The Whispering Women (A Delafield & Malloy Investigation)
MacEnulty has created an unusual and thoroughly engaging new partnership in this, the first installment of her mystery series set in Gilded Age New York City.
Louisa Delafield is the only surviving child of a once-prominent member of the upper echelons of New York society; the scandal which resulted in her father’s destruction has stripped almost everything that remained to the family and has forced Louisa to step up and become the breadwinner. A talented writer, Louisa becomes a journalist with a regular society column in one of the city’s newspapers. But that’s not what the increasingly insightful and independent Louisa wants to write about, and being forced into that socially approved box is infuriating.
Ellen Malloy is a lady’s maid in the household of a family well-known to Louisa. Recently arrived from Ireland, Ellen befriends another maid who has been impregnated by the master of the house. In witnessing the botched abortion, Ellen’s life is in peril.
How these two women join forces to confront their mutual lack of equality and power in this dramatically changing society is a well-plotted and marvelous journey. The critical issues of women’s suffrage, contraception, abortion, and living in a closeted world—all issues still in play more than 100 years after MacEnulty’s narrative—are all focal to the character development and point of view. It’s also a glorious trip through 1913 New York City, and traveling around Manhattan (and getting to attend the opening of Grand Central Station where I commute to and from) was utterly enjoyable for this New Yorker.
I highly recommend The Whispering Women and am anxiously looking forward to MacEnulty’s next installment in the series.
