對於夫人的死,他們要求我坦白,但我該如何對自己坦承?
來自牙買加的女奴法蘭妮(Frannie Langton),屬於英國一位地主朗頓(Langton),從鄉村來到城市,最後被租借給一對年輕科學家夫妻,喬治本翰(George Benham)與他的妻子瑪格(Meg)。
起初喬治懷疑妻子瑪格對他不忠,造成社會上的不名譽。他派女奴法蘭妮做間諜,暗中調查。然而法蘭妮卻深深被瑪格吸引、傾慕她的學識淵博,最終她們發展出一段戀曲。
直到年輕的夫婦倆遭到謀殺,牽涉在兩人之間的法蘭妮嫌疑最深。眾口鑠金,何者才是真相?法蘭妮聲稱自己遺失了謀殺案發生期間的記憶,但這使得眾人更覺得她可疑。
一八二六年的倫敦,是瘋狂的城市,群眾聚集在老貝利街(Old Bailey),目睹本翰夫婦的僕人,遭受逼問。證詞一一指向法蘭妮,人們毫不留情的譴責她:一名奴隸、蕩婦、誘惑他人的罪人......。如今法蘭妮必得如實吐出心中所有的秘密:一個從牙買加的農園女子,從剛開始讀書識字,到成為倫敦大城市中渴求自由的靈魂……這一路上關於她的故事。
她真的動手殺了最愛的人嗎?
撲朔迷離、懸疑感十足的謀殺案,圍繞著禁忌的愛戀、背叛、白人特權……在那之中,是一個底層之人對社會的犀利控訴。(文 / 博客來編譯)
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"A blistering historical thriller." -- Entertainment Weekly
A servant and former slave is accused of murdering her employer and his wife in this breathtaking debut that moves from a Jamaican sugar plantation to the fetid streets of Georgian London--a gripping historical thriller with echoes of Alias Grace, The Underground Railroad, and The Paying Guests.
All of London is abuzz with the scandalous case of Frannie Langton, accused of the brutal double murder of her employers, renowned scientist George Benham and his eccentric French wife, Marguerite. Crowds pack the courtroom, eagerly following every twist, while the newspapers print lurid theories about the killings and the mysterious woman being tried at the Old Bailey.
The testimonies against Frannie are damning. She is a seductress, a witch, a master manipulator, a whore.
But Frannie claims she cannot recall what happened that fateful evening, even if remembering could save her life. She doesn’t know how she came to be covered in the victims’ blood. But she does have a tale to tell: a story of her childhood on a Jamaican plantation, her apprenticeship under a debauched scientist who stretched all bounds of ethics, and the events that brought her into the Benhams’ London home--and into a passionate and forbidden relationship.
Though her testimony may seal her conviction, the truth will unmask the perpetrators of crimes far beyond murder and indict the whole of English society itself.
A brilliant, searing depiction of race, class, and oppression that penetrates the skin and sears the soul, it is the story of a woman of her own making in a world that would see her unmade.