#the unseeing

[doobermcgoober]

"I was beginning to wonder when you would return."

[gotham-at-nightfall]

Green Lantern #12

[semper-legens]

79. The Unseeing, by Anna Mazzola

Owned?: No, library Page count: 351 My summary: London, 1837. A woman named Hannah Gale has been murdered, horribly dismembered, and scattered about the town. Sarah Gale, a young woman known to the victim, has been sentenced to hang for her role in the crime, but is she actually guilty? Lawyer Edmund Fleetwood is determined that she is not, and to save Sarah’s fate from the gallows. My rating: 3/5 My commentary:

I probably shouldn’t have read this so soon after the last one, because it seemed to me to be very similar - an almost-Victorian setting, a dark tone, a middle/upperclass man trying to save a working class woman with criminality in her past. This one was a little disappointing to me overall, and yet I feel I must note that I did stay up too late to finish it, such did it draw me in. It’s gripping, I’ll say that much for it!

Let’s start with Sarah, whose POV we get for a few chapters showing her in prison. I felt like this was a bit of a misstep - the fact is, Sarah knows what happened, so to preserve the mystery she has to dance around it, even in her own internal monologue. I feel this would be a lot easier if Edmund was the POV character the whole time, so we only see Sarah from the outside. As is, I didn’t find Sarah to be that compelling a character. She’s sympathetic, yes, but she’s pretty one-note - she doesn’t want to die, she wants to be with her son, she doesn’t want the truth about the murder to get out. That’s all there is to her. I think it’d be far more effective if we weren’t in her head, as these are the only things she’s allowed to think about, really.

Then there’s Edmund. Ah, repressed Victorian lawyerman, you’re kind of my type when it comes to fictional characters. Still, there wasn’t a lot to distinguish him from the generic - and I hated the whole ‘he falls in love with Sarah’ angle. Guy can’t be against the death penalty unless HURR BURR PURTY GIRL I guess.

However, I found the mystery here to be sort of underwhelming? When the reveal of what actually happened hits, not only did I guess it earlier, but it’s simple and obvious and not really all that interesting. And when it wasn’t kind of boring, it was filled with convenient coincidence. Granted, this story is based on a real murder - Hannah and Sarah were real, though the conclusions this book comes to are fictitious. Maybe that’s the key, maybe the author was trying harder to be accurate than engaging. I don’t know. I wasn’t into it, but it did make a fun read, I must concede.

[dailywomanmystery]

Great Britain : The Unseeing, by Anna Mazzola

Goodreads:

Set in London in 1837, Anna Mazzola's THE UNSEEING is the story of Sarah Gale, a seamstress and mother, sentenced to hang for her role in the murder of Hannah Brown on the eve of her wedding. Perfect for any reader of Sarah Waters or Antonia Hodgson. 'With this intricately woven tale of trust, self-trust and deceit, Anna Mazzola brings a gritty realism to Victorian London. Beautifully written and cleverly plotted, this is a stunning debut, ranked amongst the best' MANDA SCOTT After Sarah petitions for mercy, Edmund Fleetwood is appointed to investigate and consider whether justice has been done. Idealistic, but struggling with his own demons, Edmund is determined to seek out the truth. Yet Sarah refuses to help him, neither lying nor adding anything to the evidence gathered in court. Edmund knows she's hiding something, but needs to discover just why she's maintaining her silence. For how can it be that someone would willingly go to their own death?

[orclnght]

kernel of

“I suppose trust is about thinking that the other person will take seriously what you tell them.”

Anne Mazzola, The Unseeing

[cineastesview]

Mazzola based the novel on the real murder of Hannah Brown in December of 1836.

http://mwgerard.com/review-the-unseeing/

[ebookspksite]

Free download The Unseeing written by Anna Mazzola.

[theeloquentpage]

The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola

New Review - The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola #crime #histfic @TinderPress

It is 1837 and the city streets teem with life, atmosphere and the stench of London. Sarah Gale, a seamstress and mother, has been sentenced to hang for her role in the murder of Hannah Brown on the eve of her wedding. Edmund Fleetwood, an idealistic lawyer, is appointed to investigate Sarah’s petition for mercy and consider whether justice has been done. Struggling with his own demons, he is…

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