(Friday's Forgotten Books, February 25, 2011)
THE FRANCHISE AFFAIRAlthough I love Tey's DAUGHTER OF TIME, in many ways, I consider this a more compelling read.
There is no murder in Tey's THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR (1948). A young girl (15) accuses two women, Marion Sharpe and her mother, Mrs. Sharpe, of kidnapping her, beating her, and holding her prisoner at their house, the Franchise. The girl gives a spot-on description of the attic in which she was supposedly imprisoned.
A lawyer, named Robert Blair, investigates the charges. He' s convinced that the girl is lying. But how to prove it given her knowledge of the house and women.
The story is based on the real life story of Elizabeth Canning, an eighteenth century girl who made a similar charge.
THE FRANCHISE AFFAIR a wonderful novel. The characters are well-developed, the story is engaging, the writing is lovely. We learn a lot about English country life in the mid- twentieth century. It was made into a movie, and twice televised for TV.
5 comments:
I haven't read Tey in a while, Patti. Thanks for the reminder of her work and of this novel.
Tey certainly regarded Canning as a Tawana Brawley-style liar.
I would like the read an account of the real life story. Have to look for it.
Wikipedia has a long article on it, so you could start there.
Somehow missed this post. I had to read this in my first year of high school English, and was bored. So bored I bombed the presentation we were required to give because I was unfocused & did not know what was going on (not sure I even finished reading the book). This, of course, was me at 12 and not the book. I picked up a copy some time ago & plan eventually to read it. Too bad I never kept a copy of the presentation; would be a laugh to read it now after completing the novel.
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