I’d forgotten how much I love reading Louise Douglas! I’ve read four of her books and particularly enjoyed the du Maurier-inspired The Secrets Between Us, but then I seemed to lose track and missed all of her more recent ones. The Emerald Shawl, published this week, turned out to be the perfect choice for my return to her work.
The novel opens in Bristol in 1864, with journalist Nelly Brooks meeting a woman in a green shawl by the docks. Nelly’s ‘journalism’ amounts to writing a women’s column for the Courier, giving advice on cooking, cleaning and decorating, which is all her editor will allow her to do. She hasn’t given up on her dream of becoming a serious news reporter like her male colleagues, however, and when Eliza Morgan, the woman in the shawl, tells her of the murder of the wife and newborn child of an important man, Nelly is sure she’s found the story she’s been hoping for. When Eliza herself is found floating lifeless in the river the next day, Nelly doesn’t believe the verdict that it was an accidental drowning. She’s convinced that Eliza was murdered and that she is the only person who may be able to find out who killed her.
The mystery is the main focus of the book, but Nelly’s personal life is also interesting. Having become pregnant at the age of fifteen, she spent several years in an asylum, sent there by her parents who found it preferable to admitting that she’d had an illegitimate child. Nelly has had no contact with her daughter – or her parents – since the baby was removed from her after the birth, but she has now discovered that twelve-year-old Hannah is attending a school near Nelly’s place of work. As well as investigating Eliza’s death, Nelly also sets out to find a way to bring Hannah back into her life.
The characters in the book range from the very wealthy, such as the politician Sir Edward Fairfield and his wife, for whom Eliza Morgan worked as a seamstress, to the working class Skinners, who are drawn into the mystery when their daughter’s body is stolen from the morgue. Although both families live in Bristol, they may as well be in different worlds and Nelly has to navigate between the two.
I found it interesting to learn after finishing the book that Douglas based Nelly’s character on the American journalist Nellie Bly, who went undercover to report on conditions inside a mental institution. The fictional Nelly’s own experience of mental institutions allows Douglas to explore issues around mental health and how ‘insanity’ could be used as a convenient way of dealing with people seen as problematic. I also loved the Victorian Bristol setting, which made a nice change from the usual Victorian London settings! The building of the Clifton Suspension Bridge is completed during the course of the novel, an important event in Bristol’s history which helps set the story in a wider historical context.
I hope Louise Douglas will return to Nelly Brooks in a future book as I think there’s a lot of scope to do more with the character. If not, I still have plenty of her earlier novels to enjoy!
Thanks to Boldwood Books for providing a copy of this book for review via NetGalley.
She Reads Novels 
This sounds really good!
It is – I loved it!
Nelly sounds like a great character. And it is nice to have a Victorian setting other than London to explore.
Yes, the setting was something slightly different so I loved that aspect of the book. And Nelly is great – I’m hoping for a sequel!
I can’t remember if I profiled Nelly Bly for Classics Club but I certainly have her on my list to do so! She was an interesting woman.
I don’t know much about Nellie Bly, but she did seem to lead a fascinating life.
She did.
Oh, interesting! Bristol is my hometown (though we settled in Wales over 20 years ago) and this sounds so evocative – and not just for the port and the suspension bridge.
In fact, I see the author lives not far from Bristol and I’ve already spotted one of her covert name inspirations in the surname Fairfield, this being the name of the school Cary Grant used to attend, not a hundred yards round the corner from where we used to live! I’ll keep an eye out for this, thanks, especially since you’ve rated it highly. 🙂
I’m sure you would find it even more interesting than I did, being much more familiar with Bristol! It can really add something to the experience of reading a book when you know the setting well.
I’m going to keep my eyes open for this author!
I think you would enjoy her books. The Secrets Between Us is my favourite so far, but the others I’ve read are excellent too.
This seems such an unusual narrative & I have never read this author before. I will see what I can find of her in my part of the world!
I have been meaning to read this author for a while now. I thought about requesting this one but I have too many books on the go right now
Thanks for sharing this review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge
Hello Helen, I am glad this was a great return to Louise Douglas’s work for you. I recently finished The Emerald Shawl, my first read for this author, and I enjoyed it. Like you a particularly enjoyed the setting. ⚓Blessings, Jessica 💌
I’m glad you enjoyed this one too!