Gillespie and I

"Gillespie and I starts in 1933 when Harriet Baxter, an elderly English woman, is writing about an artist that she describes as a forgotten genius. We know that she lives alone in Bloomsbury with two lovebirds for company. Her story takes us back to 1888 and to the International Exhibition in Glasgow, where Harriet makes the acquaintance of the Gillespie family. As the narrative progresses, we realise that Harriet is not what she had initially seemed, and the second half of the book is taken up with a criminal trial. It’s an incredible narratorial voice, which lures us in and tricks us. It tells us a story which, on the surface, is just a nice old lady narrating her memoirs, but which transpires to be something far, far darker. The really clever thing about this novel is that it was not marketed as a crime novel and, when I started reading it, I did not realise it was a crime novel. The way that is done is masterful. The Observations by Jane Harris has also got an incredible narrator who has a very different voice, but again very original and fresh."