Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: The Amber Shadows
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://lucyribchester.com/
CITY: Edinburgh, Scotland
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: Scottish
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Attended University of St. Andrews; Kings College London and Shakespeare’s Globe, M.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Novelist. The List, dance writer. English literature tutor. Edinburgh festival, dance and circus journalist. Worked formerly as an events coordinator for the Everyman Cinema, Hampstead; a researcher for Al Jazeera television; a freelance writer; Cruise Coordinator for the National Trust for Scotland; a creative writing workshops teacher in schools, community groups, Her Majesty’s Prison, Edinburgh, and at the Stepping Stones group at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre; a literacies tutor volunteer for Edinburgh Council.
AVOCATIONS:Making paper origami jewelry.
MEMBER:Scottish Book Trust’s Live Literature Database member.
AWARDS:Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award, 2013; New Writers Award, 2013; shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award, “The Glassblower’s Daughter, “2014; Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, 2016; “Succubus” story shortlisted for the Manchester Fiction Prize.
WRITINGS
Contributor to numerous periodicals, including Valve, Dactyl, Vintage Script, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and Prole. Work has been performed at Liars’ League London, Illicit Ink and Rally & Broad.
SIDELIGHTS
Lucy Ribchester is a writer and English literature tutor. She grew up in Fife, Scotland and studied English at the University of St. Andrews. She later moved to London to study Shakespearean Studies at Kings College London and Shakespeare’s Globe.
Ribchester writes novels, short stories, and works as a dance and circus journalist during the Edinburgh festival. She has taught creative writing workshops at schools, community groups, Her Majesty’s Prison in Edinburgh, and at the Stepping Stones group at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, an organization aimed at supporting young mothers and helping them to develop new skills. She has worked as an events coordinator for the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, as a researcher for Al Jazeera television, a freelance writer while living in Spain, and as a cruise coordinator for the National Trust for Scotland. Ribchester lives in Edinburgh, Scotland with her greyhound, Buster.
The Hourglass Factory
Ribchester’s debut novel, The Hourglass Factory, follows the story of Frankie, a gutsy young journalist in 1912 London. Frankie, a spunky woman who wears men’s clothing and hopes to rise in the ranks of the London Evening Gazette, sees an opportunity to do so when she is offered the job of profiling trapeze artist and suffragette Ebony Diamond. “The novel’s phantasmagoric world and complex themes, from gender and class inequity to the justifications for violent activism, are fascinating,” wrote a contributor to Publishers Weekly, while Claire Hazelton in Guardian described it as “histrionic,” adding, “there is an oversaturation of themes.”
As Frankie sets out to find the Ebony, it quickly becomes clear that someone is trying to kill the famous feminist activist. Two individuals close to Ebony wind up dead in what appears to have been failed attempts on her life, and before Frankie can get to her, Ebony disappears, presumably dead herself. Unwilling to let the story fall through the cracks, Frankie enlists the help of a snake charming showgirl, a child from the streets, an elderly socialite, and inspector Frederick Primrose. The group sets out to find out who is behind the murders, a pursuit that leads to the discovery of a large, complicated conspiracy plot. The book details notable events that occurred in London during this era, including the suffragette marches and hunger strikes, the sinking of the Titanic, and the Jack the Ripper murders.
The Amber Shadows
The Amber Shadows, Ribchester’s second novel, follows the story of Honey Deschamps, a typist who feeds intercepted German messages into a code-breaking machine in England during the second World War. Although Honey enjoys solving puzzles, the work can be dull, and the wartime rationing and mandatory curfew make her life feel tedious and lackluster. She entertains herself by going to Bletchley’s local cinema, viewing movies over and over again.
