About the Book:
London, 1839. With the cemeteries full and money to be made in death, tricksters Crawford and Bonnie survive on wicked schemes and ill-gotten coin. But one blistering evening, their fortunes flip. A man lies in a pool of blood at Bonnie's feet and now she needs to disappear.
Crawford secures her a position as lady's maid in a grand house on the Thames. As Bonnie comes to understand the family – the eccentric Mr Moncrieff, obsessively drawing mausoleums for his dead wife, and their peculiar daughter Cissie, scribbling imaginary love letters to herself – she begins to question what secrets are lying behind the house's paper-thin walls and whether her own presence here was planned from the beginning.
Because Crawford is watching, and perhaps he is plotting his greatest trick yet.
Published by Pan Macmillan Australia
Released June 2024
My Thoughts:
Elizabeth Macneal returns with her third release, The Burial Plot, and like her two previous novels, The Doll Factory and Circus of Wonders, this a five-star brilliant read.
Each of Elizabeth's novels have been set within Victorian London, a favourite historical era of mine, and each of them are a gothic tale of greed and power, with an undercurrent of horror, and a sharp gaze towards the vulnerability of women. And yet, despite these connected themes, each of her novels are vastly different in plot and characterisation. She is a master of the craft; an auto buy author for me.
The Burial Plot is a story about the overflowing cemeteries of London during the 1830s, and the move to build (and make a lot of money out of) new cemeteries, beautiful ones, on the outskirts of London. And indeed, there was a lot of money to be made.
The characters within this novel are all complexly devoloped and will arouse your sympathies and revulsions in equal measure. Crawford, driven by greed and a lie about his identity; Bonnie, resourceful and smart, but ultimately craving a life of love and certainty; Aubrey, steeped in grief, blinded by guilt; and Sissy, so vulnerable at the beginning of the novel, but empowered by rage at being so ill used by the end. Even secondary characters are well fleshed out and contribute enormously to the story arc.
I recommend the audio book for this one. Brilliant narration and a bonus 14 minute interview between the narrator and the author at the end, which was insightful about the story and the historical inspiration behind it.
I read this with a mounting pit of dread clenched within me, twists abounding and shocking me left, right and centre. Highly recommended. I can see this one being adapted into an incredible TV series, just as The Doll Factory was.
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