A startling, compelling historical debut novel. . . should be on top of your vacation reading pile.”
[An] impressive debut. . . . a bold and timely reinvention of the classic gothic novel. . . . reminiscent of the best of Sarah Waters. . . . Collins has created a truly memorable heroine and written a compelling gothic novel for our times.
A blistering historical thriller.
A highly accomplished debut. . . . Large, lavish and gutsy, a skilled and intoxicating mash-up of slave narrative, gothic romance, whodunit and legal thriller. Collins—who lives in London and is of Jamaican descent—pays careful attention to historical detail while at the same time ensuring her reader stays immersed in her emotional drama and invested in her full-bodied characters.
There is lots to love in this impressive debut. Sara Collins is interesting on race and power. Frannie is an unforgettable character with a delicious, wicked turn of phrase. . . . Collins is a star in the making.
Impressive. . . . Retrieving the truth—all sorts of truth—is the transfixing work of this rich and extravagantly well-written novel.
A startling, compelling historical debut novel. . . should be on top of your vacation reading pile.”
Frannie’s voice is compelling: tender and furious and wholly deserving of attention.
By turns lush, gritty, wry, gothic and compulsive, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a dazzling page-turner. With as much psychological savvy as righteous wrath, Sara Collins twists together the slave narrative, bildungsroman, love story and crime novel to make something new.
From the sweltering heat of the West Indies to the rain-slicked cobbles of London, Collins transports her readers to the nineteenth century with an enthralling historical thriller. Frannie Langton is an unforgettable heroine, one who boldly reclaims her narrative within the context of a history that seeks to silence her. The Confessions of Frannie Langton is gorgeous—Gothic writing at its very best.
A formidable debut.
“11 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This S Refinery29
Sara Collins has created a tough, fiery, vividly alive character. Beautifully written, in crisp and careful prose; but more than that, it comes across as a story that’s been waiting to be written for a very long time…[Collins] has picked up the tradition of gothic fiction and made it brand new.
“A startling, compelling historical debut novel. . . should be on top of your vacation reading pile.”
A spectacular, dark novel, with elements of Jane Eyre and Paradise Lost . . . Just like all really good Gothic stories, it keeps you balancing right on the edge of not wanting to look, but feeling like you can’t look away. . . An absolute gem that points at you and asks whether it might be a sign of horrifying privilege, to enjoy a genre devoted to the grotesque.
Destined to become a benchmark for historical fiction, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is at once fiercely raw and remorselessly beautiful. Told from one of the most haunting perspectives I’ve ever encountered, Frances navigates life as a mixed-race house slave on her father’s plantation, as an unwilling scribe for his harrowing experiments, and as lady’s maid to the eccentric and passionate ‘Madame,’ whose secrets may possibly rival Frannie’s own. Our heroine’s unique insights are delivered in brutal poetry, and her passions rendered in lyrically erotic prose. A book to be devoured, marveled at, applauded—and yes, studied, for its ability to turn grim history into a wildly romantic expedition into the darkest corners of the human heart.
★ 2019-02-17
There's betrayal, depravity, pseudoscience, forbidden love, drug addiction, white supremacy, and, oh yes, a murder mystery with tightly wound knots to unravel.
The citizenry of 1826 London has worked itself into near apoplexy over the sensational trial of "The Mulatta Murderess," aka Frances Langton, a Jamaican servant accused of brutally stabbing her white employers to death. Though caught on the night of the murders covered with blood, Frances cannot remember what happened and thus cannot say whether or not she is guilty. "For God's sake, give me something I can save your neck with," her lawyer pleads. And so Frannie, who, despite having been born into slavery, became adept at reading and writing, tries to find her own way to the truth the only way she can: By writing her life's story from its beginnings on a West Indian plantation called Paradise whose master, John Langton, is a vicious sadist. He uses Frannie for sex and as a "scribe" taking notes on his hideous experiments into racial difference using skulls, blood, and even skin samples. After a fire destroys much of his plantation, Langton takes Frannie to London and makes her a gift to George Benham, an urbane scientist engaged in the same dubious race-science inquiries. Frannie's hurt over her abandonment is soon dispelled by her fascination with Benham's French-born wife, Marguerite, a captivating beauty whose lively wit and literary erudition barely conceal despondency that finds relief in bottles of laudanum. A bond forms between mistress and servant that swells and tightens into love, leading to a tempest of misunderstanding, deceit, jealousy, and, ultimately, death. Collins' debut novel administers a bold and vibrant jolt to both the gothic and historical fiction genres, embracing racial and sexual subtexts that couldn't or wouldn't have been imagined by its long-ago practitioners. Her evocations of early-19th-century London and antebellum Jamaica are vivid and, at times, sensuously graphic. Most of all, she has created in her title character a complex, melancholy, and trenchantly observant protagonist; too conflicted in motivation, perhaps, to be considered a heroine but as dynamic and compelling as any character conceived by a Brontë sister.
Collins invokes both Voltaire and Defoe here, and she forges an unlikely but sadly harmonic connection with both these enlightenment heroes in her gripping, groundbreaking debut.
