This is an engaging historical thriller written by acclaimed author Jennifer Donnelly, which I enjoyed even more than her previous novels, A Gathering Light and Revolution. Set in 1890s New York, it is obviously very well researched and is brilliantly evocative of the time period. It tells the story of 17-year-old Josephine Montfort who is rich, beautiful and waiting to be married off to a wealthy man. She dreams of being a reporter, a career deemed extremely unsuitable for a young lady of her class but apart from that her life is easy and comfortable until her father is found dead. The police say it was an accident and her uncle suspects suicide but could it be that her father was murdered? Jo is determined to discover the truth at all costs.
The historical detail in this book is incredibly vivid. Being able to picture myself in 1890s New York, a time in history I barely knew anything about, was one of the amazing things about reading this book. From the grimy streets of Mulberry Bend to the austere Darkbriar asylum for the insane to the brightly lit Young Patron’s ball at the museum, Donnelly depicts a range of historical scenes in beautiful prose. Though not actually real people, the characters are also very realistic and at home in the setting.
Unlike in many Young Adult novels, the romance in These Shallow Graves is convincing and well written. Readers will be rooting for Jo and Eddie Gallagher, a young reporter who helps her investigate her father’s death, from the moment they begin to fall in love. It was a bit of a whirlwind romance but I felt like that was explained by Jo’s naivety and it didn’t succumb to many popular clichés and tropes.
While the story does feature a love triangle, it’s a very small part of the book. Jo and Eddie were both well-drawn characters with plenty of flaws and I felt like they complimented each other’s strengths. However, midway through the book, Donnelly reuses a plot point from her previous novel, Revolution, which I found incredibly frustrating. Jo sees Eddie with a pretty young girl and immediately assumes that she must be his girlfriend. Like in Revolution, the girl turns out to be his sister but, by the time Jo finds out, they’re already angry with each other and torn apart by misunderstanding. I thought that this was adding unnecessary drama to an already interesting plot line and very predictable for anyone who had read Revolution. I also feel that it was unlike Jo to make such a quick assumption about Eddie, considering how perceptive she was in making deductions related to her father’s death. After this event, their relationship becomes less credible: Eddie agrees to continue helping Jo with her investigation, even though he supposedly “doesn’t care anymore” and Jo is now engaged to someone else. There isn’t much of a resolution for their relationship at the end of the novel which is rather disappointing since I definitely wanted more of it.
What I loved about the way that this novel discusses gender equality and shows how women of all social classes are slaves to rules and traditions and have little opportunity to express themselves. This becomes a little exaggerated in the scenes where Grandmama, Jo’s fiancé’s grandmother, is discussing girls and marriage (“Fine set of hips on that girl too. She’ll breed as easily as an Ayrshire heifer.”) however it does ultimately show how constrained Jo is by her family’s expectations. Another interesting element is the friendship between Jo and Fay, a pickpocket who is abused by her cruel master. Both are being forced into unhappy situations, Jo into an unwanted marriage and Fay into prostitution and yet their friendship transcends this. The affection they feel for each other is much more than just sympathy for each other’s suffering.
The mystery in this novel will keep readers guessing almost until the end of the book. While I had my suspicions, there are plenty of twists I didn’t see coming. Jo grows so much as a character over the course of the novel and seeing her transition from a naïve girl who can’t believe anything wrong of her family to a daring, determined reporter is fascinating. Nearly all the loose ends of this many-stranded story are nicely tied up at the end of the book and the conclusion is convincing while also satisfying.
I would highly recommend this book for readers aged 13 and up, especially those who have enjoyed Donnelly’s previous books. It’s an original, gripping mystery with a heroine you are unlikely to forget.
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Buy this book at the Guardian Bookshop.
