Cover Image: The Confessions of Frannie Langton

The Confessions of Frannie Langton

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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.

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A lovely book. Shocking in places, but full of tenderness and yearning. Frannie is a strong and intelligent woman who has to overcome adversity and discrimination. in the 19th century.
When she is bought to London from Jamaica, as an ex-slave and servant she experiences further discrimination and hardship. The descriptions of her life and those around her were well written and well-researched.
Not an easy read, but a book that I found myself unable to put down,. I was intrigued to hear about Frannie’s life and was hoping she would have a happy ending.
I would recommend this book. And I think it would make a wonderful film or TV adaptation Thank you for the opportunity to read #TheConfessionsofFrannieLangtoN. #NetGalley

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Frannie is writing from prison, on trial for the murder of her master and mistress - but she doesn't remember anything about it. Her chance to tell her story begins on a plantation in Jamaica, then moves to London where her master gifts her to the Benhams. The bulk of the story is about the household, where the mistress is addicted to laudanum and exciting new things - which includes Frannie, who falls in love with her.

There are multiple strands to the story, including medical experimentation and race theories carried out in Jamaica, where Frannie was complicit as a child and young woman, comment on 19th century society and its place for women, and for people of colour. Frannie is a mulatto, child of her master and one of the women on his estate, which makes her a novelty in London society and means it's hard for her to find her place and she meets with hostility from some people.

There is a lot going on, and it felt a bit slow to get going - the pacing could do with being tightened up a little, I struggled with the first half of the book but am glad I persevered through to the end. Frannie has an unusual voice as a character and it would be good to hear more of this sort of perspective in fiction! Historical fiction often goes for high society, so reading a story told as if from a former slave makes a refreshing change.

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A powerful novel tracing the (mis)fortunes of Frannie Langton from the plantations of her childhood to servitude and prostitution in London. While I found some of the earlier parts of her book a little oblique by the end of the novel I was fully immersed in her story and haunted by her plight.

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All of London is abuzz with the scandalous case of Frannie Langton, accused of murdering her employer and his wife. Frannie claims she cannot recall what happened that evening. I enjoyed this book but gave it three stars because it reminds me of other books I've read before. They're didn't seem anything that stood out for me.

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London, circa 1820, and servant Frannie Langton is on trial accused of murdering her Master and Mistress. The problem is that she can’t remember anything about that fateful night, however, she can’t believe that she’d murder her mistress, she loved her too much to hurt her, didn’t she?

Frannie has come a long way since her days as a slave on the sugar plantation in Jamaica, not just in terms of geographical distance but in terms of her life’s journey too. This complex character wears many labels - slave, servant, Lady’s companion, whore, addict, and now murderess! For a former slave, Frannie definitely bucks the trend, not only being able to read and write, but being blessed with a sharp and inquisitive mind too.

Incarcerated in Newgate prison awaiting trial, Frannie passes the days writing her life story, and it’s here that we’re transported back to the sultry heat of Jamaica and the cruelty that is part and parcel of a sugar plantation before the abolition of slavery, and it has to be said that Frannie plays her part in this cruelty too! What a massive change awaited her in London, not only the cold damp weather and notorious fogs that created an ethereal world of murk and mystery, but she had to acclimatise to a whole new culture that was literally a world away from her former life.

This is a well written historical whodunnit that brings early 19th century London deliciously to life. The characters were quite complex, none more so than Frannie. She’s many women in one form. The narrative (though slow at times) was compelling - playing on one’s curiosity to discover where this journey was going and more importantly who was responsible for the murders. Murders that place Frannie Langton very much in the frame. But did she do it or did she not? My lips are sealed!

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I loved this debut! Being a historical fiction that gives voice to women from different backgrounds and races won my heart completely.
The writer was very strong in building her character, did a good research on historical period. I really enjoyed it.
It had a slow start, but definitely dragged me in afterwards and I would recommend it.

Thanks a lot to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

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This book gripped me from the beginning. Although not as fast paced as many it flows beautifully and the mystery builds throughout, heading towards a satisfying conclusion. It has a wonderfully descriptive writing style, transporting you from the heat of Jamaica to the cold fog of London with ease. The characters are engaging and the plot well thought out. Definitely one to read if you're looking for something different.

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What a fabulous debut! I love that contemporary female writers started exploring the lives of women from different races and backgrounds in the historical novels and how it makes you think about woman's rights and all. The Confessions of Frannie Langton had a slow start for me but as the story developed I really enjoyed it, definitely a book worth reading.

