Deborah Challinor

Growing up and living in Victorian era London, Tatiana Caldwell is unexpectedly orphaned after losing both her parents in quick succession. It's 1864, and at the age of just seventeen and with very little to her name, Tatty (as she calls herself) emigrates to Australia for a fresh start. Driven to acquire and operate her own business one day, Tatty is hard working and far from squeamish when she begins working for Titus Crowe at Crowe Funeral Services.

I've always been deeply interested in show more Victorian funeral and mourning etiquette* and I loved reading about any and all aspects of Crowe Funeral Services in Sydney.

"Henry and Robert prepared the hearse - a very beautiful vehicle with four glass sides embellished with gold accents and otherwise painted a gleaming black - and the two magnificent horses pulling it. Their names were Spirit and Phantom, which Tatty thought were splendid names for funeral horses, and they were cloaked in black velvet drapes and wore tall head-dresses of thick black ostrich plumes. They were Belgian Blacks and had, according to Henry, cost Titus an absolute fortune to import to New South Wales from England." Page 44

It's disturbing to imagine Belgian Black horses being transported and confined below decks for the gruelling passage to London but they must have been an incredible sight to see on the streets of Sydney at the time.

Titus Crowe is a terrific character who came across as very Dickensian to me and I can easily see him on screen in a TV adaptation. (Miss Scarlet & The Duke comes to mind here, love that show!)

Here's an excerpt about mourning jewellery from the novel:

'Here you have your rings,' Mr Coverdale said. 'For ladies and men, black enamel on eighteen-karat gold, inlaid with In Memoriam perhaps, or we can add the deceased's name and date of passing. Alternatively, those details can be engraved on the inside of the band. We also have black enamel and seed pearl rings - they're considered very fashionable at the moment.' Page 68

Tatty attends funerals in the newly created cemetery and it was exciting to be reminded of Sydney's history when it comes to cemeteries, mortuary trains and mortuary train stations. In 2020 I started listening to the Grave Tales Australia podcast, and it was so engaging I went on to read and review their book Grave Tales: Melbourne Vol.1 by Helen Goltz and Chris Adams.

Back to the book and my favourite section by far was Tatty's visit to the draper and haberdasher Mr Rodney Burton. Tatty discovers his store is three times bigger than the other stores, all the better to house his huge range of fabrics and notions including buttons, trims, nets, ribbons, beads, lace, artificial flowers and more. Tatty is thrilled to discover that at least a third of the well-stocked emporium is dedicated to selling materials associated with mourning the dead.

"As well as the ubiquitous black crape there was also bombazine, parramatta silk, merino, delaine and velvet, and for half-mourning a head-spinning range of fabrics with a little more lustre and life in black, grey, purple-mauve, lavender, violet and white. Burton's also sold a huge selection of handkerchiefs edged with black lace, black gloves, umbrellas and sunshades, black lace fans, black shoes and boots, and a good selection of shawls." Page 73

I'd love to browse that store, wouldn't you? In spite of the funereal backdrop of Crowe Funeral Services, the author has given us an engaging main character in Tatty to cheer for and a relatively light narrative that skips along at a leisurely pace in an early Sydney streetscape.

I haven't read any of Challinor's extensive backlist but I was pleasantly surprised - given the Sydney setting - to discover the author is a Kiwi residing in New Zealand. Better still, Black Silk and Sympathy is just the first in a series and I'm looking forward to some terrific funereal adventures with Tatty at the head of the funeral procession.

If you love Victorian or Edwardian era London and become excited when a mortsafe is mentioned, or you're seeking a light and enjoyable read that happens to be set in the colonial funeral industry this is for you. You can read the prologue and first chapter via a link on my blog: https://www.carpelibrum.net/2024/06/review-black-silk-sympathy-deborah-challinor...

* Courtesy of Harper Collins * show less

I always feel a sense of guilt when I’ve left a review book on the pile for some time, but this time I feel really, really guilty. Why? Because Behind the Sun is a fantastic book, exactly the type of historical fiction that I really enjoy reading. The only commiseration I have for letting it linger is that I don’t have to wait as long for the second book in this series to be released (sometime in 2013).

