As she sits in her Bloomsbury home, with her two birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter sets out to relate the story of her acquaintance, nearly four decades previously, with Ned Gillespie, a talented artist who never achieved the fame she maintains he deserved. Back in 1888, the young, art-loving Harriet arrives in Glasgow at the time of the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in all of their lives. But when tragedy strikes - leading to a notorious criminal trial - the promise and certainties of this world all too rapidly disintegrate into mystery and deception...
Gillespie and I
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"To say anything more would be to give away the plot, which is too delectable to spoil."--Washington Post
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From the Back Cover
From the award-winning author of The Observations comes a beautifully conjured and wickedly sharp tale of art and deception in nineteenth-century Scotland.
As she sits in her Bloomsbury home with her two pet birds for company, elderly Harriet Baxter recounts the story of her friendship with Ned Gillespie—a talented artist whose life came to a tragic end before he ever achieved the fame and recognition that Harriet maintains he deserved.
In 1888, young Harriet arrives in Glasgow during the International Exhibition. After a chance encounter with Ned, she befriends the Gillespie family and soon becomes a fixture in their lives. But when tragedy strikes, culminating in a notorious criminal trial, the certainty of Harriet’s new world rapidly spirals into suspicion and despair.
Infused with rich period detail, shot through with sly humor, and featuring a memorable cast of characters, Gillespie and I is an absorbing, atmospheric tale of one young woman’s friendship with a volatile artist and her place in the controversy that consumes him—a tour de force from one of the emerging names of modern fiction.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
ISBN: 978-0-06-210320-8
Harper Collins
Published: February 2012
Trade Paperback, 528 pages
As the book opens it is 1933 London, England and elderly Harriet Baxter begins to record the story of her friendship, 40 years earlier, with the Scottish artist Ned Gillespie.
This is historical fiction set against the backdrop of the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888 and the art scene of the day. Thirty-six-year old Harriet Baxter arrives in Glasgow for the Exhibition. She soon meets and becomes fast friends with Ned Gillespie and his unusual family in a very intrusive way as she not only accompanies them on outings, but also does housework and laundry for them (what?) and is forever giving them gifts. Throughout the first few chapters of the book there are hints of things to come as Harriet says "if only we had known then what the future held in store" and "due to everything that happened" and "given what happened." There are a lot of references to Sybil, one of Ned's two young daughters. Her wild, uncontrollable, destructive actions led me to think that she is somehow going to figure into the mystery that is very slowly developing and that only really begins in chapter 11. I wasn't wrong. Sybil figures very largely in this tale. Suddenly her sister, Rose, is abducted, a ransom note arrives and mysteriously, Harriet is implicated and arrested. The household is turned into chaos. Sybil is put into an asylum. Life changes forever for the Gillespie family and Harriet.
Apart from 3-year-old Rose, none of the characters are very likeable. I didn't care for Harriet, despite her being quite funny and witty. I saw her as a manipulative, sad, hanger-on. Her unrequited love for married Ned she describes 40 years later as "eternal, aching sadness about Ned Gillespie"!! Her life has been about regret and unfulfilled dreams.
While there was no artist named Ned Gillespie, several other real-life Scottish artists are mentioned and the writing is done in such a way that the reader is transported to the late 1800's. The book is very atmospheric as the author describes the fog-shrouded streets of Glasgow, the narrow and smelly staircases in the old apartment buildings, the accents of the people, and the Victorian view of women.
The story alternates between events in 1888 and those of Harriet's life in 1933. In 1933 Harriet is living a quiet life in Bloomsbury tending her pet finches. However, she is preoccupied with Sarah, her companion and helper who lends a mysterious, brooding atmosphere to the story. I wondered, "Why introduce a new character at the end of the story?" Then I began to put the pieces together and I recognized her.
Themes such as family dynamics, loss, grief, deception and mystery are explored in the novel. Don't expect a fairytale ending.
ISBN: 978-0-06-210320-8
Harper Collins
Published: February 2012
Trade Paperback, 528 pages
As the book opens it is 1933 London, England and elderly Harriet Baxter begins to record the story of her friendship, 40 years earlier, with the Scottish artist Ned Gillespie.
