Lauren Baratz-Logsted, Vertigo

Vertigo

Lauren Baratz-Logsted

Delta, October 2006, $12.00

ISBN: 0385340311

On New Year's Eve 1898, spoiled Emma Smith resolves to be a better, more understanding person, especially of the less fortunate. Researching prison life for a novel, her husband John Smith recommends she considers corresponding with one of the convicts. She agrees and writes a letter to Chance Wood, an inmate of Hallowood who is serving a life sentence for killing his spouse.

Chance surprises Emma by responding to her note. Soon they exchange letters and she begins to believe that she is a prisoner in a gilded cage; she also concludes that Chance treats her like an intelligent human, while John sees her as his ornament. When Queen Victoria frees "sponsored" prisoners as a turn of the century goodwill gesture, Chance obtains his freedom and he goes to see Emma, though he warns her to run from him. Instead they begin a tryst and develop a plan to kill John.

None of the three characters making up the triangle are empathetic, as each in their own way is extremely selfish, yet their relationships make for a fine late Victorian thriller, as the audience wonders who will be the last one standing. The storyline is character driven, as Emma finds excitement and freedom in the obviously dangerous Chance, and compares that with imprisonment as an trinket owned by John. Though the spousal "incarceration" musings by Emma become a tedious rationalization, fans of historical dramas will want to read this insightful period piece.