The Observations

The book opens with young Bessy Buckley marching her way from Glasgow, looking for another job. She stumbles across the somewhat decrepit Castle Haivers, and gets a job there as a maid when the young beautiful mistress, Arabella, finds out she can read and write. Things are very strange at Castle Haivers, with Arabella subjecting Bessy to all sorts of strange commands. Bessy is flattered by the attention and grows attached to her mistress, or Missus, as she calls her. (Much to Arabella's chagrin, who would prefer to be known as Ma'am.)

This is a great story, all twists and turns and lurid Gothic sensationalism. So sensational, that I read all sorts of bizarre things between the lines. I was only slightly disappointed that I was show more completely wrong with my lesbian vivisectionist plot twist.

What really made this book for me however was the wonderful Bessy. It's all told from her point of view, and she's snarky, rude, clever, cheeky, and quite wonderful. One of the best narrators I have ever come across.

Overall, a great read. Funny, sad, characters as mad as meat axes. Something for everyone! show less

Move over Sarah Waters. There’s a new creepy Gothic writer and she doesn’t pull any punches. Jane Harris’s debut novel is a bawdy mystery complete with creaking attic, locked drawer, secret journals, mistaken identities, sordid pasts but the thing that really catapults this novel to the top of the Gothic genre is the inimitable voice of the story’s narrator. And she had me hooked from the first page.

”My missus was always after me for to write things down in a little book. She give me the book and pen and ink the day I arrived…This was after she found out I could read and write. When she found that out her face lit up like she’d lost a penny and found sixpence, ‘Oh!’ says she, ‘and who taught you?’ And I told her it show more was my poor dead mother, which was a lie for my mother was alive and most likely blind drunk down the Gallowgate as usual and even if she was sober she could barely have wrote her own name on a magistrates summons. But my mother never was sober if she was awake. And when she was asleep, she was unconscious.”

It’s 1863 and Bessy Buckley is a fifteen year old prostitute (introduced to the trade by her loving mother) tired of the life she’s been living so she’s off to Edinburgh where she will end up taking on the job of house maid at the Castle Haivers, which is not nearly as elegant as its name suggests. The young mistress of the estate, Arabella Reid, happens to be composing her magnum opus The Observations, a study of the "habits and nature of the Domestic Class,” and Bessy will be the latest subject. But when Bessy steals the key and reads what her mistress has written about her she takes on the task of scaring the bejesus out of her and the story takes the first of many dark turns.

I can’t say enough about the skill with which Harris pulls off the first person narrative but I will say that to read the story and enjoy it to its fullest, you have to just go with the flow of the narration. If you slow down, you’ll get bogged down. On second thought, don’t even think about that because once you pick this book up, you won’t slow down until you’re at the end of its 416 pages. Very highly recommended. show less

It's 1863 in Scotland and Bessy is running away from her past towards an unknown future in Edinburgh. On the way, she has a chance encounter with the Lady of the house at Castle Haivers and accepts a job as her housemaid after it is revealed she can read and write.

Bessy is the only housemaid inside the isolated country house - it's hardly a castle - and the Lady of the house, Arabella, soon begins to make some odd requests of her. Bessy is narrating the story and her dialect - attributable to her upbringing, location and it being 1863 of course - makes her instantly endearing to the reader.

By her own admission Bessy is wicked, however she's always trying to improve and she'll do anything for Missus; until she finds out her secret that show more is. Then everything begins to fall apart and Bessy will do anything to take it all back and tries to apologise to master James.

The Observations is a unique mystery, complete with a creaking attic, a locked drawer, hidden journals and family secrets. I always enjoy these elements in a novel, but in this case, the plot seemed unique and took a different direction than I had been expecting, which was quite refreshing. Bessy also adds a touch of humour to every page and I thoroughly enjoyed her clever but somewhat naive charm.

I was pleased to discover The Observations contains enough gothic elements to qualify as a gothic novel according to gothicreadingchallenge.blogspot.com which means this qualifies as one of the books for the Gothic Reading Challenge - I signed up to read 5 by the end of 2011, and this makes #2.

I also have to comment on the cover art, I absolutely adore the cover of this book, it's evocative and powerful and relevant to the story. Visually stunning, I love it! show less

Last year, I read Jane Harris’ second novel, Gillespie and I, and simply adored it. So I went to seek out her first novel, The Observations. I was ecstatic to find that it was part of a series, Secrets and Lies, released by Faber and Faber. (Note that when I say series, I mean cool new covers and nice prices, not that the book is part of a series – wishful thinking. The series is set around novels involving well, secrets and lies).

The novel is set in Scotland in 1863 and told in the voice of Bessy, a young Irish girl determined to escape a life of poverty and immoral deeds by seeking employment as a maid. She chances upon a farm and is taken in by the Mistress, despite her lack of knowledge. Her new employer does ask her to do show more several things that seem strange to Bessy though – write down her thoughts and partake in some strange experiments. As Bessy wonders why she is doing these odd things, she finds that the previous maid died in strange circumstances. It all starts to go downhill from there with descents into madness, pranks and the past catching up with Bessy…

The most unique thing about The Observations is the way it is written. Harris uses Bessy’s voice to tell the story and it took a little while to get used to the way Bessy speaks and her slang. It is definitely worth preserving though because of the wonderful rollicking ride that the plot is. Harris evokes a wonderful sense of isolation in the house that makes the Gothic elements all the more deliciously spooky, especially the instructions and experiments of Bessy’s mistress.

