The Trial of Marie Montrecourt
Right from the start the reader is gripped in this tale of political corruption, women’s rights and mysterious benefactors.
Marie Montrecourt is a young and innocent girl straight out of the convent in France, where she was born eighteen years before. Somebody, however, cares enough to leave – in the hands of an English solicitor – enough money for her to live away from the convent. The solicitor arranges for her to stay with a family in Harrogate, and this is where she meets Daphne, a women’s rights campaigner. Marie also has some skill with natural remedies, often helping to cure minor ailments.
The solicitor arranges a marriage for her to a successful local businessman, and Marie, reluctantly at first, accepts. But her new husband’s family despises her, and Marie is unaware that the marriage was arranged so that her husband could inherit a sizeable amount of money to improve his business.
Alongside all of this, Sir Evelyn, playboy and potential politician, is looking into some disturbing reports that his late father was perhaps not the great Boer War hero that he was made out to be.
Ms Patrick has written an absorbing first novel, and the trial scenes are convincing and captivating. If I were being picky, then I would look at the coincidences and good fortune which haunts more than just this novel in the genre. I dislike phrases such as ‘I just happened to be passing by’ and the finding of individuals long thought to be dead who are still able to provide vital information. However, I have no hesitation in recommending this novel.