When she hears rumors at work about a robbery at Leningrad’s Amber Room, she pays little attention. But when mysterious packages begin showing up at her door, each with a small piece of amber tucked inside, she wonders if there is a connection. Further, as she receives more packages, she realizes that the amber is encoded. Honey reflects back on the stories her brother used to tell her about her father’s disappearance, and wonders if perhaps the packages are being sent by him. Another possibility is that the British government is testing her loyalty. As Honey investigates further, the mystery deepens, and the story takes a fatal twist when those close to her begin showing up dead.
Ribchester “convincingly re-creates wartime life and the enclosed world of code-breaking,” penned a contributor to Kirkus Reviews, while a contributor to Publishers Weekly noted she “movingly reflects on trust, illusion, and the stories that connect us to our pasts.” “Suspense, mystery, and intrigue are high in this novel,” wrote a contributor to Historical Novel Society website.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, November 15, 2015, Julia Smith, review of The Hourglass Factory, p. 25.
Guardian, January 31, 2015, Claire Hazelton, review of The Hourglass Factory, p. 12.
Kirkus Reviews, May 15, 2017, review of The Amber Shadows.
Publishers Weekly, January 18, 2016, review of The Hourglass Factory, p. 57; June 19, 2017, review of The Amber Shadows, p. 91.
Xpress Reviews, March 11, 2016, Cheryl Bryan, review of The Hourglass Factory.
ONLINE
Criminal Element, https://www.criminalelement.com/ (August 11, 2017), Angie Barry, review of The Amber Shadows.
Historical Novel Society, https://historicalnovelsociety.org/ (March 24, 2018), review of The Amber Shadows.
ABOUT
I’m a dance and fiction writer based in Edinburgh. Many moons ago I studied English at the University of St Andrews, and later Shakespearean Studies at Kings College London and Shakespeare’s Globe. I then worked as the Events Coordinator for the Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, as a researcher for Al Jazeera television, a freelance writer while living in Spain, and later as the Cruise Coordinator for the National Trust for Scotland (where I worked onboard a ship, swam with icebergs, set foot on St Kilda, and finally learned how to ceilidh dance).
I won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2013, and was shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award in 2014. In 2016 I was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship, and my short story Succubus was shortlisted for the Manchester Fiction Prize. This year I’m working on my third novel thanks to an Open Project Award from Creative Scotland. Alongside fiction I also write about dance for The List and sometimes tutor English lit. I have taught creative writing workshops in schools, community groups and in HMP Edinburgh, and used to volunteer as a literacies tutor for Edinburgh Council. I’m a member of the Scottish Book Trust’s Live Literature Database.
I also make origami jewellery out of old book paper, and spend many hours a day admiring my greyhound Buster.
You can use any of the following pictures copyright free, but please credit Kuba Kolinski.
Lucy Ribchester
Biography
I grew up in Fife and now live in Edinburgh. I studied English at St Andrews and later moved to London where I gained a Masters in Shakespearean Studies from Kings College London and Shakespeare’s Globe.
I write novels and short stories and work as a dance and circus journalist during the Edinburgh festival. I’m also a CELTA trained English teacher and used to teach ESOL for Edinburgh Council. I’ve facilitated creative writing workshops in schools and taught a 10-week creative writing programme for the Stepping Stones group at Royston Wardieburn Community Centre, an organisation who support young mothers and help them to develop new skills.
I love talking about writing and books with readers and writers. Having volunteered as a literacies tutor for Edinburgh Council, I find engaging new readers one of the most rewarding things a writer can do.
About writer's work
My novels and short stories are mainly historical and I’m interested in narratives of female resilience and adventure from the past. I’ve set work in the Edwardian period, World War II, the 17th and 18thcenturies and in speculative worlds that are a mix of research and imagination.
My dance, circus and travel journalism strongly informs the worlds and characters I create. I love creating physical and sensory texture in work, trying to bring the body and the past to life in fiction.
In 2013 I won a New Writers Award and in 2015 was shortlisted for the Costa Short Story Award for my story The Glassblower’s Daughter. My short fiction hasappeared in journals Valve, Dactyl, Vintage Script, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and Prole, and has been performed at Liars’ League London, Illicit Ink and Rally & Broad.