If you enjoyed The Potato Factory or Australian colonial history, you’ll love this show more book. It is loaded with historical detail (I would have read this book more quickly had I not stopped to do further research on Seven Dials, prison hulks, Newgate Gaol and Parramatta Female Factory amongst others) and the characters are all distinctive and multifaceted with engaging (if sad) stories to tell. Let me tell you about each of them…

Friday Woolfe is a prostitute known to the law. When the theft of a gentleman’s goods is discovered, she’s sent to gaol with the promise of transportation to the far flung Sydney Town. Behind a cunning knowledge of London’s underworld lies a good heart and a sense of justice to her friends. Harrie Clarke is a thief – drawn to desperation to try to feed her mother and siblings. She’s soft and kind-hearted, the mother hen of the group. Sarah Morgan was a jeweller, but is now one of the best thieves in London. When the leader of the gang dobs her in, she’s sent to prison. Alert and calculating, she never misses an opportunity. Finally, Rachel Winter had eloped with a soldier only to find herself on trial for theft. Naïve, but with a wild streak in her, she is the youngest of the crew who Friday, Harrie and Sarah all look out for.

The plot is simply summarised, but compelling – each of the girls’ crimes, time in Newgate, the ship journey and arrival in Sydney. The friendship between the girls is strong and they look out for each other against fellow inmates, unscrupulous men and the turnkeys (or prison wardens). Various events lead to the need for money and protection, with each of the girls learning how far they will go for a true friend.

Challinor’s strengths beside her characters include the ability to retell history in a fascinating way. Like I mentioned previously, I did some of my own research just because I wanted to find out more about the times when Friday, Harrie, Sarah and Rachel lived – what did the places look like? What other things were they expected to do in the gaol? She has really brought the period to life. There are also enough plot threads loose for ample material for the sequel, Girl of Shadows. (I must admit though, I really want to know more about an event regarding Mr Downey from the ship and his findings to see if my own suspicions are correct!) There will be four books in this series and I’m really looking forward to reading them to learn more about my country’s history – and see what the girls get up to!

Thank you to Harper Collins Australia and The Reading Room for providing me with a copy of this book.

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Set from 1854 to 1855. With their ship moored for overhauling in Melbourne’s Yarra River and her cargo sold, Kitty discovers that her husband, sea captain Rian, has bought a claim on the Ballarat goldfields. They now have no choice but to set off with 14-year-old adopted daughter Amber and the entire ships crew to try their luck gold mining in the wild and fairly lawless Ballarat.

It's challenging and the dangers are great, but so can be the rewards. Kitty reconnects with old friends and show more makes new ones - but also dangerous enemies. As historical events unfold, the military arrive to quell uprising and protest against the colonial government. A child goes missing, a torrential flood brings death and more questions than answers.

I had no idea that this was the third in a series when I started reading! It looks like the books entitled 'Kitty' and 'Amber' come first which was a bit disappointing as this was not made clear and I would have liked to have read them first. But anyway, a really good historical read and I learned much about the harsh conditions of Australian gold mining in the late 1850s. Looking forward to reading more by this author. show less

This is the fourth and final book in The Smuggler’s wife series by New Zealand author and historian Deborah Challinor. The story centres around the abduction of Amber’s friend Bao to China, as she is to be the new Cloud Leopard master after the passing of her father, a role her uncle jealously covets. Kitty and Rian Farrell sail the Katipo III to Bao’s rescue, but along the way their daughter Amber is also kidnapped.

This is another rollicking adventure on the high seas, set in the show more 1860s, taking in the tragedy of the opium trade in China, and England’s crucial role in this. Sadly this book was very disappointing in terms of the characters. Kitty seems to have morphed into a waspish shrew, constantly belittling Rian. I’m not sure if she swallowed a bucket of lemons, but she doesn’t have a single positive thing to say the entire book. Amber is just a total brat. I found myself double and triple checking that she was actually 23-years-old as her demanding, truculent behaviour seemed far more in keeping with a 13-year-old. I also didn’t enjoy the conclusion to Israel’s story, it just felt unnecessary. And lastly to add to my woes, the accents in the audio-narration by Louise Crawford were atrocious. So I find my self torn between a two star and three star rating for the final book of an otherwise enjoyable series: 3 for the adventure, 2 for ruining the characters. Let’s call it 2.5 show less