This is historical fiction set against the backdrop of the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888 and the art scene of the day. Thirty-six-year old Harriet Baxter arrives in Glasgow for the Exhibition. She soon meets and becomes fast friends with Ned Gillespie and his unusual family in a very intrusive way as she not only accompanies them on outings, but also does housework and laundry for them (what?) and is forever giving them gifts. Throughout the first few chapters of the book there are hints of things to come as Harriet says "if only we had known then what the future held in store" and "due to everything that happened" and "given what happened." There are a lot of references to Sybil, one of Ned's two young daughters. Her wild, uncontrollable, destructive actions led me to think that she is somehow going to figure into the mystery that is very slowly developing and that only really begins in chapter 11. I wasn't wrong. Sybil figures very largely in this tale. Suddenly her sister, Rose, is abducted, a ransom note arrives and mysteriously, Harriet is implicated and arrested. The household is turned into chaos. Sybil is put into an asylum. Life changes forever for the Gillespie family and Harriet.
Apart from 3-year-old Rose, none of the characters are very likeable. I didn't care for Harriet, despite her being quite funny and witty. I saw her as a manipulative, sad, hanger-on. Her unrequited love for married Ned she describes 40 years later as "eternal, aching sadness about Ned Gillespie"!! Her life has been about regret and unfulfilled dreams.
While there was no artist named Ned Gillespie, several other real-life Scottish artists are mentioned and the writing is done in such a way that the reader is transported to the late 1800's. The book is very atmospheric as the author describes the fog-shrouded streets of Glasgow, the narrow and smelly staircases in the old apartment buildings, the accents of the people, and the Victorian view of women.
The story alternates between events in 1888 and those of Harriet's life in 1933. In 1933 Harriet is living a quiet life in Bloomsbury tending her pet finches. However, she is preoccupied with Sarah, her companion and helper who lends a mysterious, brooding atmosphere to the story. I wondered, "Why introduce a new character at the end of the story?" Then I began to put the pieces together and I recognized her.
Themes such as family dynamics, loss, grief, deception and mystery are explored in the novel. Don't expect a fairytale ending.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars
15 reviews
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful novel
Oct 30 2011
By Bham
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Jane Harris's first novel, "The Observations," was a brilliant piece of writing -- funny, tender, and full of twists and turns. So I had been looking forward to her next novel with much anticipation, and I wasn't disappointed. "Gillespie and I" is just as original and inventive, with plenty of surprises. In fact, as soon as I finished it, I was tempted to re-read it. The action in "Gillespie and I" moves back and forth between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, and the link is the main character, Harriet. I won't say more, as I don't want to give away any of the novel's secrets, but it is definitely one of the best books I've read this year.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Compelling book
Feb 7 2012
By P. Woodland
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Where do I start? This is a very hard book to review; it was fantastic, don't get me wrong. In fact one of the best books I've read - but to explain why is to give away too much. Ms. Harris is brilliant. She has created a heroine that is so multifaceted you run the gamut of emotions from like to out and out hate and back again before you are done with the book. Just who IS Harriet Baxter?
Harriet, at the start of the book is a young woman who has lost her mother and has just buried her aunt. She is of independent means and so she decides to go to Glasgow for the great International Exhibition that is being held. While there she saves the life of Elsbeth Gillespie and ingratiates herself into the family. To what end?
The book is Harriet's memoir as she writes in her dotage. She is "to set the record straight" about her time with "the artist Gillespie." But one wonders about her ability to discern the absolute truth from the Harriet truth. The story is told in a well constructed flashback/flashforward style that forces you to piece snippets of information together like a jigsaw puzzle. Never have I enjoyed a book more. Never have I puzzled over a book more. Never have I wondered at the sanity of a heroine more. And I am still thinking about her and I finished the book over a week ago. This book has serious pull. Oh, I will read it again and I suspect that I will find all manner of things I missed as I flew through it the first time.
Do not miss the chance to acquaint yourself with Ms. Harriet Baxter. You won't be disappointed. Her times are fascinating, her story is thrilling and her life a conundrum. All manner of praise to Jane Harris for creating a character so complex and a story so rich in detail and human drama.
Harriet, at the start of the book is a young woman who has lost her mother and has just buried her aunt. She is of independent means and so she decides to go to Glasgow for the great International Exhibition that is being held. While there she saves the life of Elsbeth Gillespie and ingratiates herself into the family. To what end?
