Narrated by John Lee and Cassandra Campbell.Audiobook published by Blackstone Audio, 2008.
Formats available: print, ebook, MP3 audiobook, CD audiobook.
Story:
Reading:
This book is unique and very hard to put a label on. Blindspot is an unusual love story. It's an historical romantic comedy, but it is also a mystery. Picture Boston, 1764. It's just before the revolution and there's a lot of political tension between the separatists and the loyalists. There is also a great deal of angst and debate about slavery going on. Amidst the political and social intrigue we find two characters who are both present to, and yet separate from, the happenings around them. Stewart Jameson, a Scottish portrait painter has fled his home and come to Boston to escape his debts. Fanny Easton, daughter of a wealthy Bostonian judge, is disowned by her father after having an affair with her brother's tutor. Jameson and Fanny meet when Fanny disguises herself as a boy (called Francis Weston) and becomes Jamie's apprentice.
Fanny (as Weston) soon falls in love with her master and Jamie is equally besotted by Weston. They spend their days painting together the portraits of colonial political figures and their love remains hidden, to themselves if not the reader. Into this love affair that isn't (yet) steps Dr. Ignatius Alexander. Dr. Alexander is an escaped slave and friend of Jamie's. His arrival takes place just before the murder of Samuel Bradstreet, the most important political figure of the day (and an abolitionist). When two of Bradstreet's slaves are convicted of his murder, Jamie, Weston, and Dr. Alexander decide to investigate the murder in hopes of exonerating them.
The story is told in the voices of Fanny and Jamie and the two narrators, John Lee and Cassandra Campbell, capture them beautifully. Lee does credit to Jamie's sarcastic Scottish brogue and Campbell portrays both the silly romantic yet determined Fanny Easton and the witty sly self-aware Francis Weston equally well.
I enjoyed this book very much. It is one of those books for which the audio really enriches the experience of the novel. One complaint: it's longer than it needs to be and the story slows to a crawl towards the end. Just when I thought it should be wrapping up nicely (the murderer revealed, Alexander freed, and Fanny and Jamie living happily ever after) I looked at the play list and saw there were 3 HOURS left to listen to. That being said, the fact that I did listen to the end means that I enjoyed the book enough to not give up on it. Very much recommended.
