The Mitford Trial (The Mitford Murders)
1933: Louisa Sullivan is newly married to a policeman who is responding to fascist uprisings in London, even during their wedding reception. Having previously been a lady’s maid to a prestigious family, she is now training to be a stenographer. Only shortly after her marriage she is invited by her previous employers to come with them on a cruise to be a helping hand, despite the fact she is trying to distance herself from them and create a new identity. She is then approached by an agency who is seemingly looking out for Britain’s best interests, and they ask her to watch the family who she is so familiar with. She is torn between her husband and this challenge that has been set her. During the cruise there are a series of unexpected events that threaten her life as she knows it.
Jessica Fellowes paints a dramatic picture of the ideals of life in war and peacetime and concentrate it on a single vessel – the cruise ship being an opportune setting to bring certain characters to life. The author creates a pace that speeds up during the novel, and we are drawn to both the good and bad players in her game. Overall, it is a very successful novel which captures the uncertain time between the First and Second World Wars and leads the reader to ask what the right thing is to do during this time.