As part of my Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award I was mentored by Linda Cracknell.
Websites featuring the author
Lucy Ribchester's Website
Lucy on Twitter
Current events and projects
I’m available for readings, residencies, workshops and events.
I’ve taught workshops on themes in my own work and on jump-starting creative writing for those new to it or looking to further their skills. I recently taught at Tyne & Esk Writers group and Write Like A Grrrl and am leading workshops at the forthcoming Grrrl Con! Conference.
Other work
I judged the Glasgow Women’s Library Bold Types short story and poetry competition in 2015 and as part of the prize mentored the short story winner. I also recently collaborated with the Scottish Refugee Council to team up with Fatima Mohammed, a footballer and Sudanese refugee based in Glasgow, to write her story for the Scottish Book Trust’s Journeys anthology.
I’ve taken part in book festivals including Bloody Scotland, EIBF, Coastword, Literary Dundee, Aye Write! and Harrogate Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, and am happy reading and discussing my work in front of an audience. I’ve also appeared a few times on Janice Forsyth’s Culture Studio on BBC Radio Scotland, talking about my own writing and as a guest circus critic. In 2016 I took part in the launch of Edinburgh University’s Dangerous Women project where I sat on a panel discussing the topic of dangerous women.
Email
lucyribchester@hotmail.com
Local authority where they are based
Edinburgh
Local authorities where they can work
Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles), Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, Midlothian, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney, Other1, Outer Hebrides, Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, Shetland, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian
Age groups
Teens, Adults
LL funded
Yes
BRAW network
No
Author type
Writer
Language
English
review: Paperbacks: The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester (Simon and Schuster, pounds 7.99)
The Guardian (London, England). (Jan. 31, 2015): Arts and Entertainment: p12.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2015 Guardian Newspapers. Guardian Newspapers Limited
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian
Full Text:
Byline: Claire Hazelton
Set in 1912, The Hourglass Factory follows Frankie - a young, low-ranking, androgynous female reporter - as she attempts to track down suffragette and trapeze artist Ebony Diamond, whom she has been commissioned to profile. Soon Frankie becomes embroiled in a complex conspiracy plot that she - with the aid of a showgirl, a rent boy and an aged-socialite - takes it on herself to solve and foil. The characters are larger-than-life and, at times, histrionic, and there is an oversaturation of themes - from politics, police work and journalism to circus life and fetishism - in what is, at its core, a detective novel. Ribchester provides the mounting suspense and roster of suspicious characters typical of a traditional whodunnit. Yet this is also, in part, a historical novel, with landmark events (often not seen as being contemporaneous to one another), including suffragette marches, the sinking of the Titanic and (more tenuously) the Jack the Ripper murders, all breathing life into Ribchester's London. Claire Hazelton
Claire Hazelton
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"review: Paperbacks: The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester (Simon and Schuster, pounds 7.99)." Guardian [London, England], 31 Jan. 2015, p. 12. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A399594245/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2143469b. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A399594245
The Amber Shadows
Publishers Weekly.
264.25 (June 19, 2017): p91.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* The Amber Shadows
Lucy Ribchester. Pegasus Crime, $25.95 (464p) ISBN 978-1-68177-448-0
Honey Deschamps, the heroine of this richly imagined WWII-era thriller from Ribchester (The Hourglass
Factory), serves the war effort by typing decrypted German messages at England's Bletchley Park. Walking
in the blackout one night, she's startled to encounter a'stranger, Felix Plaidstow, who hands her a package he
says was misdelivered to his intelligence unit at Bletchley. The parcel, postmarked in Nazicontrolled
Leningrad and holding pieces of amber marked with mysterious letters, is followed by similar mailings.
