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A review by charlottereadshistory
Remember, Remember by Elle Machray
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Note: The publisher sent me an advanced reader copy of this book for review but all opinions are my own.
Remember, Remember tells the tale of a brother and sister by choice, who are enslaved in St Lucia and taken away from their mothers to London to serve Lord Harvey and his family. Vincent is a clerk and a boxer earning money towards his promised freedom, and Delphine has escaped enslavement but lives in hiding as a healer and servant in an 'exotic' brothel.
When Lord Harvey reneges on his promise to free Vincent and has him arrested, Delphine enlists the help of Lord Harvey's nephew Nick, a radical MP and lawyer who fights the case for Vincent's freedom but also for the wider fight against slavery. This fight continues long after the court case and escalates to a stunning crescendo in the book - whilst revealing the secrets and limits of a society where profit counts for more than people.
Elle Machray pulls us headfirst into the world of Delphine and Vincent, using real historical events to set the scene before creating her alternate ending.
Vincent's legal trial closely resembles and sometimes even quotes the landmark 1772 case of Somerset vs Stewart, where Lord Mansfield (who was chief justice of England at the time) ruled that Charles Stewart could not legally transport the enslaved James Somerset forcibly out of England. Mansfield meant the ruling to be narrowly interpreted, but it was perceived by many to mean that slavery had been made illegal in England.
The parallels between the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and the importance of Parliament as an imperfect centre of progress and also a symbol of oppression across time were cleverly done.
I also really enjoyed the complicated and diverse characters within the book. There weren't clear cut good and bad people - everyone had histories and motivations which coloured their actions, especially those who had so much to lose. There was also a significant amount of growth and change in the thoughts and attitudes of the characters - especially the white allies of Delphine which was heartening.
This was a book about race with a firmly intersectional approach - Machray deftly highlighted the problems for LGBTQIA people at the time as well as touching on class, economic standing and neurodivergence too.
I found this weaving of real events and the subsequent fictional turn the story took to be a thought-provoking approach - Machray harnesses the complex furies and hopes of many oppressed and/or enslaved people into a vision of what the late 1700s and beyond could have been if things had gone differently.
Remember, Remember tells the tale of a brother and sister by choice, who are enslaved in St Lucia and taken away from their mothers to London to serve Lord Harvey and his family. Vincent is a clerk and a boxer earning money towards his promised freedom, and Delphine has escaped enslavement but lives in hiding as a healer and servant in an 'exotic' brothel.
When Lord Harvey reneges on his promise to free Vincent and has him arrested, Delphine enlists the help of Lord Harvey's nephew Nick, a radical MP and lawyer who fights the case for Vincent's freedom but also for the wider fight against slavery. This fight continues long after the court case and escalates to a stunning crescendo in the book - whilst revealing the secrets and limits of a society where profit counts for more than people.
Elle Machray pulls us headfirst into the world of Delphine and Vincent, using real historical events to set the scene before creating her alternate ending.
Vincent's legal trial closely resembles and sometimes even quotes the landmark 1772 case of Somerset vs Stewart, where Lord Mansfield (who was chief justice of England at the time) ruled that Charles Stewart could not legally transport the enslaved James Somerset forcibly out of England. Mansfield meant the ruling to be narrowly interpreted, but it was perceived by many to mean that slavery had been made illegal in England.
The parallels between the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and the importance of Parliament as an imperfect centre of progress and also a symbol of oppression across time were cleverly done.
I also really enjoyed the complicated and diverse characters within the book. There weren't clear cut good and bad people - everyone had histories and motivations which coloured their actions, especially those who had so much to lose. There was also a significant amount of growth and change in the thoughts and attitudes of the characters - especially the white allies of Delphine which was heartening.
This was a book about race with a firmly intersectional approach - Machray deftly highlighted the problems for LGBTQIA people at the time as well as touching on class, economic standing and neurodivergence too.
I found this weaving of real events and the subsequent fictional turn the story took to be a thought-provoking approach - Machray harnesses the complex furies and hopes of many oppressed and/or enslaved people into a vision of what the late 1700s and beyond could have been if things had gone differently.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Violence