- Format: Kindle Edition
- File Size: 2755 KB
- Print Length: 384 pages
- Publisher: Head of Zeus (13 Jun. 2019)
- Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B07GBDXY7Q
Synopsis
They will see me hang for this.
London, 1855. In the grey mist of the early morning a body is dumped on the shore of the Thames by a boatman in a metal canoe. Talk soon spreads of the killer and his striking accomplice: a young widow in mourning dress.
Birdie Quinn’s sleeplessness led her to the river that morning. She has always been wilful, haughty, different… but is she a murderess?
To clear her name, she must retrace the dead man’s footsteps to Orkney and the far north. A dangerous journey for a woman alone, but one she must make to save her life.
Review
The Canary Keeper is a dark and gothic read set in London and Stromness, Orkney in 1855. On one of her early morning walks Birdie Quinn finds the body of a man with a piece of his cheek missing. As the river police come she hides, but the next day she finds out that she is one of the main suspects, after a widow in black was seen with the body. Her father was wrongly hanged for murder and her brother is notorious so she knows she will not be believed in her innocence. To clear her name she traces the life of the murdered man, but she puts herself in more danger as she does so. A dark historical crime thriller, very Dickensian in style, this is a compelling read.
The Canary Keeper had me gripped from the first page, opening as to does with a hanging. Clare Carson sets the book in both London and Stromness, two places that couldn’t be more different. London is a mass of people, socially and ethnically very different, with a foggy or sooty atmosphere that lingers. Stromness is the polar opposite, barely one street, everyone knows everyone else and the air is clear. Being a town where ships dock before heading to the far north for the fur trade it is a place where women seem to be more prominent and run their own businesses, and how this opens some of them up to accusations of witchcraft. Clare Carson’s writing adds colour, or lack of it, and life to these places with her descriptive prose, especially in her descriptions of those who live there; the Esquimax, those of Jewish decent, and the Irish.
Birdie Quinn is the eponymous Canary Keeper in the title of this book, or should I say was. As a child her father had a collection of canaries that she loved, but after his death she set them free rather than let them be taken to a new home. Birdie is one of the lucky women in that she had a good education and job before the events of this book. She has been widowed for four years, but continues to wear mourning so she doesn’t solicit undue attention. Considering all she has been through, she is a strong and independent women, her only weakness is Met Policeman Solomon Finkle. Her courage and determination to clear her name shines through, especially in her journey to Orkney, which only gives her more questions than answers. Along the way she meets some wonderful characters including Margaret Skaill who runs her own business even though she can’t read, and Morag Forth who travelled to the Artic dressed as a man. These strong women, because of their success, are often linked with myths and witchcraft.
As well as the main plot, Clare Carson weaves in the story of Sir John Franklin whose two ships disappeared on their voyage to the Artic. This mystery captures the imagination of many, and stories of what happened kept on being reported, but all were just rumours. This story shows how dangerous these voyages could be and adds to the underlying malice of the plot that builds throughout the book.
The Canary Keeper is a wonderful historian thriller, with a feel of the gothic. The underlying menace simmers throughout, whilst the fear gradually builds towards a brilliant ending. There are some amazing and memorable characters, not all nice, that grab your attention and add to the brilliance of this book. Beautifully written with wonderful depictions of place and people, this is an atmospheric and suspenseful read, of one young woman’s adventure.
I would like to thank Head of Zeus for my copy of this book in return for an honest review.