Honey is baffled until she thinks of her artistic Russian father, Ivan Korichnev, who left the family just
before she was born and whom she knows about only from her brother, Dickie. Ivan became the curator of
the Catherine Palace, whose Amber Room has been looted by the Nazis. Is he reaching out, or are Bletchley
authorities testing her? When Dickie is murdered and Honey's attraction to Felix deepens, Honey must
disentangle love from danger, falsity from truth. Ribchester movingly reflects on trust, illusion, and the
stories that connect us to our pasts. Agent: David Forrer, Inkwell Management. (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Amber Shadows." Publishers Weekly, 19 June 2017, p. 91. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A496643863/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=772cb22f.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A496643863
3/24/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1521935701780 2/5
Ribchester, Lucy: THE AMBER
SHADOWS
Kirkus Reviews.
(May 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Ribchester, Lucy THE AMBER SHADOWS Pegasus (Adult Fiction) $25.95 8, 7 ISBN: 978-1-68177-448-0
Mysterious parcels that may connect a British World War II typist with her past make a dangerous
gift.Honey Deschamps nearly stays for a third viewing of Suspicion at Bletchley's local cinema to keep her
mind off ration coupons, her tedious shifts of typing intercepted messages into a code-breaking machine at
the Park, and the universal, necessary blackout material that makes the nighttime even darker. But instead
she heads back to her bleak billet, where Felix Plaidstow, a stranger with a greyhound named Nijinksy,
hands her a package. She gets a first glimpse into a fairy-tale world when she unwraps the parcel with a
Leningrad postmark and finds a square of what looks like amber. After the arrival of two more packages,
each containing another panel, Honey discovers a coded message carved in the amber. She believes both
message and amber are from the father she never knew, a Russian musician and composer--at least
according to Honey's brother, Dickie. A final package containing a model of a firebird, representing balletdancing
Dickie's beloved legend, seems to support Honey's theory. In addition to requesting help from her
friend and colleague Moira Draper, a brilliant mathematician who made a breakthrough in the important
decrypting work at the Park, Honey sends a coded message of her own to Dickie. Unnerving events at
Bletchley--being watched and reported on, a supervisor's assurance that he'll personally shoot anyone
betraying the Park's secrets, a glimpse behind the blackout at a strange banquet, Moira's sudden
disappearance--add to Honey's fear that she's in over her head. She can't discuss things even with Felix, who
seems to be there when she needs him, whether she's being tested for loyalty or given a key to her true
heritage in the form of a smuggled treasure. After a shattering murder and a devastating discovery, the
darkness of Bletchley threatens to envelop her altogether. Ribchester (The Hourglass Factory, 2016)
convincingly re-creates wartime life and the enclosed world of code-breaking and plays out the suspense in
a Hitchcock homage almost worthy of the master.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Ribchester, Lucy: THE AMBER SHADOWS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 May 2017. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A491934359/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=3c6a90bb.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A491934359
3/24/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
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The Hourglass Factory
Publishers Weekly.
263.3 (Jan. 18, 2016): p57+.
COPYRIGHT 2016 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Hourglass Factory
Lucy Ribchester. Pegasus (Norton, dist.), $25.95 (512p) ISBN 978-1-60598-968-6
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Ribchester's energetic debut builds a quirky mystery around the 1912 suffrage demonstrations and hunger
strikes in London, which authorities met with mass arrests, later force-feeding the prisoners. Aspiring
journalist Francesca "Frankie" George, who wears men's clothes and chafes at her lowly newspaper job,
senses an opportunity for advancement when asked to profile trapeze artist and suffragette Ebony Diamond.
Instead, she discovers two deaths that seem to be failed attacks on the acrobat shortly before Diamond
suddenly disappears. Frankie's quest for answers threatens her life and leads her to Frederick Primrose, a
weary detective inspector at the Scotland Yard squad tasked with controlling the suffragettes' constant
disruptions. Their converging investigations wend through harrowing prisons, seedy variety shows, a
suffrage leader's office, and a corset shop that is more than it seems. The novel's phantasmagoric world and
complex themes, from gender and class inequity to the justifications for violent activism, are fascinating.
