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The Fatal Tree by Jake Arnott
Oct. 15th, 2016 11:27 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
”This is the tale of Edgworth Bess,
related in her own words,
and a darker narrative for those
that would look a little closer.
A hidden history that must be told in secret:
Of lives too scandalous even for the Newgate Calendar.
And of a love lost,
Which is the saddest story of them all. “
London, the 1720s. Welcome to ‘Romeville’, the underworld of that great city. The financial crash caused by the South Sea Bubble sees the rise of Jonathan Wild, self-styled ‘Thief-taker General’ who purports to keep the peace while brutally controlling organised crime. Only two people truly defy him: Jack Sheppard, apprentice turned house-breaker, and his lover, the notorious whore and pickpocket Edgworth Bess.
From the condemned cell at Newgate, Bess gives her account of how she and Jack formed the most famous criminal partnership of their age: a tale of lost innocence and harsh survival, passion and danger, bold exploits and spectacular gaol-breaks – and of the price they paid for rousing the mob of Romeville against its corrupt master.
Bess dictates her narrative to Billy Archer, a Grub Street hack and aspiring poet who has rubbed shoulders with Defoe and Swift. But he also inhabits that other underworld of ‘molly houses’ and ‘unnameable sin’, and has his own story of subterfuge, treachery and doomed romance to deliver. As the gallows casts its grim shadow, who will live to escape the Fatal Tree?
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Jake Arnott’s seventh novel is a historical crime novel drawing on the real life characters of Edgworth Bess, Jack Shepard and Jonathan Wild and rich in the slang of the 18th century criminal fraternity but glib on character and with a frantic pace that meant I never really connected with the world they lived in or with the plight of either narrator. This is a shame because it’s clear from the selected biography at the end that Arnott has immersed himself in the period and the novel is riddled with the slang of the time, which gives the tale authenticity but for me, there was too much of it and I constantly had to flick to the glossary at the back to follow what was happening (something which may be difficult on Kindle versions). As a result, I felt alienated from the characters and their story and that wasn’t helped by the fact that the fast pace of the storytelling meant that there isn’t much depth to the emotions on display. I didn’t believe in Bess’s relationship with Jack because there isn’t enough dialogue and interaction to establish a bond (and even less when it breaks) and the blurb’s billing of a rivalry between Shepard and Wild reads more like peevish machismo. Archer’s tale is equally shallow and I didn’t really understand his passion for Adam. Ultimately despite the research and feel for the time, I didn’t engage with the novel or its characters enough for it to be more than an okay read.
THE FATAL TREE will be released in the United Kingdom on 23rd February 2017. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
related in her own words,
and a darker narrative for those
that would look a little closer.
A hidden history that must be told in secret:
Of lives too scandalous even for the Newgate Calendar.
And of a love lost,
Which is the saddest story of them all. “
London, the 1720s. Welcome to ‘Romeville’, the underworld of that great city. The financial crash caused by the South Sea Bubble sees the rise of Jonathan Wild, self-styled ‘Thief-taker General’ who purports to keep the peace while brutally controlling organised crime. Only two people truly defy him: Jack Sheppard, apprentice turned house-breaker, and his lover, the notorious whore and pickpocket Edgworth Bess.
From the condemned cell at Newgate, Bess gives her account of how she and Jack formed the most famous criminal partnership of their age: a tale of lost innocence and harsh survival, passion and danger, bold exploits and spectacular gaol-breaks – and of the price they paid for rousing the mob of Romeville against its corrupt master.
Bess dictates her narrative to Billy Archer, a Grub Street hack and aspiring poet who has rubbed shoulders with Defoe and Swift. But he also inhabits that other underworld of ‘molly houses’ and ‘unnameable sin’, and has his own story of subterfuge, treachery and doomed romance to deliver. As the gallows casts its grim shadow, who will live to escape the Fatal Tree?
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Jake Arnott’s seventh novel is a historical crime novel drawing on the real life characters of Edgworth Bess, Jack Shepard and Jonathan Wild and rich in the slang of the 18th century criminal fraternity but glib on character and with a frantic pace that meant I never really connected with the world they lived in or with the plight of either narrator. This is a shame because it’s clear from the selected biography at the end that Arnott has immersed himself in the period and the novel is riddled with the slang of the time, which gives the tale authenticity but for me, there was too much of it and I constantly had to flick to the glossary at the back to follow what was happening (something which may be difficult on Kindle versions). As a result, I felt alienated from the characters and their story and that wasn’t helped by the fact that the fast pace of the storytelling meant that there isn’t much depth to the emotions on display. I didn’t believe in Bess’s relationship with Jack because there isn’t enough dialogue and interaction to establish a bond (and even less when it breaks) and the blurb’s billing of a rivalry between Shepard and Wild reads more like peevish machismo. Archer’s tale is equally shallow and I didn’t really understand his passion for Adam. Ultimately despite the research and feel for the time, I didn’t engage with the novel or its characters enough for it to be more than an okay read.
THE FATAL TREE will be released in the United Kingdom on 23rd February 2017. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the ARC of this book.
