Gillespie & I

This unputdownable second novel from the former Orange Prize-shortlisted author of The Observations is a delightful combination of literary historical and chilling crime fiction.

Narrator Harriet Baxter, an unfailingly charming but rather unfortunate and ultimately lonely spinster, tells the story of her friendship with Scottish artist Ned Gillespie. Written as a memoir, Jane Harris skillfully switches between Harriet's current existence as an elderly lady living in London's respectable Bloomsbury in 1933 and the setting of a past, life-changing tragedy in fog-ridden Glasgow in the late 1880s - where the author herself grew up. The Victorian art scene provides an interesting backdrop for this intriguing tale that sees the cultured and independently wealthy Harriet experience a terrifying brush with the Glaswegian underworld that challenges the reader's impression of the narrator's reliability. 

While Harris' expert storytelling skills are evident throughout the book, it is the suspenseful  plot that keeps the reader hooked, which means one has to be careful not to give too much away. Needless to say it is thoroughly recommended that you find out for yourselves the truth of what happened to the doomed Gillespie clan during those fateful few years.