But Ribchester fails t
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The Hourglass Factory
Julia Smith
Booklist.
112.6 (Nov. 15, 2015): p25.
COPYRIGHT 2015 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Hourglass Factory. By Lucy Ribchester. Mar. 2016. 512p. Pegasus, $25.95 (9781605989686).
Suffragettes, fetishists, murder, a missing trapeze artist, and the opportunity for a career-making news scoop
set the stage for Ribchester's entertaining debut. Frankie, the plucky young heroine, is doing her darndest to
cover some real news for the London Evening Gazette, which keeps her entrenched in fluffy women'sinterest
pieces. An assignment on aerialist and suffragette Ebony Diamond turns into the chance she's been
hoping for, as two people close to the performer wind up dead, and Ebony herself vanishes. Intertwined
with Frankie's story is that of the upstanding Detective Inspector Primrose, whose suffragette detail draws
him into the fray. Set in 1912 London, the story brims with historical events (e.g., Jack the Ripper, the
Titanic disaster, Holloway Jail hunger strikes), and readers will recognize prominent names in the women's
rights movement, such as the Pankhursts, Pethick-Lawrences, and WSPU. Frankie, who wears slacks,
smokes, and guzzles gin, is more naive than radical, and readers can't help but root for her success. A fun
and fast-moving mystery, perfect for fans of Kerry Greenwood's Miss Fisher series.--Julia Smith
YA: Twentysomething Frankie's drive to make her mark on the world while having her eyes opened to its
grim realities will speak to teens tackling their own transitions into adulthood. JS.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Smith, Julia. "The Hourglass Factory." Booklist, 15 Nov. 2015, p. 25. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A436233078/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bac05850.
Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A436233078
3/24/2018 General OneFile - Saved Articles
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MARK_LIST&userGroupName=schlager&inPS=true&prodId=ITOF&ts=1521935701780 5/5
Ribchester, Lucy. The Hourglass Factory
Cheryl Bryan
Xpress Reviews.
(Mar. 11, 2016):
COPYRIGHT 2016 Library Journals, LLC
http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/reviews/xpress/884170-289/xpress_reviews-first_look_at_new.html.csp
Full Text:
Ribchester, Lucy. The Hourglass Factory. Pegasus Crime. Mar. 2016. 512p. ISBN 9781605989686. $25.95;
ebk. ISBN 9781681771106. F
[DEBUT] This debut, which earned the author a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award, is both a
satisfactory mystery and well-researched historical novel set against the backdrop of England's 1912
suffragette movement. Eager to move from the ladies column to real news, young reporter Frankie George
thinks a profile of suffragette and trapeze artist Ebony Diamond will be her big break. As she tries to find
Ebony, it is increasingly clear someone is trying to murder the notorious feminist activist. Enlisting the aid
of a showgirl snake charmer, a street urchin, and an aged socialite, Frankie and Insp. Frederick Primrose
uncover a plot reaching into the halls of Parliament.
Verdict Ribchester successfully captures the sights and smells of Edwardian England at a time of
tumultuous social change and events--suffragette window smashing, the sinking of the Titanic, and even the
Jack the Ripper murders. History and mystery buffs will enjoy this lively look at an era now popularized by
Downton Abbey.--Cheryl Bryan, Orleans, MA
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Bryan, Cheryl. "Ribchester, Lucy. The Hourglass Factory." Xpress Reviews, 11 Mar. 2016. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A449197254/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=51bc4fae. Accessed 24 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A449197254
The Amber Shadows
BY LUCY RIBCHESTER
Find & buy on
During WWII, Honey Deschamps diligently works at an office in Bletchley Circle, transcribing decrypted signals from the German army. The work can be tedious at times, but Honey enjoys solving puzzles. When rumors of loot being stolen from the Amber Room in Leningrad begin circulating the office, Honey doesn’t really pay attention at first. But then she begins receiving mysterious packages in the mail with small pieces of amber tucked inside. As more packages arrive, Honey is reminded of her brother and the stories he would tell to explain the disappearance of their father. She also realizes that the pieces form code. She sets her mind to solving the code and discovering the reason why these pieces are being sent to her. Could the sender be her brother, or her long-lost father? Or the strange man with the dog who hand-delivered the first package? Or is it a test from the Home Office to test her loyalty? The further Honey digs, the more confused she gets, and the more dangerous it becomes.
