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A review by kittybetty
A Shilling for Candles by Josephine Tey
2.0
If you can stomach the jingo lingo, the story flows fairly well and there are some characters to cherish here. There's a gender-defying teen I'd like to see again--does she appear in later novels in the Inspector Grant series? But I may never know. I was so often put off by racist and classist sentiments, I think I'll have to step away from Josephine Tey, at least for a little while.
“Ill-educated, emotional, and ruthless; like most of his race,” she describes a Jew , in the voice of omniscient narrator. Shortly after, we get to hear another side as a character who is a Jew calls England out for touting supposed tolerance while practicing prejudice. But then Inspector Grant, the detective whom we presumably trust and admire writes the Jew's speech off as indicative of a psychiatric complex—perhaps inferiority, persecution, or even messianic.
There's a lot more racist invective about "Hebrews," or "Israelites," or just plain Jews, but don't imagine Tey has a single focus for her hate speech. When a character is suspected of being at least part Black or Native-Something, we can see her value as a human being, and her trustworthiness, decreasing in Inspector Grant's estimation.
The upper class, meanwhile, are not to be questioned at all, if possible. Peers are presumed above suspicion. Is this tongue-in-cheek? I hoped so, that would be great, but I just couldn't find clear evidence that Tey was mocking attitudes if her hero was displaying them and her omniscient narrator was repeating them.
“Ill-educated, emotional, and ruthless; like most of his race,” she describes a Jew , in the voice of omniscient narrator. Shortly after, we get to hear another side as a character who is a Jew calls England out for touting supposed tolerance while practicing prejudice. But then Inspector Grant, the detective whom we presumably trust and admire writes the Jew's speech off as indicative of a psychiatric complex—perhaps inferiority, persecution, or even messianic.
There's a lot more racist invective about "Hebrews," or "Israelites," or just plain Jews, but don't imagine Tey has a single focus for her hate speech. When a character is suspected of being at least part Black or Native-Something, we can see her value as a human being, and her trustworthiness, decreasing in Inspector Grant's estimation.
The upper class, meanwhile, are not to be questioned at all, if possible. Peers are presumed above suspicion. Is this tongue-in-cheek? I hoped so, that would be great, but I just couldn't find clear evidence that Tey was mocking attitudes if her hero was displaying them and her omniscient narrator was repeating them.