I could not get into this book. I read a quarter and did not want to finish. Maybe it's just me but I did not care about the characters. I found that the author used a lot of the same historic tropes.

The praises you've been hearing about this book are no exaggeration. I loved this book and really felt immersed in a different time. When Frannie Langton is accused of killing her masters, she must tell her story. Her story is one of empowerment, intelligence, and resilience. You won't want to miss this book.

I count myself fortunate to have read this unflinching portrait of two women bound to each other by systemic evil. You can’t forget Fannie Langton or her crime, but you dare not look away. Collins’ novel is a must read and it’s no cosy Victorian murder mystery!

The Confessions of Frannie Langton was a gruesome exploration of the horrors of slavery and a fantastic new spin on the Gothic genre. While the first half was stronger than the second, I'd still recommend it if your a fan of unsettling stories, historical fiction, or if you have a strong stomach.

Confessions of Frannie Langton provides an interesting perspective on slavery in that it takes place in London rather than the United States. I don't typically read a lot of books about American slavery since they are typically "all sugared over with misery" as Frannie says, but the addition of a murder plot and the setting outside of the American south pushed me to give it a try.

One thing I'll say about this book is that it's full of terrible things. Racism (obviously), drugs, sex, brothels, human experimentation, fetuses in jars--violence and horror abound. If you're a sensitive reader who likes to find the good in all the characters, or for the power of the human spirit to rise above and find the good in everything, you won't find much of it here. But I am not a sensitive reader and I appreciated the fact that Sara Collins didn't shy away from just how awful life could be for black people in both Jamaica and England, whether they were a slave or free.

I'll also say if you like a simple, straightforward narrative this book may not be for you. There are a lot of flashbacks and late stage reveals that require some careful reading to fully appreciate. We read this book in one of my book clubs and a few people struggled to fully grasp some of the plot points. This is definitely one to take your time on and give it your full attention.

One thing I really liked about this book was the language. Does every metaphor land? No, but Collins' willingness to experiment and take risks with descriptions and feelings pays off more often than not. My first though while reading the first chapter was "man, this kind of reminds me of Margaret Atwood" (high praise from me as her prose style makes her far and away my favorite author).

I was also totally surprised by the ending! As I said, the first half was narratively stronger in my opinion and once the Laudanum starts flowing things got a bit jumbled for me (perhaps intentionally?) but the ending struck me as both surprising and realistic. I probably shouldn't have been as surprised as I was based on the tone of the rest of the book, but I really was!

Overall an interesting, twisty read that's sure to keep you engaged!

This tragic, haunting gothic novel takes place in the 1800's in Jamaica and London. The title character, a former slave, has been accused of the brutal murder of her master and his wife. Frannie's tragic life is told is a series of letters and passages written during her incarceration and trial for murder. Brought to England by her former owner Mr. Langton, Frannie is given to his collaborator George Benham and his French wife Marguerite. There Frannie falls in love with Marguerite. Frannie who has been taught to read and write by her former owners is extremely bright and insightful. There are some amazing lines in this novel. This book is extremely well written. and both horrific and brutal. There are several twists and turns. It brings our both the horrors or slavery and the terrible treatment of both blacks and women. Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the copy of this book.

Part murder mystery, part gothic horror, part f/f historical fiction. In 1820s London, Frannie Langton, a black servant, is found blood-covered and asleep next to the violently stabbed bodies of her employers. Despite being the obvious murder suspect, she swears she would never have done such a thing, having been in love with her mistress. Unfortunately she doesn't remember what did happen. Memory loss not being a great legal defense, her lawyer provides her with paper and pleads with her to write down anything she does remember. Frannie starts at the beginning: her childhood as a field hand on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. The Confessions of Frannie Langton is this first-person, autobiographical account.

Frannie is not your usual former field hand. Ferociously well-read and highly knowledgeable, she's the sort of writer who can casually throw around references to Latin classics or the latest scientific discoveries. Her education came about partly due to her role as a pawn in the bitter games played between her owner and his wife, partly due to an experiment in the possibilities of black intelligence, and partly due to Frannie's own love of reading novels. It also turns out that such memory blackouts are not a new experience for Frannie, having first started as a result of her traumatic early life and encouraged recently by the laudanum addiction her new mistress pressed upon her. As Frannie reveals more and more of her life, from the horrors of slavery to sexual abuse to petty arguments with her fellow servants in London to her complicated family history to her tangled sexual relationship with her London mistress, the mystery of that specific night grows more complicated: If Frannie commited the murders, why? If she didn't, who did?

The writing is absolutely beautiful and the horror is very real. It specifically involves medical experimentation and vivisection on enslaved people; personally, I was incredibly grateful that The Confessions choose not to get graphic, but perhaps violence doesn't need to be explicit when its emotional weight is the black hole at the center of the narrative, the obscene gravity warping everything around it. The historical research is outstanding; I actually spent about half the book convinced that Frannie's London employer, George Benham, was a real historical figure. (He's not, but he so closely resembles abolitionist leaders who were also dickheads such as Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson that I think the mistake is understandable.)