Suspense, mystery, and intrigue are high in this novel. Ribchester easily transports readers to the past, cleverly hiding clues throughout bits of the story, and creating quite a number of twists and turns throughout. Bletchley Circle comes alive, as do the feelings of fear, distrust, and paranoia of the times. Readers will be kept guessing, and the ending is a surprise. Recommended.
Review: The Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester
ANGIE BARRY
The Amber Shadows by Lucy Ribchester is set during the dangerous days of World War II, where Honey Deschamps—who spends her days transcribing decrypted messages at Bletchley Park—starts to receive bizarrely coded packages. When everyone is keeping secrets, who can you trust?
There were two things that separated the Park estate, that sat along the lane from Bletchley station, from others like it. The first was the eight-foot chain-link fence that surrounded the perimeter, topped by curls of barbed wire. The second was the people.
The Park buzzed like a university campus at most times of day, but it was something else to watch at changeover time, which came every eight hours. Quarter to eight in the morning and a patch of land no bigger than the Buckingham Palace grounds would be transformed into the like of London’s Piccadilly Circus. In each direction, to and fro, close to a thousand people poured past the gates, on foot and bicycle, waving papers at the red-capped staff of the Military Police, spilling out of khaki rusting buses and grey jeeps and the glossy black Rollers requisitioned for the purpose.
You could tell the ones coming off night shift even before they got onto the buses by their faces: brains leeched of energy but still doing the jitterbug overtime. Their clothes would smell of the coke stoves kept inside the Park’s huts. The Wrens—the Women’s Royal Navy Service—could be picked out by their blue uniform, skewed after a night doing whatever furtive and noisy things they did inside the wood walls of Hut 11.
On paper, Honey Deschamps is a typist for the Foreign Office. Her own mother thinks she works in a normal office and does light secretarial work for the war effort. But in truth, Honey works at Bletchley Park: a highly covert place of strict regulations where the brightest minds in England frantically break German and Italian codes in the hope of stopping another bombing, another raid, or another torpedoing.
Honey’s world is one of deadly secrets, where forgetting your identity papers is unthinkable, where you simply do not ask questions of your coworkers, where the slightest bending of the rules could be grounds for termination.
And the superiors aren’t talking euphemistically about the job.
On her first day at the Park, after she had replied to and signed the letter her stepfather had brought home; after she had followed the instructions and taken the train to Bletchley; after she had made the telephone call from the station, waited for the car, sat freezing in the back while it crawled a slow path towards the mansion; after she had paused at the gate while the Military Policeman checked the identity cards of everyone inside, their rifles pressed flat between their bodies and the car doors; after she had stepped out onto the gravel, taken a seat opposite the man in the oak-panelled room who introduced himself as Captain Tiver; after she had taken his expensive pen, tried not to sweat on its enamel octagonal casing, placed her quivering hand so that nib met paper and scratched a leaky signature across the Official Secrets Act; after she had done all that, Tiver had taken a revolver from his desk, thumped it on the wood, and said as calmly as if he was ordering sherry, “If you break the Official Secrets Act, I’ll shoot you myself.”
Which is why Honey is understandably frightened when she begins receiving mysterious packages. Packages from Leningrad, which fell to Hitler’s forces a year ago. Packages that somehow made it past Russian and English censors. Packages containing pieces of amber etched with codes that remind her of stories her brother used to tell her as a child—stories of their missing Russian father who had been the custodian of the Amber Room in Catherine’s Palace…
Honey knows she should report the packages and hand over the coded amber. She should throw it all away so as not to be found with such dangerous evidence. But with each new package, she becomes more determined to decode the message and track down the person sending them.
