Bessy lies on the first page of ‘The Observations’ and lies many more times throughout her story. She is a chancer, a besom, living off her wits and running away from a past in Glasgow that she wishes to forget. On her way to Edinburgh, she finds herself in Castle Haivers, a run-down estate owned by James Reid, a miserly landlord with designs on a political career. His wife, Arabella, is looking for a maid, and Bessy, with no suitable household experience, blags the job. She quickly learns that all is not what it should be at Castle Haivers as her mistress displays bizarre, contrary behaviour, issuing strange demands, one of which is that Bessy should keep a diary, recounting her daily tasks and her thoughts as she tackles them. Still, Bessy, grows fond of her mistress, quite accepting of her foibles, and yet, whilst snooping in Arabella’s room, comes across a secret project of hers—also called The Observations—where she researches and details the character and obedience of her domestic staff. Bessy is horrified at some of the comments Arabella has made about her and is also distraught to discover that Arabella knows of her seedier past life in Glasgow. She also discovers that one of Arabella’s favourite maids, a girl called Nora, died in mysterious circumstances. Bessy, in revenge at what she sees as a betrayal of trust, and in jealousy of Arabella’s affection for Nora, hatches a plan to get back at her mistress.

As readers, we know that both Arabella and Bessy have form in keeping secrets, misdirection and playing to a perceived audience, and it is great fun, as the tension escalates, trying to work out who is fooling whom. As suspicions rise, and the narrative turns ever more sinister, the story is rollicking along at great pace with Bessy’s mischievous, saucy voice hurtling events along. Jane Harris offers up intriguing sub-plots and red herrings to keep us guessing the outcome. And when the truth starts to dawn on us each confirmation pay off is quite satisfying with an emotional impact that is perfectly judged.

In Bessy, Jane Harris has given us a delicious, joyous character to enjoy. Her sharp, bawdy delivery ensures that it is no slog spending time in this grim, grey Victorian village. Her ‘affectionate’ nicknames, earthy attitude to bodily functions, and turn of phrase often had me laughing out loud. She manages to pin down the moral hypocrisies of the era, especially those involving sex, class and religion, without a jarring, righteous superior stance. It might have been easy to have Bessy portray her fellow characters as pantomime stereotypes, and, thankfully, Jane Harris allows her to be smarter than that. Bessy is fundamentally decent and humane, and her story, while a great study in betrayal and guilt, is also a touching reminder of loyalty and friendship. We are never made aware of the motivation behind Bessy choosing to trust the people she does in her life, a trait I found quite refreshing in such a street-wise character. I really did love how the book both defies and satisfies the reader’s expectations.

In the end, we are left with Bessy trying to get Arabella’s Observations published with a lovely, sly dig at publishers’ commissioning practices, hinting that she may take up the pen again. I hope she does. She is terrific company on a dark winter’s night.