E. S. Thomson

A Proper Education for Girls by Elaine di Rollo is a historical fiction novel set in the 1850’s and deals with Victoria morality, eccentricities, and double standards. The book tells the story of the Talbot sisters, Lillian and Alice, who live with their strange father and various aunts. Their father is a collector of oddities and expects his daughters to help him with his collection.

One sister, Lillian fell under the spell of a visiting plant expert, and found herself pregnant and show more abandoned. The baby died during childbirth, Lillian was quickly married off to a missionary and packed off to India. Mr Talbot, the father, would not have Lillian spoken of in his house and make sure that all mail that came to the house was opened by him and only passed on one of Lillian’s many letters. He even went so far as to search everyone leaving his property to ensure that Alice was not corresponding with her sister.

Alice, the sister that remained at home soon became semi-involved with a visiting photographer and found herself imprisoned and in the hands of the evil Dr. Cattermole who wanted very badly to try experimental surgery on her and convinced her father she was unwomanly and going crazy. Dr. Cattermole was a very shady character, and it is slowly revealed throughout the book that he had a hand in the death of Lillian’s baby.

The book swings back and forth between the sisters, following Lillian in India at the time of the mutiny, and Alice’s bleak life in England. All these two sisters really want is to be together and allowed to live their life without interference. How this book resolves their dilemma makes for a entertaining read. The book gathers momentum like a roller coaster and I found myself absolutely glued to it.

This is an unusual book that dishes out some excellent action and adventure while managing to skewer the Victorian ideals of powerful men and weak, helpless women. The Talbot sisters have become literary favorites of mine. show less

E. S. Thomson's "Dark Asylum" takes place in England in the mid-1850s, and is as gruesome, complex, and atmospheric as the author's debut novel, "Beloved Poison." The principal narrator is Jem Flockhart, a woman who passes as a man and owns an apothecary shop. An expert at her trade, she skillfully dispenses herbs, salves, potions, powders, and pills to her customers. Jem shares her rooms above the shop with her friend, architect Will Quartermain, and her apprentice, Gabriel Locke. The show more author also gives voice to a second narrator, a resourceful and intelligent girl who grew up in Prior's Rents, a filthy and vice-ridden slum. Cruel and lustful men exploited this young woman, who was traumatized and embittered by the abuse she suffered.

Much of the action takes place in the fetid walls of Angel Meadow Asylum (what a misnomer!). Its unfortunate inmates are left to wallow in their own filth and forced to undergo primitive, ineffective, and harmful treatments at the hands of practitioners who experiment on their defenseless patients. Various individuals meet untimely deaths, leaving the insightful and tenacious Jem to find the perpetrator(s). "Dark Asylum" is a tale of opposites; it is amusing and entertaining, but also grim, edgy, and sinister.

Set during the Victorian era, "Dark Asylum" is, in some ways, ahead of its time. Thomson explores such themes as a woman's right to have an education, own her own business, and make her own decisions; the responsibility of physicians to behave humanely and refrain from harming those in their care; and the ways in which poverty debases men, women, and children. Thomson's writing is Dickensian in tone, period detail, and character development. One example of a man Dickens might have created is Dr. Mothersole, an obese and arrogant blowhard who bullies his daughter and prances around singing and playing pan pipes for the mentally ill--a relatively benign form of torture. As is her habit, Jem endangers her life to uncover long-buried secrets that have led to acts of violent retribution. In spite of her obvious flaws—she is impulsive and imprudent—Jem is a courageous and compassionate defender of the underdog. One can plausibly argue that the book's conclusion is too chaotic and relies on far-fetched coincidences. Still, fans of well-researched and evocative Victorian thrillers will enjoy this involving and generally well-crafted work of fiction. show less

The Blood by E. S. Thomson is a darn good Victorian London murder mystery that I couldn't put down. Not for the weak of heart; this story has its gritty and gruesome moments!🙈

This is Book 3 of a 5 book series so far. I sort of jumped into the series smack in the middle. I enjoyed it very much so will be ordering the 1st installment soon.

Our two detectives are a unique duo that are a bit different in character to say the least. Jem Flockhart roams the seedy side of London dressed as a show more man but came into this world a girl. A girl born with a hideous port wine stain that covers her eyes like a raccoon and half of her face. After her mother dies, her father, an established apothecary, raises her as his son and passes the trade on to Jem. Now owning her own apothecary shop disguised as a man wearing a mask akin to that of the Phantom of the Opera, she also solves murders and does autopsies while she moonlights on a retired Napoleonic Wars ship turned hospital.

Will Quartermain, a talented architect has been a lifelong friend to Jem and is desperately in love with her. But Jem not only holds her secret of being a woman, but hides her love of the female sex.

Together they make a unique team solving the many murders that constantly arrive near the slimy wharfs on the Thames.

I cannot wait to start at the beginning with Book One and Two. 5 stars, for a fun and different mystery for sure! show less

Apothecary Jem Flockhart and her friend, Will Quartermain, are back in E. S. Thomson’s “The Blood,” a thriller set in Victorian London. Jem, who is female, has been dressing as a male since she was a child (it was her father’s idea). Pretending to be a man enables her to pursue a profession from which females are traditionally excluded. Jem owns her own shop from which she dispenses herbs, potions, and other remedies. One day, she receives an urgent message from a fellow apothecary, show more John Aberlady, who serves on a rat-infested and malodorous floating hospital for sick and injured sailors. Thomson is a splendid descriptive writer who depicts the ship as “rotten and swollen, blotched with patches of mold, and scabrous with rude repairs.”

Will Quartermain is an architect who has been hired to design a warehouse in a dilapidated area near the waterfront. When he and Jem tour the property, they make a macabre discovery, and come to the horrifying conclusion that a sadistic killer may be at large. The local police, alas, pay scant attention to crimes involving destitute people who have no family ties. Thomson’s complex plot involves a strange tattoo that Jem cannot decipher; precise incisions on the corpses’ bodies; and a shelter for wayward girls operated by a pompous clergyman. Jem and Will make the rounds of filthy pubs and sordid houses of ill-repute in search of leads and witnesses.

Thomson transports us to a time when racism and abuse of women were commonplace. It is a bit jarring, however, that the author shoehorns her twenty-first century perspective into a nineteenth century narrative. Furthermore, this colorful and engrossing, albeit graphically violent tale (the characters spend an inordinate amount of time in the morgue), focuses on decadent and repulsive subjects. Fortunately, there are passages of bleak humor to offset the doom-laden atmosphere. “The Blood” may not brighten your day, but it is a compelling whodunit, and Jem and Will are appealing, energetic, and fearless protagonists. Unlike London’s indifferent detectives, who do little to further the cause of justice, Will and Jem risk their lives to stop a maniacal villain before he claims even more victims. show less