The Companion

by: Ann Granger

Published by: St. Martin's Minotaur

Reviewed by Jill Stovall

Ann Granger has managed to capture the essence of London in 1864 through the story of 29-year-old Elizabeth Martin, homeless upon the death of her father. He had been the kindly country doctor in the poorest part of the Derbyshire coalfield. Never expecting to die at the young age of 57, he had put nothing away and Lizzie was forced to sell everything to pay off his debts. When Lizzie discovered the state of his affairs, she also discovered what a generous person he had been.

Her memories of her beloved father standing up to the coal mine owners and caring for the children and families had left her with a deep sense of character and strength as well as an eye for justice even for the poor. She had nothing but a little trinket box filled with a few cheap jewels from her poor mother who had died when Elizabeth was only three years old. A little piece of shale with a delicate fossil of a fern impressed upon it was given to her as a good luck charm from a boy named Ben Ross on a night that her father had tried to save one of the little boys that had died from exhaustion in one of the coal tunnels.

Fortunately an opportunity to work for her late godfather’s wife in London comes about. Lizzie has become Aunt Parry’s “ladies companion” through a rather mysterious sequence of events. It seems the previous “companion,” a Miss Madeleine Hexam, had run off without a word of warning, leaving all of her things behind.

Lizzie cannot resist unraveling the mystery, along with the dashing Inspector Benjamin Ross—who just happens to be the young boy who gave her the good luck charm. He had so impressed Elizabeth’s father that a scholarship had been set up to see the young man through school.

I won’t spoil the rest of this delicious mystery. But if you like this book as much as I did you will feel overjoyed to know that Ann Granger has written many more intriguing books.

Armchair Interviews says: Check out some of the other great 20-plus Ann Granger books.