This is not one of my favourite books and there are several reasons for that. I feel like the author has tried to throw too many facets into the narrative. The book's blurb suggests this is about a woman's trial for murder in London but this becomes only a small and fragmented part of the whole. we are subjected to yet another dissertation on slavery - I have to admit to disliking slave literature - I am not sure I want my reading to be full of detailed whippings and beatings but more than that this felt unnecessary and it added nothing to the narrative as a whole. Then we have a supposedly lesbian relationship between a white, well respected woman and a black slave / maid. If felt like we moved from one section to another without any demarcation and the Trial which is what the dust jacket says the book is about feels almost like an afterthought. I don't get the "feverishness" of Frannie's search for what happened. I do think there is good in the book the characterisation is well done and the evocation of life without money in London works well. I wouldn't be put off trying something else from this author - perhaps something about more upbeat.

Wonderfully written and intricately detailed, Frannie Langton is a stunning debut from a hugely talented new writer. Yes, it’s hard-going in places, dark and disturbing, but is worth persevering with until the end. One of those stories you just know will end up being adapted into a box-office smash in the very near future. In summary: wow!

Brilliant first novel that takes as a key idea the stories that are not told in history. Frannie is a former slave in 19th C London accused of murdering her master and mistress. Her lawyer urges her to write her own account of what happened, to give him something he can use to get her off the charges. Instead she writes her life story, from the plantation owner with dreams of proving his version of scientific-racism theories to her love affair in the home of her employers. Expertly done and with a real period feel. (

I was expecting to love this book,based on the description.It's set in the early 19 th century,after the abolition of slavery,when the main character, Frannie,is gifted as a paid servant to an eminent London scientist by her former owner.At the start of the book we learn that she has been accused of murdering the scientist and his wife,and the story is told by Frannie while she awaits her trial.
We learn that Frannie had a passionate love affair with her mistress but has no recollection of the events leading to the deaths of the couple. The story moves from Jamaica to London and presents an area of early 19 th century history that I wasn't aware of.
I found the book quite slow and it jumped about a lot,so at times it was hard to remember all the details .If I had had a hard copy of the book I'd have constantly been looking back but that's harder with an e- reader.I think its the sort of book you need to read in big chunks,as there is a lot to take in,and it definitely requires a lot of concentration.So not my favourite book,but interesting and definitely different.

I have to say I was looking forward to reading this book based on the description, but if I hadn’t received an advance copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I would have stopped reading this half way through. It just wasn’t for me, I found the pace very slow and the end just seemed to fizzle out, rather than revealing anything new or surprising. I like the genre of historical fiction but in my opinion the author needs to up the pace in future novel 5o retain the readers interest.

Historical novels aren’t my usual type of genre, but I was sent this as an ARC, so I was delighted to go against my usual type of read and give this a go.

Frannie Langton is a well educated young lady, who is on trial for the double murder of her employers while they slept in their beds. Frannie claims she is innocent, but the Testimonies suggest otherwise. The biggest question being ‘Who is Frannie Langton?’

An intriguing and thought provoking story, over all a thoroughly good read. I would definitely like to read more by this author

I found this book a slow read and difficult to connect with the characters. It was nicely written and tackled some serious subjects that i would normally really enjoy but i just couldn't connect.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a grim tale and not without a few difficulties. The writing style which brings (in my opinion) poorly associated words together in some sentences, made me falter many times, having to read and read again to see if I could get behind the associations. Sometimes I couldn't. There's patois to learn too but that was somewhat easier. Anyway once you've mastered all that it truly shows the wickedness in man's heart. The only real hope in the book was the relationship between Frannie and Marguerite and to a lesser extent the friendship between Frannie and her friends Pru and Sal. The pace picks up towards the end when Frannie recalls the circumstances of why she is being charged with murder. This isn't a 'feel good' book, in fact there are elements which would not have looked out of place when describing some of the experiments carried out in Nazi Germany. If you have the stomach for it it's a salutary read.

