Gillespie and I by Jane Harris. “I envy all of you who have not yet read Gillespie and I because you are in for such a treat!! This is one of those books that really cannot be reviewed because the joy of reading it is in the way that your perceptions of events and your interpretation of the narration change over the course of the book. I was fortunate enough to go into this novel with very little knowledge of the plot and was immediately intrigued by the early foreshadowing of a trial and mentions of white slavery and the artist Gillespie's death. It's set in the 1930's and Harriet is writing her memoirs of her time with the Gillespie family in the late 1800's so the book is full of Victorian settings, attitudes, and atmosphere - all of it tinged with a psychological tension that builds steadily throughout the second half of the book. Meanwhile, relations with Harriet's assistant from the agency grow stranger and stranger... I'm already saying too much. Make sure you have plenty of free time because once you get to the second half you will not want to put this one down.” Her debut novel The Observations has also gotten great reviews on Goodreads, though none of our contributors have recommended it.
