler, I also like the way she's transformed by the arrival of her nephew and her feelings for the handsome barrister Nicholas Thorne. I enjoyed this period in history and while I've only read a few novels set after World War I after reading this I would consider more.
Overall, I found this to be an engrossing and satisfying story, the only thing that could have made it better, in my opinion, would have been the addition of several hundred more pages. I have already reserved two more of Katherine McMahon's novels at my local library and I'm looking forward to reading them soon.
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