The detail in the book suggests a real passion for researching social history and the author doesn't shy away from uncomfortable truths concerning the scientific research of the time, a slaves life the sugar cane farms (and later London) and the role that was dictated to women in society. Unfortunately I felt that this got on the way of a good story, there seemed to be so many issues shoehorned between the pages, that the actual plot felt underdeveloped and the pace of the book stumbled in a few places. Similarly the characters suffered as a result. I found it incredibly difficult to read about Frannie's life and experiences, but she never felt 'real' to me. Overall it just wasn't one for me.

My thanks go to the publishers for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Gloriously written, with such evocative language, grabbed me from the first page.

Full review to follow shortly

A very well written and enjoyable book. This was a subject area that I knew little about and I can only presume that conditions in the West Indies prior to the abolition of slavery in the 1830's was far worse than described in the book

3.5 stars

The good stuff: Collins shows tremendous skill in giving her characters voices: Phibbah with her Jamaican accent *sounds* completely different from Frannie who teaches herself to speak 'proper' English, and whose speech is peppered with similes that actually work.

Also the first part of the narrative set on a slave plantation in Jamaica manages to disrupt the story we've heard many times before (yes, slavery is horrific, but the literary representation of it can get repetitive): I had such high hopes of where this book might take us.

But then we get to London and Frannie is 'given' to an Englishman and falls into another modern convention of neo-Victorian fiction [spoiler hidden] - the tale increasingly feels like it's lost its way.

There are so many intriguing aspects of the story that I wanted to know more about:[ spoiler hidden]. The background, too, of scientific racism is used wonderfully to give both emotional and intellectual heft to Frannie's story.

So much good stuff here but sadly it's doesn't really come together and there's a whole section in the middle where the story drifts. The frame of the trial and Frannie's final confession feels like a last-minute info dump, tying up too many loose ends far too fast - more information more carefully placed would have paced the story better.

For all my niggles, Collins has a genuinely fresh voice and huge talent: this feels like a debut but I really look forward to where she goes from here.

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is set in 1826, with Frannie Langton, a servant, is standing trial, charged with murdering her employers. This book is her writing to her barrister, telling him her life story, with occasional cross examinations of witnesses during the trial thrown in.

She tells us her story; born a slave in Jamaica, she is Mr Langton's property, and so when he decides to take her to Britain with him, she has no choice but to follow. We see her starting a new life in Britain, and the relationships she has with her master, her mistress, and fellow servants. And we see her in love with her mistress, how that love is returned, and how she can't remember what happened that fateful night, when she was found sleeping next to the dead body of her mistress.

With settings like the sugar plantation in Jamaica, to a gentleman's home in Britain, this is all rife with discussions of slavery, racism, and opium, which you see all through the eyes of Frannie.

I thought this was a compelling story, with Frannie as a fascinating character. I wanted to know what had happened, and wasn't disappointed. I would recommend this if you enjoy crime novels, and historical fiction!

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is out on 4th April 2019, and will be available on Amazon, and everywhere else you can find books!

I was given this book for free in return for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Book UK (the publishers) for this book.

This is set in 1820’s London and Frannie Langton is on trial accused of murder. Poor Frannie cannot remember anything about awful night the murders were committed but she doesn’t believe that she would have killed her mistress, as she loved her so much.....of course she did....didn’t she?

Frannie began as a slave on a sugar plantation in Jamaica and she has grown into a complex, interesting character with traits that are some good and some not so good. (She reminds me a little of Cora Burns from The Conviction of Cora Burns).

While languishing in Newgate prison, awaiting her trial, she passes the days writing down her life story, and we hear of the cruelty she has experienced on the plantation and elsewhere, a brutal and miserable life at times.

I found this to be a brilliantly evocative, descriptive tale of the 1800’s world and London in particular. Frannie is a strong, intelligent woman and a well rounded character and while I found this a little slow going at times it is compelling read, a historical fictional whodunnit......but is Frannie guilty....you’ll just have to read it to find out... I can thoroughly recommend it.





My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review

I know how hard author goes to produce a book. But for me personally, The Confessions of Frannie Langton just wasn’t for me.
It’s 1826 at there are crowds at Old Bailey, watching Frannie Langton on trial for the murder of Mr and Mrs Benham. She was their housemaid. Brought from a sugar plantation from Jamaica. Her mother one of the slaves, her father a ‘white man’. The story describes the history of the slave trade and what it is like to live as one in them times.
The story was well researched and it had strong characters but I thought it was very slow. I only started getting interested in the story in the last 20 percent of the book. Sorry not for me.

