The Confessions of Frannie Langton

DEBUT Awaiting trial in 1826 for the murder of scientist George Benham and his French wife, Marguerite, Frannie Langton shares her story. Born in Jamaica, mixed-race Frannie is taken from the slave quarters to serve the plantation's mistress, who treats her cruelly. Learning to read enlarges Frannie's world but also allows her to record the master's experiments—cranial measurements, cadaver dissections, forced mating—to prove black people's inferiority. After Mr. Langton takes her to London to serve Benham in the hope the scientist will endorse his work, Frannie attracts the attention of the eccentric Marguerite, eventually becoming her lady's maid and lover, while trying to control Marguerite's opium addiction. Cast out temporarily, Frannie survives by catering to white men's masochistic fantasies in a notorious brothel. Her return culminates in the Benhams' deaths, although she cannot remember the events. Interspersed throughout the narrative are sections from Benham's journals, witness statements, and letters. But Frannie's powerful, painful recollections will haunt readers as she dredges memories twisted by abuse, violence, and drugs and tries to convince herself of Marguerite's devotion.