The book is Harriet's memoir as she writes in her dotage. She is "to set the record straight" about her time with "the artist Gillespie." But one wonders about her ability to discern the absolute truth from the Harriet truth. The story is told in a well constructed flashback/flashforward style that forces you to piece snippets of information together like a jigsaw puzzle. Never have I enjoyed a book more. Never have I puzzled over a book more. Never have I wondered at the sanity of a heroine more. And I am still thinking about her and I finished the book over a week ago. This book has serious pull. Oh, I will read it again and I suspect that I will find all manner of things I missed as I flew through it the first time.
Do not miss the chance to acquaint yourself with Ms. Harriet Baxter. You won't be disappointed. Her times are fascinating, her story is thrilling and her life a conundrum. All manner of praise to Jane Harris for creating a character so complex and a story so rich in detail and human drama.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant Victorian novel with a superbly unreliable narrator
April 23 2012
By Darryl R. Morris
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Harriet Baxter is an 80 year old woman living alone in Bloomsbury in 1933. As she nears the end of her life, and while she possesses a full mental capacity, she decides to write a memoir about Ned Gillespie, a brilliant Glaswegian painter who never achieved the fame he deserved.
Harriet is a single and outspoken woman of good taste and independent means in her mid-30s, who travels from London to Glasgow to attend the 1888 International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry. She is introduced to Ned after she has a remarkable encounter with his mother Elspeth and wife Annie, and she recognizes him from an art exhibition in London held several years previously. The two women befriend Harriet, who integrates herself into the lives of the Gillespie family, including their younger daughter Rose and her older, troubled sister Sibyl, along with Ned's overbearing mother and his secretive brother.
Harriet decides to lengthen her stay in Glasgow, as she becomes a somewhat awkward yet appreciated fixture in the Gillespie household. Sibyl exhibits increasingly strange and disturbing behavior, which strains the marriage and Annie's relationship with Elspeth, and culminates in a shocking crime that devastates the Gillespies and their new friend.
The novel shifts between 1888 Glasgow and 1933 London, as Harriet tells her side of the events that surrounded the crime and its notorious trial and aftermath, in order to set the record straight. The action and tension build in both settings, as Harriet proves to be an increasingly unreliable narrator, which left this reader fascinated and on the edge of his seat until the final page.
"Gillespie and I" is a devastating and brilliant accomplishment, with a deliciously unreliable narrator, superb and compelling characters, and a highly captivating story that ranks amongst the most enjoyable novels I've ever read. As other readers have mentioned, I wanted to start it again from the beginning immediately after I finished it, and its characters will remain with me for a long time to come.
Harriet is a single and outspoken woman of good taste and independent means in her mid-30s, who travels from London to Glasgow to attend the 1888 International Exhibition of Science, Art and Industry. She is introduced to Ned after she has a remarkable encounter with his mother Elspeth and wife Annie, and she recognizes him from an art exhibition in London held several years previously. The two women befriend Harriet, who integrates herself into the lives of the Gillespie family, including their younger daughter Rose and her older, troubled sister Sibyl, along with Ned's overbearing mother and his secretive brother.
Harriet decides to lengthen her stay in Glasgow, as she becomes a somewhat awkward yet appreciated fixture in the Gillespie household. Sibyl exhibits increasingly strange and disturbing behavior, which strains the marriage and Annie's relationship with Elspeth, and culminates in a shocking crime that devastates the Gillespies and their new friend.
The novel shifts between 1888 Glasgow and 1933 London, as Harriet tells her side of the events that surrounded the crime and its notorious trial and aftermath, in order to set the record straight. The action and tension build in both settings, as Harriet proves to be an increasingly unreliable narrator, which left this reader fascinated and on the edge of his seat until the final page.
"Gillespie and I" is a devastating and brilliant accomplishment, with a deliciously unreliable narrator, superb and compelling characters, and a highly captivating story that ranks amongst the most enjoyable novels I've ever read. As other readers have mentioned, I wanted to start it again from the beginning immediately after I finished it, and its characters will remain with me for a long time to come.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 15 reviews
4.3 out of 5 stars
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