Historical novel a class act

Katherine McMahon. Photo / Supplied

The Crimson Rooms By Katherine McMahon
Weidenfeld & Nicolson, $37.99

It's hardly surprising that this book has zoomed up the New Zealand bestseller lists. Combining costume drama and crime with a spirited heroine and a dash of feminism, it is frightfully good, as they might have said back in 1924.

The story is set in London in the aftermath of World War I as a nation mourns the loss of its bright and beautiful young men.

Evelyn is one of the country's first female lawyers, devoted to her career and well aware that for girls like her there are barely any men left to marry. She lives in the family home with her aunt and mother, all of them crippled by grief at the loss of her beloved younger brother James on the battlefield.

Then late one night the doorbell rings and on the doorstep is a woman who claims she is the mother of James' son and the hitherto rather dull household is thrown into emotional disarray.

At the same time, Evelyn becomes involved in two legal fights. One involves helping a working-class woman whose children have been taken from her. The other is the case of a man charged with murdering his own wife. And then Evelyn meets a handsome lawyer called Nicholas Thorne and despite herself falls madly in love with him.

In the hands of a lesser writer all these plot strands might have been confusing and exhausting. But McMahon spools out her story beautifully, weaving in as she goes themes of social injustice and women's struggle for equal rights. She portrays the various levels of the British class system particularly well: Evelyn's stuffy upper middle-class family, posh bohemians, working-class girls. Even the sketchiest characters are beautifully shaped. And I loved the way Evelyn's female eye for detail picks up clues her male superiors would never have noticed.

If you're a fan of historical fiction and haven't yet discovered McMahon you have a treat in store. Touching and intelligently written, The Crimson Rooms is one of the best examples of the genre I've read in a long time.