Why a Booktrail?
1790: Could a seemingly angelic young woman really be a murderess…?
The Opium Purge
What you need to know before your trail
Lord Francis and Lady Ottilia Fanshawe are preparing for the birth of their first child.
But Lady Fan won’t let a little thing like pregnancy get in the way of solving a local mystery.
Their neighbour – Sir Joslin Cadel – who recently returned from a sugar plantation in Barbados, has collapsed and died on his doorstep.
And his young ward, Tamasine Roy, claims to have murdered him.
With Tamasine clearly suffering from some kind of mental disorder, and the rest of Cadel’s household acting suspiciously, it is clear all is not as it seems.
Why did Sir Joslin suddenly return to England? What happened to Tamasine’s parents?
Could this seemingly angelic young woman really be a murderess…?
Travel Guide
There are no real location as such in the book since the novel takes place in Willow Court and in the stately homes of the time which are either fictional or no longer exist.
It does examine a very interesting theme which affected women at the time. Many could be pushed into insane asylums for the simple fact that her husband or a male from her family has declared her mentally unstable. No real reasons required and certainly no proof. When a girl comes looking for sanctuary with neighbours, it is the males of that house who will decide her fate.
Willow House in the novel is a house under the microscope – look closely and you will see all manor of scandals, ‘mad’ people of varying degrees and women condemned to a life they have not chosen. The setting therefore in a large degree is the manor home and its inhabitants during this time and their penchant for opium and what landanum sweets can do to a person.
These are troubled but fascinating times it would seem.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Opium Purge
Destination : England Author/Guide: Elizabeth Bailey Departure Time: 1790
Back to ResultsWhere Next?
