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A review by tasmanian_bibliophile
An Unpardonable Crime by Andrew Taylor
4.0
‘Sometimes it is easier to punish the wicked than to defend the innocent.’
The novel opens in England in 1819 where Thomas Shield (our narrator) takes a position as a junior usher at a school near London. Shield is fortunate to obtain the position - he was unable to complete his studies at Cambridge after his father died, he has no reference from his last position, and his brief military career was disastrous.
So, how does such a man become caught up in events which include a bank collapse and a murder? How does he become involved in the affairs of the families concerned with the fortunes and misfortunes of Wavenhoe’s Bank? And what is the significance of the men from America, and who is Edgar Allan?
There are two boys at Shields’s school who are central to the events that unfold: Charles Frant and Edgar Allan. Edgar Allan and his foster parents have moved to England from America. Charles Frant’s father, Henry, is a partner of Wavenhoe’s Bank. Charles and Edgar become friends, and on a number of occasions Thomas Shield is sent to accompany the boys between home and school. As a consequence, Thomas Shield sees something of the world in which they live and becomes caught up in the series of events that occur after the Bank collapses.
This is not a fast moving mystery but its multiple layers kept me engaged. Poor Thomas Shields: he is drawn to both Sophia Frant, Charles’s mother, and her cousin Flora Carswall. There are family mysteries to puzzle over, strangers to identify and strange happenings to make sense of. While Edgar Allan (Poe) is not really central to the story, he is on the edge of mysteries and he represents a number of the links between new world and the old which are an integral part of the unfolding story. The settings are enhanced by the physical descriptions, especially the fogs in London and the winter landscapes of rural Gloucestershire.
I enjoyed this novel – in many ways Thomas Shields was the perfect narrator. His class enabled him to be both observer and participant. The ending was a little too neat for me, but still entirely fitting.
Note: this book has been published as both ‘An Unpardonable Crime’ and ‘The American Boy’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The novel opens in England in 1819 where Thomas Shield (our narrator) takes a position as a junior usher at a school near London. Shield is fortunate to obtain the position - he was unable to complete his studies at Cambridge after his father died, he has no reference from his last position, and his brief military career was disastrous.
So, how does such a man become caught up in events which include a bank collapse and a murder? How does he become involved in the affairs of the families concerned with the fortunes and misfortunes of Wavenhoe’s Bank? And what is the significance of the men from America, and who is Edgar Allan?
There are two boys at Shields’s school who are central to the events that unfold: Charles Frant and Edgar Allan. Edgar Allan and his foster parents have moved to England from America. Charles Frant’s father, Henry, is a partner of Wavenhoe’s Bank. Charles and Edgar become friends, and on a number of occasions Thomas Shield is sent to accompany the boys between home and school. As a consequence, Thomas Shield sees something of the world in which they live and becomes caught up in the series of events that occur after the Bank collapses.
This is not a fast moving mystery but its multiple layers kept me engaged. Poor Thomas Shields: he is drawn to both Sophia Frant, Charles’s mother, and her cousin Flora Carswall. There are family mysteries to puzzle over, strangers to identify and strange happenings to make sense of. While Edgar Allan (Poe) is not really central to the story, he is on the edge of mysteries and he represents a number of the links between new world and the old which are an integral part of the unfolding story. The settings are enhanced by the physical descriptions, especially the fogs in London and the winter landscapes of rural Gloucestershire.
I enjoyed this novel – in many ways Thomas Shields was the perfect narrator. His class enabled him to be both observer and participant. The ending was a little too neat for me, but still entirely fitting.
Note: this book has been published as both ‘An Unpardonable Crime’ and ‘The American Boy’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith