Laura Gallagher
History Girls
Author of two biographies and one previous novel, Pollard, Laura Beatty now blends these genres in Darkling, which weds the life of 21st-century researcher Mia Morgan (fictional) to that of her real historical subject, Lady Brilliana Harley (1598–1643). Through Mia we learn of Brilliana’s marriage, motherhood, Puritanism and defence of Brampton Bryan Castle under Royalist siege in the Civil War. As Mia struggles to reconstruct her subject we witness the developments in her own life as well as the process of biography. Very metafictional – or metabiographical, perhaps.
The seamless transitions between historical source and fictional narrative are gratifying. In one breath Mia is reading a ‘diligent local record’, in the next we’re told that ‘Thomas Jukes, a bauling, bould, confident person … would make noe more account of Sir Humphrey, than if hee had been a plow-boy.’
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'It is the ... sketches of the local and the overlooked that lend this book its density and drive, and emphasise Britain’s mostly low-key riches – if only you can be bothered to buy an anorak and seek.'
Jonathan Meades on the beauty of brutalism.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/castles-of-concrete
'Cruickshank’s history reveals an extraordinary eclecticism of architectural styles and buildings, from Dutch Revivalism to Arts and Crafts experimentation, from Georgian terraces to Victorian mansion blocks.'
William Boyd on the architecture of Chelsea.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/where-george-eliot-meets-mick-jagger
'The eight years he has spent in solitary confinement have had a devastating impact on his mental health ... human rights organisations believe his detention is punishment for his critical views.'
@lucyjpop on the Egyptian activist and poet Ahmed Douma.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/ahmed-douma