The Observations

Fabulously escapist, truly un-put-downable. Told in the first person, from the perspective of a Victorian Irish girl with a sordid past, who finds a new life as a kitchen maid for a rather odd mistress. There's secret literary ambition, a possible ghost, a repressive husband, political aspirations, madness -- the whole Victorian shebang. Narrator Bessy is entirely likeable, sharp, sweet and witty. The story of her origins unfolds alongside the present-day action, and the whole is a mysterious, interleaved delight.