This was a more slow-paced, character-driven read that did make me feel uncomfortable at times due to heavy topics such as slavery, abuse and violence.

We follow young Frannie growing up as a biracial child on a Jamaican plantation and follow her on her journey to England, where she faces a trial for having committed a double murder.

If you enjoy darker, gothic reads or classics like Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters, then this is a book for you.

Thank you Penguin and Netgalley for providing me with an eARC.

Unfortunately I just did not enjoy this book.

I found the plot was to slow for me, and I realized that I wasn't interested in any of the characters.

Well researched and the author knows her stuff but unfortunately it wasn't for me.

This was certainly both a gripping and deeply disturbing read and by the final deeply moving pages I was hoping against all hope that the central character Frannie Langton might against all the seemingly insurmountable odds survive and escape the unjustness of her plight. The book starts in the London of 1826 where Frannie Langton who faces death for the double murder of Mr and Mrs Benham who's household she was a maid is writing her testimony for posterity.

An uncomfortable read that although essentially gothic in character still has an underlying basis of historical fact that for a modern British reader still has the power to shame and ask uncomfortable questions regarding our so called glorious past. The book deals with issues of gender, class and above all race as we follow Frannie from the sugar plantations of Jamaica to the mean crowded streets of London. It is to remembered that although the transportation of slaves was prohibited within the British Empire by the passing of the Slave Trade Act in 1807 slavery itself was not affected and would not be abolished until the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 and even then there were exceptions. Through Frannie's narrative we learn of the horror that she endured being not only the illegitimate daughter of a slave and the slave owning father but also her forced participation in her father's horrific early pioneering eugenic experiments.

That slavery existed so long after the so called enlightenment period was due not only to the wealth that was being created by it but also to the racist attitudes and beliefs ingrained through western society even by supposed reputable men of science. This is how Frannie ends up in the household of one such man a former associate of her father. There is a lot going on in the plot and Frannie transported to London has to adapt to another world where she again has no voice.

Through slavery, servitude, prostitution and possible murder you will join Frannie on a roller coaster ride through the underside of a divided and immoral society. In the end I could not put the book down as I desperately wanted to find out if Frannie did commit the murders, if so why and what would be her ultimate fate. If you are looking for a strong willed and determined heroine up against the world then you will find her here.

Found this read very slow until probably halfway through when it started to pick up.
Think the author is an extremely strong writer, with powerful characters and dramatic story telling.
Overall this is a good book, it just took to long for me to get into.

Thank you netgalley, Penguin, and Sara Collins for allowing me to read and review this book.

I found this extraordinary book, written as a loose tribute to Jane Eyre "but with a protagonist who lived outside the margins set by history" a literary gem. I am confident that Frannie will, in time, be studied and become as well-known as Jane. It is literature at its best. No wonder publishers fought to add it to their lists.
From the personal viewpoint I gave the 5 stars reluctantly because at times I found it to be an uncomfortable read, but when I finished and turned to read a lighter novel, I abandoned that and went straight back to re-read Frannie Langton, something I have never done before with a debut novel! As I re-read with more care, I realized I was reading something rare. A beautiful piece of literary that will have a long life and undoubtedly be placed on English Literature reading lists. Hence the five stars.
From her Newgate Prison cell Frances Langton seeks the truth of her present through the trauma of her past. She is haunted by the question - could she really have killed the only person she had ever loved? We go with her as she is taken from the cotton fields, a seven year old savage, who shows a remarkable ability for learning, to the home of an eminent scientist in London.
This is a searingly powerful story, a gothic murder mystery, a compulsive read. A glimpse of history that will at times trouble you as it moves from the Caribbean to London, showing how little women - both rich and poor - have no voice in a harsh world. The characterisation is so strong that Phibbah, who has her place in the beginning of the story, will haunt you to the end.
Grateful thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley who gave me this opportunity to discover a startling and unforgettable story written with great literary style.
A message for Sara Collins: In your stated tribute to Jane Eyre, you have outshone Jane's author in the unexpected beauty of your writing.