Tweet
The Whitechapel Murders and Mary Jane Kelly form a major part of this ebook novel to be released in the next few months. But there is more to this novel, and it begins with a mystery novel that is partly a treatise on the mistreatment of the poor and vulnerable, which was all too common in the nineteenth century. In The Governess and the Stalker, my fictional character Michelle Devine comes across two young, working-class women on the cusp of resorting to prostitution to survive, and at the end of this novel Michelle resolves to help women such as these.
In the sequel Maidens in the Night, Michelle is involved with setting up refuges to help the street prostitutes of Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as campaigning on issues leading to the publication of The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon in 1885. Shortly after this, Michelle sets up a refuge in Whitechapel, and there she crosses paths with a tall, red-headed young woman named Mary Kelly. Mary Kelly’s story has already been told, starting at the Risca Pit explosion of 1880. Unlike some fictional accounts of Mary Kelly, this story is in shades of sooty black. Life was tough and single, working-class women lived truly wretched existences. Michelle meets Mary Kelly a number of times, and the young Irishwoman with a pretty, lilting accent makes an indelible impression.
A novel is fiction, but I had to construct a possible sequence of events from age 16 to 25. I undertook much research and I formed a plot and timeframes. There are areas of possible controversy, and I am interested in seeing what the reaction to my novel may be.
Both The Governess and the Stalker and Maidens of the Night will be published as ebooks in the next few months, and I hope that some members of this forum will take the time to read one or both of these novels, and I hope what they read. Although written as a sequel, Maidens in the Night is self-contained and can be read on its own. I will post more about these books when they are available.
In the sequel Maidens in the Night, Michelle is involved with setting up refuges to help the street prostitutes of Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as campaigning on issues leading to the publication of The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon in 1885. Shortly after this, Michelle sets up a refuge in Whitechapel, and there she crosses paths with a tall, red-headed young woman named Mary Kelly. Mary Kelly’s story has already been told, starting at the Risca Pit explosion of 1880. Unlike some fictional accounts of Mary Kelly, this story is in shades of sooty black. Life was tough and single, working-class women lived truly wretched existences. Michelle meets Mary Kelly a number of times, and the young Irishwoman with a pretty, lilting accent makes an indelible impression.
A novel is fiction, but I had to construct a possible sequence of events from age 16 to 25. I undertook much research and I formed a plot and timeframes. There are areas of possible controversy, and I am interested in seeing what the reaction to my novel may be.
Both The Governess and the Stalker and Maidens of the Night will be published as ebooks in the next few months, and I hope that some members of this forum will take the time to read one or both of these novels, and I hope what they read. Although written as a sequel, Maidens in the Night is self-contained and can be read on its own. I will post more about these books when they are available.