Could they truly be from her lost father, trying desperately to reconnect, in terrible danger in Nazi-occupied Russia? Is this an elaborate hoax concocted by her dreamer of a brother, a ballet dancer and conscientious objector to the war? Or is this a trap laid by her superiors, testing her loyalty and trustworthiness?
Will this mystery end with a happy reunion, tears—or a firing squad?
“Keeping your head,” Beatrix interrupted, “in a place like this is the only thing that matters. Whatever happens.” She loosened her grip but kept hold of Honey’s hand. “When I think of what the alternative could be. Stitching boys with blown-open faces, standing by during amputations, driving ambulances. I really am grateful to be doing something. Like this.” She stroked Honey’s fingers thoughtfully, one at a time. “No matter what happens, no matter what secrets you have to carry, keep your head.” She drowned the dregs of her tea and stood up.
Honey watched the path of Beatrix’s footsteps back to the counter and heard the scatter of bright conversation she had with the woman behind the till. And she thought for the first time in her life how wretched it was to be a woman. War was ferocious to men. But when it was over the ones left would go back to their lives. For a woman, there would always be pillaged wages, affairs broken off, promises unfulfilled, family shame, babies to be hidden in unmarked graves, in wooden drawers.
The Amber Room is undeniably a war story, rife with vivid historical details and an atmosphere of oppressive death and fear. But it’s more akin to a Hitchcockian psychological thriller than a historical set piece, and this is no accident. Lucy Ribchester heavily doses the ensuing claustrophobia and paranoia with overt references to the British director’s work.
When we first meet Honey, she’s just leaving a showing of Suspicion, and her mind is full of Joan Fontaine and Cary Grant. She’s convinced Grant was an insidious murderer and Fontaine a fool for trusting him in the end. Later, she watches Rebecca and invites the mysterious Felix Plaidstow to see Shadow of a Doubt. The novel even opens with a scene reminiscent of Strangers on a Train.
Honey may think Joan Fontaine a fool in Hitchcock’s thrillers, but by story’s end, it’s clear that she’s following in her character’s footsteps. She, too, finds herself wrapped in a web of trickery, deceit, secrets, and murder, shadowed by a dangerous, mysterious man. And, like the ladies of Hitchcock’s films, Honey is also constantly gaslighted by the people around her.
This is a singularly female thriller. Ribchester paints an unflinchingly honest, gritty picture of what life during the war was for women. There is no starry-eyed romance here between noble soldiers and hardworking women; instead, we see how easily the soldiers could cheat and abandon their wartime sweethearts, how easily a woman could be ruined for “doing her part for the war effort” while the men walked off blemish-free.
The ladies of Bletchley Park are paid less than half of what their male counterparts make despite doing the same work or—in the case of Honey’s friend Moira—doing a better job of it. Constant condescension, casual sexual harassment, and the threat of being sent to a mental asylum for being “uncooperative” permeate the narrative. The climax is all the more terrifying because Honey knows screams for help will go unheeded in this society that so often ignores or unfairly punishes women who dare to stand out.
Ribchester weaves together all of this gender commentary, historical detail, and knuckle-whitening tension into a story that continually loops back on itself, with previous details coming back in big ways to snap the picture into better focus. Honey has a nasty knot of lies, fantasies, and hard truths to untangle by the end.
Which, in true Hitchcock fashion, is a bittersweet and bloody one.
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Angie Barry wrote her thesis on the socio-political commentary in zombie films. Meeting George Romero is high on her bucket list, and she has spent hours putting together her zombie apocalypse survival plan. She also writes horror and fantasy in her spare time and watches far too much Doctor Who. Come find the angie bee at Tumblr.