Bessy is a wonderful character, exactly right to tell her tale in the first person. (There are some parts from her employer’s journal in the book too which are a wonderful juxtaposition to Bessy’s colourful, blunt speech.) She’s brutally honest, yet with enough mischief to send the plot into overdrive. I loved her rebuffs of Hector, a fellow servant aiming to get her into bed and some of her expressions brought a grin to my face.

Harris never fails to amaze me with her plots – they are always filled with abrupt turns and surprising endings. I can’t wait to read her next book!

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I had reason to leave Glagow, this would have been about three four years ago, and I had been on the Great Road about five hours when I seen a track to the left and a sign said 'Castle Haivers'. Now there's a coincidence I thought to myself, because here I was on my way across Scratchland to have a look at the Edingurgh castle and perhaps get a job there and who knows marry a young nobleman or prince. I was only 15 with a head full of sugar and I had a notion to work in a grand establishment.

Not only that but this lad from the Highlands had fell into step with me the past hour, he would have been about my age and he had been to get a tooth pulled. He kept dragging his lip down to show me the hole. I was sick of this boy and his grin and

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his questions, fair are you going? fair do you live? fwot is your name? fwould you like to lie down with me? — all this. I had told him a whole clatter of lies hoping he would go away but he was stuck to me like horse dung on a road sweepers shoe."

So begins Bessy Buckley's account of events that transpired at Castle Haivers. Impressed by the name, she expects to find a grand estate, but is met instead with a run down home and the owner's wife chasing down a pig. The beautiful Arabella Reid just so happens to be looking for a maid, and Bessy is quick to assure her she's had plenty of experience, a fiction which is quickly dispelled, but Arabella Reid's greatest concern is whether Bessy is able to read and write, and when our heroine demonstrates her abilities to Arabella's satisfaction, she is taken on as hired help. When she asks for permission to read, her mistress agrees and hands her a book: "it was called Bleak House, I hoped it wasn't an omen", says our girl.

By Bessy's own admission, she is a terrible maid, and knows not the first thing about housekeeping, but this doesn't seem to concern her employer. Mrs Reid's main interest is in reading her new maid's daily entries in a journal she has instructed her to keep, encouraging her to describe her days in great detail and relate all her feelings and impressions. Then there are strange tasks to perform and tests to submit to, such as sitting and standing repeatedly on her mistresse's command and being subjected to having detailed measurements taken of her body and facial features. Both mistress and maid have plenty to hide, and when Bessy discovers Arabella's secret she is deeply hurt by it, which sets her on a course of action which will eventually lead to a complete mental breakdown and the intervention of a doctor intent on using the latest techniques and drugs available in these Victorian times to restore his hysterical patient to health. Bessy is a highly amusing narrator, one who uses colourful language and imagery and doesn't shrink from disclosing to us details of a sordid past which help to explain the strange attachment she has formed with her employer. My conclusion: Jane Harris's debut makes for a riveting read. show less

3.5*

Scotland, 1863. An Irish young woman with a dubious past is unexpectedly taken on as a maid at a Scottish estate. The lady of the house has haunting secrets of her own, secrets whose consequences could lead to tragedy...

Sounds like the typical “Neo-Victorian” novel which has become so popular since the likes of [a:Sarah Waters|25334|Sarah Waters|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1409248454p2/25334.jpg] and [a:Michel Faber|16272|Michel Faber|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1417041854p2/16272.jpg] burst on the scene. And in my ways it is. But unlike lesser imitations of Waters, Jane Harris' The Observations has a defining characteristic which singles it out in a crowded market – the fresh, streetwise, slangy narrative show more voice of its feisty protagonist “Bessy”. By turns comic and touching, the strength of this novel is the way in which Bessy’s tale takes us in.

It is not the plot which does the trick – although it has enough twists and turns to keep one hooked, it is ultimately no match for, say, Waters’ [b:Fingersmith|8913370|Fingersmith|Sarah Waters|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348622459s/8913370.jpg|1014113] or the original sensation novels of [a:Wilkie Collins|4012|Wilkie Collins|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1192222099p2/4012.jpg] or [a:Mary Elizabeth Braddon|45896|Mary Elizabeth Braddon|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1202597702p2/45896.jpg]. However, in her remarkable storyteller Bessy, Harris has created one of the more likeable and memorable characters of recent fiction. show less

A charming book (if you don't mind 19-century vulgar slang. Naturally, I love vintage slang.) & a very enjoyable one - it was actually fun to read. Engrossing in parts.
The narrator's voice enthralls from the beginning. It held me down for the first 300 pages or so before I was tired (mystery! mystery! mystery!) - I give most of the credit to the strong characterization of Bessy. In contrast, some of the other characters felt under-written - especially Arabella - which was a shame.
The ghost! mystery! aspect was so strong, it rather overwhelmed the actual plot. I understand that the two plots are supposed to work together, in tandem, and gradually separate. It didn't quite work.

That said ... I'm looking forward to Harris' next offering. show more She's going to one to watch. show less