The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a dark, angry book that offers absolutely no escape to its characters or its readers, but I loved it. It's gothic horror in its original, most awful, sense. The haunted house has long been the power structure of the patriarchy and classism, but now it's white supremacy and homophobia too.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2868085089

The Confessions of Frannie Langton has an amazing start. Frannie, a mulatta, is charged with the murder of George and Marguerite Benham. George was found with blood all over him and Frannie is found in bed with blood all over next to Marguerite. She does not remember what happened. As she awaits trial, she writes her life story.

This is where the story starts to fails for me. I feel like it is a first draft and needs lots of editing. So many story lines that go on and on. If edited, I think this book would be five stars as it shows how scientists try to prove scientific racism, the male treatment of slaves, a kind mistress in Jamaica who teaches Frances to read, the absolute control of Master Langton (her father) in Jamaica and George Benham in London.

Just too many subplots! Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

It's another of this world's laws. Blacks will only write about suffering, and only for white people, as if our purpose here is to change their minds.


This is a brilliant story with multiple layers. Frankie Langton's story is full of suffering but it is so much more.

Frankie is in the Old Bailey prison when we first meet her. She is accused of killing her employers, George and Maguirite Benham. She wants her story told and so with paper given her to her by her lawyer she begins the story of her life, as a girl, a slave, on Paradise Plantation in Jamaica. It's not a simple story and though filled with suffering, it is so much more.

This book was given to me in exchange for an honest review. 👩‍🔬

This book started out better than I had hoped for, but I haven't been able to keep my attention on it. This is definitely an intelligent historical mystery suspense, but with all the fast and easy summer thrillers snagging me right now I can't focus. I'm definitely coming back to it soon 1/3 in it's rating about 3.5 stars. Thanks to NetGalley for the free copy for review.

This was a difficult book to get through, mainly due to the treatment of slaves, and in this fictional account of experiments conducted to prove their differences as a separate species. The main character, educated by her plantation owner father who conducts these experiments, is taken to London and given to a colleague where she becomes the maid to the wife. Frannie is on trial for murdering threatened colleague. The court settings interspersed with the events leading up to the murder works well as a narrative tool and although it lags in the middle, this is a well written murder mystery with some twists.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

I feel bad that it took me so long to finish this book. I got caught in a book slump that took me awhile to get out of.

I really liked this book. It was sad, but I thought the writing was very good, and the story kept my attention (once I pulled myself out of my book slump).

I wanted this book when I first saw this cover, then I read the description and was like YES PLEASE!!
With the cover and the description my expectations were high so I was worried but wow those worries were washed away in the first couple chapters. This book was amazing! Sara Collins did an amazing job with this book. I seriously could not put my kindle down and I devoured this book way to fast!
The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a must read!!!

Frannie Langton is a mulatta woman in 19th century England being tried for the murder of her master and his wife. She protests her innocence but gives us Confessions as her accounting. Gothic in style <b> The Confessions of Frannie Langton turns the typical slave narrative on its head. Although our protagonist makes it a point to say that she does not want to focus on the abomination that is slavery her testimony makes it hard to overlook these atrocities.
I could not help but make comparisons to Edugyan's Washington Black. The parallels that I saw between the two books were:
Both looked at science and discovery in the 1800's and how the scientific method was both driven by and overlooked because of racial prejudice.
Both protagonists are unaware of their mother's identity until they reach adulthood. Each faces the inherent abandonment issues of motherless children - the trauma suffered by the separation of families and loss of identity. In addition both Frannie and Washington must deal with the guilt and horror of the sins committed against these parents when they knew not who these women were, all at once realizing the supreme sacrifice that each of their mothers gave.
Both were enamored with their enslaver. In the case of Washington it was Titsch. He simply could not see his faults or how he was being used for Titsch's own ends. He was more naive then Frannie and didn't come to realize that he was not valued or appreciated in the sense that he wanted to be. For Frannie it is her mistress whom she falls in love with. She gets her addicted to laudanum and takes advantage of her position. The old story of master raping and manipulating his slaves is well known and often seen in literature. Although we recognize that power is a potent intoxicating drug, we often don't consider that power is power regardless of who is wielding the sword.

Now Frannie is not innocent by any means. She has had her hands dirty and has committed her own crimes. Frannie also admits to being angry and how this anger has subsumed her and followed her throughout her life. But in the end <b>The Confessions of Frannie Langton</b> is about taking power over your own voice. This was evident when "Lightning Laddy" was relaying a story his mother told him as a child about the Asiki. The Asiki were changelings - African children stolen and transformed by witches so that not only their appearance changed but that they also lost their ability to talk along with their memories. The question posed was "What would they tell us if they did have tongues?" What of the exceptional Negro? Do they suffer the same as every other black? Are they used as pawns to perpetuate stereotypes and racist agenda? To answer those "well meaning" white abolitionists who bind the African by their stunted definitions and implicit racism Laddy Lightning replies: "Here's the rub. You asking me to speak for them. How can I? Why have you asked me? Because you look at a single black man and see all black men. As if one black man is representative of every member of his race. Allowed neither personality nor passion."
There were so many parts of this book that moved me. Both the language and the content were stirring. I am impressed. Bold. Absolutely refreshing.

