Jane Harris (1) (1961–)

As she sits in her Bloomsbury home, with her two birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance, nearly four decades previously, with Ned Gillespie, a talented artist who never achieved the fame she maintains he deserved.

Back in 1888, the young, art-loving Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when show more tragedy strikes - leading to a notorious criminal trial - the promise and certainties of this world all too rapidly disintegrate into mystery and deception...

'A story that holds you in its grip and makes you skip ahead but circle back again for more of the same - literary crack cocaine.' -- Scotland on Sunday

I would have to give away too much of the twisty-turny plot of this amazing book for a satisfactory review hence the reason the below probably makes no sense at all.

This is a novel that really makes you think; you ponder every nuance and collect snippets of information along the way; decide ‘yes I know exactly what is going on here’ and before you get to the bottom of page you are re evaluating …again. The ability of the author to switch from chilling forbodence to laugh out load (albeit dark) humour is brilliantly executed.

Is Harriet Baxter the mother of all unreliable narrators?

On reading the final page (sentence actually) I immediately flipped back to the first chapter; reread it and I swear I had palpitations....Enjoy show less

After a bit of a slow start I settled in to the pace of this novel, and found it totally engrossing. In 1888, Harriet Baxter, having lost the aunt whose caretaker she was, and having inherited a comfortable living from her grandfather, decides to take the train from London to Glasgow for an indefinite visit, primarily to attend the International Exhibition recently opened along the banks of the River Kelvin. While she is there, she meets and befriends an up and coming artist, Ned Gillespie, show more and his young family. In fact, you might say she insinuates herself into their lives with determination. We learn about the events of that Exhibition year from Harriet herself, in a self-serving "memoir" that begins by telling us how intimately she became acquainted with Gillespie...no, not that way...just as dear friend and "soul mate". Well, it's easy to discern fairly quickly that Harriet is a bit unreliable as a narrator, but how is the reader to know what to believe, when no objective observer is available to balance her account of things? Ah...well, see, that's the fun part. This is historical fiction, psychological thriller, Victorian mystery and pull-the-covers-over-your-head scary story all rolled into one. Oh, and there's courtroom drama of the 19th century Scottish variety as well. I lapped it up.

Review written July 2015 show less

This expansive novel follows Harriet Baxter, as an aging woman in 1933 and her younger self in Glasgow in 1888. It tracks her relationship with an artist named Ned Gillespie, and his family. She becomes very attached to all of them. After a tragedy occurs, Harriet finds herself in the center of a notorious criminal trial. I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. The writing is very good and the characters are well drawn.

Harriet Baxter is an 80 year old woman living alone in Bloomsbury in 1933. As she nears the end of her life, and while she possesses a full mental capacity, she decides to write a memoir about Ned Gillespie, a brilliant Glaswegian painter who never achieved the fame he deserved.

Harriet is a single and outspoken woman of good taste and independent means in her mid-30s, who travels from London to Glasgow to attend the 1888 International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry. She is show more introduced to Ned after she has a remarkable encounter with his mother Elspeth and wife Annie, and she recognizes him from an art exhibition in London held several years previously. The two women befriend Harriet, who integrates herself into the lives of the Gillespie family, including their younger daughter Rose and her older, troubled sister Sibyl, along with Ned's overbearing mother and his secretive brother.

She decides to lengthen her stay in Glasgow, as she becomes a somewhat awkward yet appreciated fixture in the Gillespie household. Sibyl exhibits increasingly strange and disturbing behavior, which strains the marriage and Annie's relationship with Elspeth, and culminates in a shocking crime that devastates the Gillespies and their new friend.

The novel shifts between 1888 Glasgow and 1933 London, as Harriet tells her side of the events that surrounded the crime and its notorious trial and aftermath, in order to set the record straight. The action and tension build in both settings, as Harriet proves to be an increasingly unreliable narrator, which left this reader fascinated and on the edge of his seat until the final page.

Gillespie and I is a devastating and brilliant accomplishment, with a deliciously unreliable narrator, superb and compelling characters, and a highly captivating story that ranks amongst the most enjoyable novels I've ever read. As other readers have mentioned, I wanted to start it again from the beginning immediately after I finished it, and its characters will remain with me for a long time to come. show less