Gaslight
Eloise Williams
Firefly Press
Gaslight is incredibly rich in detail – full of vivid descriptions of a grimy Victorian underworld. You can taste, smell and feel the sooty Cardiff backstreets with every page turn.
The story tells of Nansi, a young girl in constant conflict with villainous theatre owner Sid (a Dickensian fiend and devilishly corrupt master) as she tries to uncover the whereabouts of her mother. It’s a hard life – split between bit parts on the Empire Theatre stage and thieving from rich households, all the time dreaming of being able to find her own identity and free herself from the perilous life she leads.
Whilst the portrait is bleak, the characters zing and sparkle with life – Nansi is bold, feisty and independent; Sid is menacing, evil and intimidating (there was cheering and much jumping on beds when we read of his comeuppance!) This is absolute testimony to the skill of the author: Eloise Williams received a Literature Wales Writer’s Bursary to produce this book and they should be very well pleased “to Barry and back” as they’ve had more than their money’s worth.
The tale is brutal too as descriptions and suggestions of death, incarceration, and ill-treatment are not shirked from; and in the final few pages of Gaslight, as Nansi is poring over a selection of beloved books, the strong female lead declares that children’s books are often censored and made more palatable so the audience will not be scared, and we sense that this may be the author’s voice, standing up for the raw, real and gripping tale that she has produced.
I loved it and heartily recommend to mature readers age 10 and up.