London Dust by
Lee Jackson
pbk out March 03
(Arrow)
at £6.99
Unusually, the fly-leaves say nothing at all about the author; from the nature
of the story and the name 'Lee' I had assumed it be a woman, but the
copyright assertation says 'his rights'. It is a story of London in the 1850s
and certainly evokes the atmosphere of those times. Smoke-ridden streets,
crushing poverty, drunkenness, immorality and hypocrisy ooze from the
pages and both the venue and the style are Dickensian in nature.
It is written in a peculiar way, in that it is all in the present tense and some is
in the first person, when the main character, Natalie Meadows, is narrating.
She was the companion of a music-hall singer, Ellen Warwick, who is
brutally done to death. Natalie (though her name changes every so often)
jumps from Blackfriars Bridge to end it all, but is rescued by a boatman and
tries to discover who killed her friend. It is the early days of photography
and this invention is rapidly adopted for 'artistic pictures', a euphemism for
pornography, which forms part of the plot. A randy MP, a crazy clergyman,
a couple of thieves and assorted low-life colour the story, which in itself is
no great shakes, but acts as a backbone for an evocative picture of sleazy
London in mid-Victorian times.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
