The Ghost of Lily Painter

Despite its title, The Ghost of Lily Painter is not really a ghost story; there is a ghost and sections of the story are told from her viewpoint, but it is a story about the various people who have lived in the same house in Holloway, North London, over the years.

In the present, Annie is determined to stay in the house she bought with her husband before they broke up, but doesn't know financially how she is going to do it. Her day to day activities and worries are observed by the resident ghost, Lily. These include taking her young daughter Molly to auditions for various acting jobs. She starts researching the history of the house in the local library and uncovering its secrets.

I found Annie as an impecunious middle class single mother show more quite easy to identify with, and I liked the portrayal of the mother-daughter relationship through the changes of Annie's husband Ben moving out and Molly growing up, no longer being a small child, becoming her own, more independent person with ideas of her own. Then there are the strange ghostly happenings in the house.

The most interesting story though was the one set in 1901, the turn of the century and the end of an era. Lily and her parents lodge with a policeman, Inspector William George and his family. His investigation into baby farmers, women who took in babies for money, often from mother who couldn't keep them for reasons of money and/or the disgrace of illegitimacy, coincides horribly and tragically with the story of Lily Painter, and we learn why she is a restless ghost.

Baby farmers often took a small lump sum to take in a baby, but wouldn't keep them indefinitely, and babies were often allowed to die or deliberately murdered. Caitlin Davies draws on the true story of Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, who were hanged for baby farming in 2003.

I found this story to be an absorbing read, drawing on a very sad piece of women's history. I quite liked the idea of ghostly Lily watching Annie and her daughter, and other occupants of the house, though there was a point when Lily in the first person comments on Annie using her computer, and I wondered how Lily would know what the computer is - I was amused to be thinking about realism in a ghost story! All the characters seemed quite convincing and I was interested in reading about their lives.

The plot is a bit weaker than the characterisation, particularly towards the end when its resolution and tying up involves far too many coincidences, and the story would have been complete and satisfying without at least one of the final revelations.

I would still recommend this book to anyone who likes stories about the links between past and present, and social/London/women's history.

Reviewed through Amazon Vine, 22 June 2011 show less

The first time Annie Sweet sees 43 Stanley Road, the house is so perfect she almost feels as though it has chosen her. She longs to move in, but with her husband seeming more distant, and her daughter wrapped up in her friends and new school, Annie is left alone to mull over the past.

Soon she becomes consumed by the house and everyone who has lived there before her, especially a young chorus girl called Lily Painter, a rising star of the music hall whose sparkling performances were the talk of the town.

As Annie delves further into Lily’s past she begins to unravel a dark episode from Edwardian London, that of two notorious baby farmers, who lured young unmarried mothers with the promise of a better life for their babies. Until Annie show more solves the mystery at the heart of the scandal, the ghost of Lily Painter will never be able to rest.

Back Cover - Based on a real period from London’s rich history, Caitlin Davies skilfully blends fact and fiction to bring to life part of our sinister past. Spanning an entire century, from the journals of an Edwardian police inspector to a doomed wartime love affair, The Ghost of Lily Painter is an engrossing and poignant novel from a hugely talented writer. show less

Caitlin Davies blends fact and fiction in ‘The Ghost of Lily Painter’, an unusual story sparked from the author’s interest in her own house in Holloway, North London. In 2008, Annie Sweet moves into 43 Stanley Road with her husband and daughter. The house is chilly, the dog won’t stop barking, and her husband leaves her. Is there a bad spirit in the house which is bringing bad luck? Annie begins to explore the house’s history and discovers a music hall performer, Lily Painter, lived there briefly at the beginning of the twentieth century. What happened to her? Why does she disappear?
This is a well-researched historical story about turn-of-the-century music hall, the dilemma facing unmarried pregnant women, baby farms and show more modern-day family history research. It’s a fascinating tangle of three viewpoints across a century: Annie Sweet and her actress daughter Molly, Inspector William George who lived at 43 Stanley Road in 1901; and one of his lodgers, Miss Lily Painter. The baby farms narrative is based on the real lives of Amelia Sach and Annie Walters, the first women to be hanged at Holloway Prison in 1902. They were baby farmers, women offering a lying-in service where women could deliver their babies then pay for their children to be adopted by ‘ladies’. Many of the babies never made it to their new homes. A terrible true story.
My only disappointment is that the ends are tied together too neatly, with a coincidence easily-spotted rather early in the story.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/ show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3413905.html

One of those novels I had picked up years ago on a whim; Annie Sweet, recently separated from her husband in 2008, becomes obsessed with tracking down the story of Lily Painter, a teenage music hall performer who lived in the same house in 1901. I'm afraid that I worked out what the twist ending was going to be about half way through, and I was also annoyed by the policeman character who seems to have very little grasp of police procedure and writes implausible diary entries. But it's told with a certain amount of emotional force, and if I were in a less cynical mood at the moment it might well have worked better for me.

An interesting story although I wasn't sure that it held together that well. The 'ghost' of the title seemed almost an afterthought - it really wasn't needed and I found its addition a little bit strained. The story of the baby farmers was really interesting and the research around that was good, but it all came together a little too neatly. Unfortunately, I also found the daughter of the main character, Molly, unpleasant which irritated me throughout. Interesting read, but I wouldn't go back a second time.