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This was a great read for me as I enjoyed Frannie's complex character so much and it's a deep and disturbing novel. It makes up, with Frannies personality, what it lacks somewhat in graphic detail, this book leaves much, often too much, to the imagination, so much that often I wasn't completely sure I was clear what was happening. Some of this is inevitable and intentional, drugs are quite heavily involved which has an impact on Frannies memories and reminiscences, causing a deliberate haziness around events, so much so that as she writes her memoirs, incarcerated in Newgate jail accused of murdering her master and Mistress, she herself has no clear idea of what she may or may not be guilty.

Frances or Frannie Langton is a slave, she begins life as the only mulatto on a Sugar plantation worked by negro slaves belonging to the Langton family. The Mistress and Master inevitably treat her as a belonging rather than a human and she finds it hard to fit into either their world or that of her fellow slaves. Her master Mr Langton likes to experiment and decides to see if he can educate Frannie, with her bright and enquiring mind she absorbs knowledge like a sponge but will this be her downfall? She becomes reluctantly involved with further, more gruesome experiments he conducts.

Until, in Jamaica, sudden disaster strikes with tragic consequences which drive Mr Langton to flee to England with Frannie in tow. She dreams that London will bring her the freedom she craves and perhaps it does, in some ways.

She becomes a servant in a grand house where her Mistress, Mrs Benham is perhaps as much enslaved as Frannie has been and when she appoints Frannie as her personal lady's maid, Frannie sees this as the chance to change her life. Change her life it certainly does but not how she wants it to.

She finds love where she least expects it and when it appears reciprocated she becomes as much a slave to love as she was enslaved in Jamaica. She will do anything for love, won't she?

This is the story of how she came to be imprisoned in Englands cruellest and most notorious jail, on trial for double murder and with her memoirs we become appraised of her downfall. It is a love story, a chilling horror story and a telling indictment on how appallingly man can treat his fellow man, especially how black people were viewed and mistreated by white folk when slavery was still acceptable to the masses around the early 19th century.

I loved Frannie, I ached for her and I seethed with her frustration at the lack of control she was allowed to have over her own destiny. It is a fantastic piece of story-telling smothered with the haze of opium and filled with the mental terror of never being in charge of your own fate.

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‘My account of myself. The only thing I’ll be able to leave behind.’ So describes first person narrator Frannie Langton, one time slave girl in Jamaica, companion maid and lover of a wealthy French woman and former prostitute, as she waits in prison to be hung for the Benhams’ murder. Frannie has an unusual status; she has been educated in order to record the heinous experiments that her master has carried out on the other slaves in Paradise, Jamaica. Understandably these memories haunt her when she travels to London with him and begins work in his colleague Benham’s house. London is cold, damp and depressing after the tropical weather of her youth and, forever bullied by the housekeeper Linux, the only thing that brightens her day is her blossoming relationship with her laudanum addicted mistress, Madame Benham.
Sara Collins has clearly researched the period in which her novel is set – early nineteenth century – carefully and includes literary and philosophical quotations, scientific beliefs of the time and domestic details which allow us to imagine Frannie’s world easily. All of the women, whether rich or poor, are tethered by patriarchal rules and expectations. Linux will forever be single because of her smallpox scars; Madame escapes the monotony of upper-class life through laudanum and a daring affair whilst Frannie must play any part assigned to her. To be educated is dangerous; to be an attractive ‘mulatto’ is a burden. How Frannie hangs on to her sense of self is nothing short of a miracle. And yet it costs her her life.
Whilst there is plenty to recommend in ‘The Confessions of Frannie Langton’, ultimately it cannot be compared favourably with other contemporary feminist historical novels such as Sarah Waters’ titles. The middle section of the novel lacks pace and some of the key moments are not fully developed. Perhaps cutting some of the plot and focusing in more depth on the remaining material would have, ultimately, made this a more compelling read.
My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House UK for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

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You cannot feel but very, very sorry for Frances Langton, who did nothing wrong but being who she is. Born at a plantation in Jamaica of a white man and one of his 'niggers' sometime around 1800, she is, in a time and place where black people are still considered a sort of sub-human race, an abomination in the eyes of white ánd black people.
We read her story as she writes it down while being in prison, accused of murder. Slowly, very slowly we learn how absolutely horrible white people treated their 'servants', their black slaves. Langton, married to a delicate but rich English woman, discovers Frannie one day with a book in her hand and from that moment on she is doomed. Black people are not supposed to be intelligent enough to learn how to read and write.
Yes, black, because to all the white people Frannie meets in her life, she is 'black', but to all black people she meets, she is 'white'. So what is she? Langton brings her to London and turns her in to a chamber maid in a rich household. A household where things happen that were quite wide spread in those days, but very illegal of course.
Frannie tries to find a new life here, meanwhile trying to forget the old one. Alas, she cannot. The way she thinks is a result of her unusual upbringing and so she gets entangled in the lives of the other people in the household.

