The Mesmerist - Barbara Ewing

An out of work actress, Cordelia Preston knows that life is cruel to women who have to fend for themselves in Victorian London, where murders in the dark alleys of Bloomsbury are regularly reported in the Penny Dreadful broadsheets. She seems however to have inherited the ability from her mother to ease people’s pain and suffering through the power of her hands and sets herself up as a Phreno-Mesmerist. Although unskilled in her use of the power, Cordelia finds that her ability to educate and advise innocent young girls about what to expect on their wedding night is as much in demand as her mesmerism. But when a murder happens close to home, it threatens to reveal the secret of her past and a family she once lost - secrets that if revealed could have an impact on the Royal Family itself.

Ewing's writing is quite plain, but it’s economical and to the point. There’s no showiness in either the descriptions or the historical details of the period, but it nonetheless captures all the elements of a good drama and carries it through a well-structured and very readable adventure. It helps that Cordelia is such an interesting and sympathetic character, her own background and family history all serving to direct her on the course her life takes. At the same time, as a female succeeding in a male-dominated world, it sheds some light on the conditions and difficulties faced by many in the lower classes during the period.

Her story is made all the more readable by the strong structure of the novel, which in addition to recounting Cordelia’s fortunes, weaves in strong secondary characters and a few threads of murder and family drama that let you know that it will eventually all come to a head in the second half’s showcase court investigation. Unexplained powers, a family drama of class conflict and Royal intrigue, a murder mystery, a nail-biting courtroom drama, the story hurtles along towards perhaps one or two tense melodramatic situations too many as the dead bodies start to litter up the pages - but it keeps the reader gripped right through to the dramatic conclusion.