Forgiveness- A SENSATION NOVEL by
SIMON HOBBS
The life and murder of Bessie Caroline Goodwin
It is 1863. Elizabeth 'Bessie' Goodwin, a young woman of conscience and spirit, lives with her manipulative grandfather, Captain Francis Goodwin, at Wigwell Grange, near Wirksworth in Derbyshire.
In August of that year she is brutally murdered by George Townley, to whom she had previously been betrothed, when he discovers that she is now in love with someone else- a young clergyman. Bessie refuses to disclose the identity of her new lover to George.
After he has stabbed Bessie, and given himself up, George asserts, to general incredulity, that his actions are morally justified. Samuel Leech, a small-time Derby solicitor, takes on the thankless task of representing George in court. However, this turns out to have unexpected personal consequences for the lawyer as well as for his client.
About SIMON
Simon was once a public sector lawyer. ‘Forgiveness' is his debut novel. It was prompted by the chance discovery of a scrapbook about the murder assembled in 1865 by an unnamed but concerned Derby resident. His book blurs the boundaries between fact and fiction- the story makes extensive use of contemporary source material but other apparently genuine historical material is, in fact, made up.
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THE author Comments
Chapter 1- A betrothal
The book begins with menace.
We learn that Captain Goodwin had bought his granddaughter, Bessie, a scarlet velvet chaise longue for her birthday last year, The gift seems very generous , overly so, but we are immediately told that, in his opinion, it has never really fitted in to the austerity of his library- just as Bessie has never really fitted in to Wigwell Grange. None of his carefully curated volumes appeal to Bessie even if some of them are about natural phenomenon and she is a nature girl through and through.
We are then transported into Bessie's natural world where green weeds imitate a girl's hair stroked by a breeze- its as if Bessie's hair that is being stroked. But here again there is menace - a change in the weather brings with it an overt sexual threat. But Bessie is less threatened than fascinated by the river's augmented power and gets as close to the torrent as she dares.
Bessie, it is clear, has a modern sensibility- she rails against the gouging out of the hills to mine their resources and aligns herself with the town’s old dwellings hugging each other for safety and, maybe, out of community spirit.
We are taken to the present, April 1863 present that is. Bessie is making her way down to town, for what reason we do not know. But the intrusion of a dagger like church spire does not bode well .She physically pauses for thought as she proceeds down the hill. She meets her friend Reuben but ignores him. Only later do we find out he is from an inferior social class and so him being snubbed like this takes on extra pain.
At the vicarage she unavoidably encounters Mrs Turner, the housekeeper. It is not a meeting of minds. We are unsure of the cause of Mrs Turner' s passive aggression but suspect it may be that she has unrequited feelings for Her Reverend. Her youthful appearance may have helped her to think, mistakenly, she has prospects as far as he is concerned. Bessie finds the Reverend with his head in a book. This is not unusual. We are not told what the book is but we can assume it is very different to the tomes favoured by Goodwin.
On the instructions of the Reverend Mrs T reluctantly goes off to make tea. Bessie has a favourite worn armchair and quickly claims it. The Reverend perches, being like a heron, on a rattan chair whilst Bessie looks for familiar objects to calm herself- no easy task in such a puritanical setting.
Bessie's reference to the Gisborne book is echoed in the frontispiece of Forgiveness also taken from the same book . Her reference to her grandfather's misogyny scarcely comes as a surprise to us even at this early stage.
Robert and Bessie's subsequent violent misunderstanding is perhaps inevitable given their very different world views. in the process Bessie berates Providence. As we will see she will soon have good reason to do so. Robert's reference to the ministering gentlewomen is not only to Bessie but also to subsequent events...
Chapter 2- A Challenge
We are thrust forward in time to an apparently unrelated correspondence between lawyer father Samuel and newly minted lawyer son Frederick.
This is to be the form of each alternate chapter for most of the novel. Only at the end of the book do we hear directly from Fred. Otherwise the reader is left to deduce the son's reactions from his father's comments.
Fred is keen to secure Samuel's papers relating to 'the Townley case' that he was involved in but Samuel is noticeably less keen to share them.
There are, however, confessions to be made by the father to the son even in this early stage of their correspondence.
Firstly Samuel has assembled a secret stash of papers relating to 'the Townley case'. He denies there is any ego involved but we cannot be sure about that at this stage.
Secondly, and more personally, he confesses to being a worrier by nature.
According to Francis O'Gorman 'Worrying a Social and Cultural History ( Bloomsbury 2015) worrying as we know it did not really get underway in literature until Trollope's The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867). I have located it somewhat earlier for example in Trollope's 'The Warden' ( 1855) and have justified this reference in the chapter, though the novel itself is not named.
Even so Samuel is undoubtedly a early adopter of the art of worrying. It was prompted by his father's early death and Samuel's consequent loss of faith. He no longer has any faith in Providence. This aligns him with Bessie in so far as she has no time for Providence either.
