Book description
The setting is Bath, England's most fashionable spa, during the spring
season of 1787. Haughty aristocrats, wealthy upstart businessmen, social
climbers, adventurers, courtesans, sharpers, addicted gamblers, and a
representative sample of the dregs of English society gather for
pleasure and profit in this lovely Georgian city… Anne Cartier, Colonel
Paul de Saint-Martin, and Georges Charpentier pursue a wily dangerous
fugitive from French justice in this thrilling sequel to Mute Witness.
They must deal with Sir Harry Rogers, a rich, powerful, cuckholded slave
trader. His wife, Lady Margaret, loves another man. Mary Campbell, the
tutor of their deaf son, has died mysteriously. His black slave Lord
Jeff, a footman and bare- knuckle boxer, seeks freedom. Passions mount.
Tragedy looms near. If not quite up to the high standard set by
O'Brien's first historical, Mute Winess (2001), this sequel offers fully
realized characters, a complex plot and a surprise ending sure to
satisfy. In the winter of 1787, Col. Paul de Saint-Martin, who played a
leading role in Mute Witness, travels to England to track down an Irish
rogue, Captain Marurice Fitzroy, who's been accused of raping a young
woman of aristocratic birth while visiting Paris. A side benefit of the
trip is the opportunity to see Anne Cartier, a teacher of the deaf, whom
Paul befriended in the earlier book. Anne is employed as a tutor to the
young son of Sir Harry Rogers, a self-made merchant and slave-trader who
resides near Bath. Paul and Sir Harry strike up a friendship during a
training session of Sir Harry's prize-fighter slave, and Paul soon
becomes the slaver's house guest at Combe Park. Among the ill-assorted
group are Sir Harry and his wife, Lady Margaret, Captain Fitzroy, and
Anne and her charge, who bears a striking resemblance to the captain.
Also at Bath is the infamous Jack Roach, who is blackmailing several of
the city's inhabitants, perhaps even Lady Margaret herself O'Brien has a
knack for portraying strong male characters, such as Paul, Sir Harry and
Burton, the Bow Street Runner investigating charges against Roach. Anne,
alas, has a lot less to do than she did in Mute Witness. The narrative
flows smoothly, and O'Brien has neatly caught the tenor of the time,
when being fashionable was of more importance than acting morally.
Charles O'Brien is Assistant Professor of Film Studies at Carleton
University in Canada. He has published articles on film historiography
and on relations between film theory and practice.