Collins’s propulsive spine-tingler uses the conventions of historical fiction but infuses the genre with edgy beauty. . . . In her deft hands, defiant Frannie summons courage and cunning to tell a story of colonialism, racism, and the yearning to connect.” — O: The Oprah Magazine, “The Best Books by Women of Summer 2019”
“Deep-diving, elegant + tough.” — Margaret Atwood via @MargaretAtwood
“A blistering historical thriller.” — Entertainment Weekly
"A well-crafted, searing depiction of race, class and oppression.” — New York Times
“A startling, compelling historical debut novel. . . should be on top of your vacation reading pile.” — Washington Post
“A highly accomplished debut. . . . Large, lavish and gutsy, a skilled and intoxicating mash-up of slave narrative, gothic romance, whodunit and legal thriller. Collins—who lives in London and is of Jamaican descent—pays careful attention to historical detail while at the same time ensuring her reader stays immersed in her emotional drama and invested in her full-bodied characters.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Impressive. . . . Retrieving the truth—all sorts of truth—is the transfixing work of this rich and extravagantly well-written novel.” — Wall Street Journal
“[An] impressive debut. . . . a bold and timely reinvention of the classic gothic novel. . . . reminiscent of the best of Sarah Waters. . . . Collins has created a truly memorable heroine and written a compelling gothic novel for our times.” — The Guardian
“There is lots to love in this impressive debut. Sara Collins is interesting on race and power. Frannie is an unforgettable character with a delicious, wicked turn of phrase. . . . Collins is a star in the making.” — The Times (London)
“Captivating. . . . a beguiling story with strong feminist overtones.” — Irish Times
“An absorbing, utterly searing read . . . . As immersive as The Confessions of Frannie Langton is, its real power is in how it will make you want to engage with your own reality differently.” — The Globe and Mail
“A formidable debut.” — Refinery29 , “11 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Spring”
“It’s truly remarkable that The Confessions of Frannie Langton is Sara Collins’ first novel. The plotting is so assured, the characters so layered, the prose so searing. . . . the historical setting hums with life. . . . Collins has gifted us with a powerful new heroine while shining a brilliant spotlight on a swathe of history that is too often relegated to footnotes.” — Criminal Element
“Powerful. . . .both a highly suspenseful murder mystery and a vivid historical novel, but best of all is the depiction of Frannie, a complex and unforgettable protagonist. This is a great book sure to find a wide—and deserved—audience.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Collins’ debut novel administers a bold and vibrant jolt to both the gothic and historical fiction genres. . . . Most of all, she has created in her title character a complex, melancholy, and trenchantly observant protagonist. . . . as dynamic and compelling as any character conceived by a Brontë sister. . . [a] gripping, groundbreaking debut.” — Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
Sara Collins takes the gothic genre by the scruff of the neck and boldly positions a black Jamaican woman as the protagonist in London 200 years ago. It’s a triumph of powerful characterization melded with suspenseful plotting while also breaking new ground in subverting a familiar genre. — Bernardine Evaristo, Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other
“By turns lush, gritty, wry, gothic and compulsive, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is a dazzling page-turner. With as much psychological savvy as righteous wrath, Sara Collins twists together the slave narrative, bildungsroman, love story and crime novel to make something new.” — Emma Donoghue
“From the sweltering heat of the West Indies to the rain-slicked cobbles of London, Collins transports her readers to the nineteenth century with an enthralling historical thriller. Frannie Langton is an unforgettable heroine, one who boldly reclaims her narrative within the context of a history that seeks to silence her. The Confessions of Frannie Langton is gorgeous—Gothic writing at its very best.” — Christine Mangan, bestselling author of Tangerine
“Destined to become a benchmark for historical fiction, The Confessions of Frannie Langton is at once fiercely raw and remorselessly beautiful.... A book to be devoured, marveled at, applauded—and yes, studied, for its ability to turn grim history into a wildly romantic expedition into the darkest corners of the human heart.” — Lyndsay Faye, internationally bestselling author of Jane Steele and The Gods of Gotham
“A spectacular, dark novel, with elements of Jane Eyre and Paradise Lost . . . Just like all really good Gothic stories, it keeps you balancing right on the edge of not wanting to look, but feeling like you can’t look away. . . An absolute gem that points at you and asks whether it might be a sign of horrifying privilege, to enjoy a genre devoted to the grotesque.” — Natasha Pulley, author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
“Sara Collins has created a tough, fiery, vividly alive character. Beautifully written, in crisp and careful prose; but more than that, it comes across as a story that’s been waiting to be written for a very long time…[Collins] has picked up the tradition of gothic fiction and made it brand new.” — Stef Penney, bestselling author of The Tenderness of Wolves
“Frannie’s voice is compelling: tender and furious and wholly deserving of attention.” — Jessie Greengrass, author of Sight
"A well-crafted, searing depiction of race, class and oppression.
Impressive. . . . Retrieving the truth—all sorts of truth—is the transfixing work of this rich and extravagantly well-written novel.
Captivating. . . . a beguiling story with strong feminist overtones.
Collins’s propulsive spine-tingler uses the conventions of historical fiction but infuses the genre with edgy beauty. . . . In her deft hands, defiant Frannie summons courage and cunning to tell a story of colonialism, racism, and the yearning to connect.
Deep-diving, elegant + tough.
Margaret Atwood via @MargaretAtwood
An absorbing, utterly searing read . . . . As immersive as The Confessions of Frannie Langton is, its real power is in how it will make you want to engage with your own reality differently.
It’s truly remarkable that The Confessions of Frannie Langton is Sara Collins’ first novel. The plotting is so assured, the characters so layered, the prose so searing. . . . the historical setting hums with life. . . . Collins has gifted us with a powerful new heroine while shining a brilliant spotlight on a swathe of history that is too often relegated to footnotes.
Sara Collins takes the gothic genre by the scruff of the neck and boldly positions a black Jamaican woman as the protagonist in London 200 years ago. It’s a triumph of powerful characterization melded with suspenseful plotting while also breaking new ground in subverting a familiar genre.
A formidable debut.
“11 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This S Refinery29
“A formidable debut.”
Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Sp Refinery29
Collins’s propulsive spine-tingler uses the conventions of historical fiction but infuses the genre with edgy beauty. . . . In her deft hands, defiant Frannie summons courage and cunning to tell a story of colonialism, racism, and the yearning to connect.