The chapter ends with his unexpected instruction on the case which we now learn is a murder case and to Samuel's confession that there is much foolishness to come from his actions and omissions in defending the case. The quote comes from Alexander Pope's 'An Essay on Criticism (1711).'
It seems curious that a good lawyer as Samuel avowedly is ( and we have no reason to doubt him), has been a victim of his own recklessness and we perhaps think he must be overstating his personal culpability.
Chapter 3
A Betrothal Revisited
We are back with Bessie as she reacts to her dressing down by the Revd Harris.
She records her frustrations in her 'diary' - it has to be a significant event for her to do so as she is not a habitual diarist. She apparently has nobody close to hand to share her distress with. Even her inanimate mermaids are unable to console her.
She then locates a letter from the previous summer from George, whom we have now gathered she is, or was, betrothed to. The controlling nature of George's over blown letter is clear to us and it seems to Bessie too now, even though it was not at the time. The letter seems lacking in any real emotion- it is almost a performance piece and the French flourishes it contains, that we will see George is prone to, only add to this impression.
She meekly agrees to her photograph being taken but then rails against the resultant picture. The background of rolling hills and wooded valleys she would like to have been photographed against has more than a whiff of Thomas Gainsborough's 'Mr and Mrs Andrews' 1750, which,appropriately, apparently celebrates an inheritance rather than a marriage!
Bessie is summoned by her grandfather's special bell before she can consult other entries in the diary and therefore as a reader we are left in suspense as to what their content may have been.
This special bell is the epitome of control.
That Bessie has at least two controlling men in her life now seems incontrovertible. The grandfather's absurdly over generous and inappropriate birthday present referred to in the opening line of the book can be seen as another expression of his control, as can his active disapproval of women reading in Chapter 2. Captain Goodwin seems at this stage to have few, if any, redeeming features.
Chapter 4
A Murder
We get a greater sense here as to just how uncomfortable Samuel is about spilling the beans about the Townley case to Frederick. Why we know not.
He tries to appeal to his son's better nature by describing how he was unwillingly plucked from obscurity on to the floor of the House of Commons and the tender mercies of the Home Secretary. But we get the impression that Frederick is unimpressed and is not to be deflected in his mission to unearth the true story of the Townley case. We too are keen to know what Samuel knows and so our sympathies with him are also limited.
The Chapter contains the only extant description of Samuel when he catches sight of himself in the mirror. It is far from flattering. Many of us have been there.
George's appearance at the inquest does not lack drama especially when the possibility of the mysterious clergyman being identified appears briefly in play. But it is the discussion afterwards, or rather the legal lecture George favours Samuel with, that is more revealing. George seems impervious to the fact that both the lecture and his characterisation of his legal representation ( i.e. Samuel) as second rate cannot fail to irritate the latter. As Samuel's footnote reveals it does indeed get under his skin.
Samuel is underwhelmed by George's 'hard luck' story and wonders if his sense of duty will be enough to see him through. In fact his professional ethics are to come under pressure in ways that Samuel cannot presently imagine.
THE ROAD TO BEDLAM
This cartoon lampooning the principal characters in the Townley scandal was produced and circulated locally in 1864 – Ye Pilgrimage to Bedlam is inscribed with humble apologies to the shade of Chaucer. The cartoon cost one shilling, or two shillings for the coloured version. The full size cartoon can also be viewed at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Ye_Pilgrimage_to_Bedlam._1864_%28BM_1868%2C0808.13091%29.jpg
The drawing, a copy of which is held in the British Museum, depicts a procession of donkey-riders proceeding from Derby to Bedlam – the direction they need to travel is signposted as right to left across the page. The distance alone would make for a demanding journey. The cast includes some identifiable personages.
From left to right we have:
Ye Home Secretaire
This is Sir George Grey, 2nd Baronet, PC.
He is depicted carrying a set of bagpipes bearing reference to a previously obscure Act of Parliament – 3 and 4 Victoria. Perhaps the bagpipes are a suggestion that he is prone to blowing his own trumpet?
Ye Cute Attornie
Samuel. He is shown with much exaggerated burnsides and an unflattering cap. He has, over both shoulders, a bag marked ‘costs’. It might have as well have been labelled ‘loot’ or ‘swag’ – since it was, without question, designed to provoke feelings of disgust towards him.
Ye Barristers
All shamelessly counting coin out from a bag of money. One is Macaulay The other has an obviously, and apparently permanently, furrowed brow.
Ye Magistrates
A portly group of three gentleman. One struggles with an oversize mace and chain – and a grim look on his face. This is the then Mayor of Derby one assumes. Another lawyer, for his sins.
Ye Justice
And so it goes on until, last of all, we see Justice herself.
Justice is the only female figure shown. She stands alone to one side facing forwards but wearing a blindfold and wringing her hands in despair. Despite her youth and physical attractiveness she is shown as a desperately sad figure, isolated and forlorn. She is, apparently, unable to find anyone interested in pleading her case, despite the phalanx of lawyers who are present. Samuel would have found this depiction very hurtful.