The Betrayal of Cora Wexford - Bethany Joy Lenz
I really enjoyed this debut novel. Set in Victorian London during the Jack the Ripper murders, the story follows Cora Wexford, an American artist who makes a living painting portraits of the deceased. When she meets the charming Miles Vale, she begins a relationship that becomes increasingly troubling. Meanwhile, she is commissioned to paint portraits of women whose deaths have been largely overlooked by society.
Although the Jack the Ripper murders provide the historical backdrop, the story is really about narcissistic abuse. Lenz portrayed these dynamics very well. Having experienced narcissistic abuse myself, I could empathize with Cora as she silenced her instincts. The gradual erosion of her confidence and independence felt very familiar, as did the difficulty of recognizing manipulation when you're in the middle of it.
At times, I found her drive to include modern concepts in a Victorian story a little odd. But perhaps this was intentional. Lenz may be emphasizing just how little certain patterns of abuse have changed over the past century. What may have been the physical violence against women in the streets of Victorian London could be today's psychological abuse taking place within intimate relationships.
In that sense, I wonder whether the anachronisms serve to connect two eras, portraying different forms of the same underlying desire to control and suppress women.
Overall, I loved this book. The historical setting and contemporary relevance of its themes made it particularly interesting to me. A great fiction debut from Bethany Joy Lenz!
In gratitude to Simon and Schuster for the Advance Readers Copy.