This is a very well researched and written book. It is, although nothing new to me, horrifying to read how white people treated people with a different colour. It is even more horrifying to realize that more than a 100 years later there are still people who think it is ok to treat people different because of the colour of their skin.
This books keeps you reading but more than that, this book sets you thinking.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me this wonderful book.

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“My trial starts the way my life did: a squall of elbows and shoving and spit.”

Sometimes a book just grabs you from the beginning, something tells you that treasure lies here. I felt that within a few paragraphs of The Confessions of Frannie Langton. Sara Collins prefaced the novel with an explanation of her enjoyment of stories from Georgian/Victorian era but also her disappoint that she didn’t feel represented in the literature from that time. Her love of literature and that lack of inclusion drove her to write a novel that filled a gap, filled a need for women like Frances Langton to have a voice.

And what a voice! The author embodies Frannie so well. The first thing that struck me was that Frannie’s voice shone through immediately. She sounds so authentic, within a few lines you are engaged and intrigued. So much of the prose is beautiful and evocative, truly poetic. Sara Collins describes the people and places so deftly, you sense the weight of a sultry Jamaican plantation and the drabness of a grey London suburb. You can almost taste the boiling sugar cane and fall under the sway of the delicious, devilish ‘Black Drop’. It’s difficult to read this book without imagining a BBC period drama, it really would make a good screen adaptation. There is no doubt that Collins is a gifted and accomplished writer, a weaver of words both seductive and threatening. I really enjoyed this novel and would like to read anything new from Sara Collins.

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I wasn't wowed at the beginning of this book, but it reeled me in so that by half way through I was properly engrossed. I can't decide whether it's a good thing to know the endpoint of the story - we know from the off that Frannie is on trial for murder - whether it helps to build tension or hinders. However, there are other elements of the story that are teased out really well - what led to the deaths of her master and mistress, and what really went on in the coach-house. On balance, a really well-told story that keeps you engaged to the end.

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What a debut! Fantastic storytelling about a slave girl brought to England and her own story as she faces trial in Newgate for the murders of her employer and mistress.

The characterisation was superb and I was intrigued by Frannie. Brilliantly researched, the opium fug and murky fog of 1820s London enveloped me at every turn.

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I absolutely adored this book! What a fantastic debut. It's devastatingly harsh but so compelling, The whole time I wanted to know what was happening in the coach house but I knew that I'd never be able to 'unsee' it when I finally ready those last few chapters. I couldn't stop reading.

The characters were really realistically drawn and I thought the English legal system was really well researched too. The 19th century is my favourite period to read and Sara Collins imagined it really well. I'd definitely recommend it for fans of Fingersmith, Alias Grace and The Unseeing.

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The story was good, and written in a lively style. For me, however, I felt that it felt that some of the more unpleasant part of the plot were played up to appeal to a certain section of the public. This seemed a shame as it was a good idea for a novel.

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I enjoyed reading this , although about a slave, Frannie Langton it was so much more . Her expectations of an educated slave achieving a different life in England with her master were cruelly shattered , Her observations on the behaviour of those who professed to champion the Abolitionist cause were caustic. The shocking details of the research she was made to record for her master were revealed the guilt of which she found a burden. Was education a curse on Frannie as Phibbah warned her? It certainly seemed to be the cause of all her travails. I sympathised with Frannie without liking her very much.

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It does take a little time for this book to get going. However it certainly worth keeping going with it.
Strong writing with strong characters.
A sad story about slavery , murder, loyalty
Good book overall
Thank you to both NetGalley and Penguin Books UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for honest unbiased review

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A fascinating and profoundly dark story of a woman born on a Jamaican slave plantation and her Old Bailey trial for double murder during the period when Britain's murky relationship with slavery was coming to an end. Everyone in this novel is damaged, either by others or by their own choices and it's hard to pick a villain among the cast of cowards and brutes and even victims.

Not a cheery read but an important and beautifully-written one, where the story unfolds slowly, full of twists and heartbreaking revelations. In our current age where sex trafficking, gender inequality, racial division and opioid abuse seem to be on the rise, this is a particularly relevant tale; there appears to be little comfort to be had in dismissing it all as Victorian era folly from which we have learned a salutory lesson,

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