<img src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/edb1e17b2f0c92f20181096bc7b9eb02a7569b39/403_446_4252_2551/master/4252.jpg?width=620&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=5e4ff38cb3963b8b2833e7e227ed00b4"/>

This was a well researched, well written historical novel. It is, however, very sexually graphic in places and in the last 1/3 contains S&M. I skipped a lot, myself. It's a good story if you can get past the sexual stuff.

Our story begins with the youth of Frannie in Jamacia. She is born of a black slave, but proficient in reading and writing and spends years helping her white abusive father with his pseudo-scientific work, much of it which she cannot stomach but as a slave, she has no choice. As a young adult, she is taken to London by that white father. Fannie is aware that the laws of England make her automatically free, but her father gifts her services to a fellow scientist and author and his wife, in exchange for his backing on a project begun in Jamacia. Her servitude lasts only until the novelty of a black mulatta servant and lover wears off, and she is homeless and alone working in the streets of 1826 London. It is a hard world in Georgian England, and she is now a soiled dove, friendless and on trial for murder after the heinous deaths of the London couple she served. Who will hear her side of the tale from Newgate Prison? Who will help her in the dock?

I received a free electronic copy of this historical novel from Netgalley, Sarah Collins, and Harper Collins Publishers. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work.

I was drawn to The Confessions of Frannie Langton because of the comparison to Alias Grace, which I had watched and enjoyed. The comparison was accurate, and I also enjoyed The Confessions of Frannie Langton very much.

Frannie has been accused of murdering her employers, George Benham and his wife, Marguerite. As Frannie is about to go on trial in London, she writes about her life, and what brought her to this point -- even though she can't remember what happened the night of the murders.

As a child and young lady, Frannie was a house slave on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. Her owner was a "scientist" who was trying to figure out why people with black skin were naturally inferior to whites. He taught Frannie to read, and she became his reluctant assistant. I won't say too much more. She ends up in London in the employ of another scientist.

Her story is fascinating and sad. Although at times I felt she could have done more to improve her position, she is still very sympathetic. There are some surprising twists that kept me in the story. The circumstances for a woman in her situation in the 1820s are merciless; the legal system left a lot to be desired, as well as the rampant prejudice.

I've never read Alias Grace, only watched the show, but now I'm interested in reading it also. The amnesia aspect of both of these stories intrigues me.

As I was reading, I thought The Confessions of Frannie Langton had the potential to leave things unresolved, or partially unresolved, but happily, that was not the case. The ending isn't expected to be a happy one, but I found it satisfying. Fans of gothic fiction, slavery stories, murder mysteries, and/or unreliable narrators will enjoy this fascinating novel.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

4.5 stars. Not at all what I was expecting, and I really liked it! Frannie Langton was brought up as a slave in Jamaica, though she was treated differently than other slaves there (for reasons that are pretty apparent to the reader, but which she does not learn until later on) and was kept in the main house and taught how to read. The first 15% or so of the book is about her time there, though some details are murky, and parcels or as the narrative unfolds. She is then brought to England and gifted to an associate of her former master's, and his wife. We know from the beginning of the book that she is on trial for killing them, and she tells the story of her complicated relationship with them as we intermittently learn more about the things that still haunt her from her time in Jamaica.

It's difficult to say more without giving too much of the plot away, but I was utterly entranced by this story and desperate to find out just what had led to that fateful night and what the truth of the murders was. This is difficult to read at times, and brutal, as can be expected from any story involving slavery, but it's completely engrossing, and Frannie is a fascinating character. I'd especially recommend this to fans of Sarah Waters.

This book was very well done for the most part, although I felt that the ending dragged on longer than necessary.

Collins shows immense promise in this debut novel with beautiful writing and ability to capture tone of characters gracefully.
I really wanted to love this book. Its summary reminded me so much of Alias Grace by Margret Atwood (and references it), which I loved. And I did not dislike this book, but it did not hold to the same expectations as what I had with Alias Grace. Unfortunately with that comparison made, I was underwhelmed with this book. There are passages and storylines that are fantastic with great writing however the writing felt like it was rambling in the middle made the story tough to follow and I was unsure of what was going on.
That said, this author shows great promise and I am looking forward to Collins next novel!

Frannie is a slave accused of killing her masters. She doesn't believe she would ever hurt her mistress but she isn't sure. As she considers her fate and remembers her past, the reader experiences reasons this seemingly harmless woman could have for committing murder. It isn't so much shocking as depressing to read about her life and treatment throughout her life. At times, the language was cumbersome and it felt a little sluggish, but overall the story got me past that. You are at once hopeful for and disturbed by Frannie as you read about her life and her past and everything that brought her to the place we find her in, waiting for her own death.