My name is Althea Talbot and I am the Earl of Montfort’s middle daughter. Since 1914, when war broke out, we live in the country all the time now. So what does an independent and resourceful girl like me do at home when half of the world is at war?
Apparently Germany thinks its best chance of victory lies in starving us into surrender! Their U-Boat blockade has made it really difficult for American and Canadian ships to bring us grain and beef, so Britain has to grow its own food. We are such a tiny little island with many mouths to feed, and there is a terrible labor shortage with all our men off fighting, so the government started this program called the Women’s Land Army. And I run our local chapter of forty-two young women and we all work for our local farmers.
I’m up at daybreak which comes early in August –about five o’clock. I dress in my uniform which is pretty stylish: whipcord riding breeches –my mother had a fit when she first saw me in them, a white shirt and a really pretty green tie with the WLA emblem of a wheatsheaf. Of course all this is modestly covered up by a knee-length tunic –things haven’t changed that much! I make myself a quick toast and bacon sandwich in the dining room before I drive off to the first farm. Oh, by the way, my father gave me a little motor car so I can get about easily. It’s pure heaven driving my own car!
The biggest problem with helping farmers get their harvest in on time is actually the farmers! You have no idea how stubborn they can be. First of all they hated the idea of girls doing men’s jobs. Then they made a huge fuss because most of my girls are from the city. “No townie is going to work on my farm,” was all I heard for weeks. So unfair because my land girls are really good at what they do. The only problem is that they find living in the country boring, and I have my work cut out keeping up morale. I organize picnic lunches and there is the river to swim in. A couple of times a week when the day is done we get together in one of the barns for a sing-a-long and sometimes a dance or two. They are a lively bunch and come from all over England. If there is one good thing about this war it has certainly made us a lot less narrow-minded. I would never have had the opportunity to make friends with girls from different backgrounds before the war.
It’s been a terrifically hot summer so this year’s harvest is huge. My job isn’t just about organizing help. I have to manage how we bring in the harvest too. There is a shortage of horses ever since they were rounded up to go to war in France and these new tractors can be unreliable so I had to learn how to fix them. In between coaxing farmers to break with tradition, training girls on how to use a scythe (that was a bit worrying, but most of them are really good at it now), I had to learn about first aid: wasp stings, cuts and bruises, blistered hands and heels, aching backs and sun-burn –the list is endless.
Of course my mother worries about me driving about the countryside without a chaperone, but she worries about everything. She has a lot on her plate these days too, since she turned Haversham Hall into a hospital for shell shocked officers. Of course Mrs. Jackson runs it for her because she is so good at that sort of thing. But you wouldn’t believe how many complaints there were when the hospital opened. I mean I was a bit skeptical too until I met the patients, but they are such nice boys, and you can tell they have been through a lot. Anyway, they have come to our hospital to recover so they can go back to the front-line in France, and one of the things that restores them to normal is doing ordinary, everyday work. It’s called ‘cure through function’. So they help us with the harvest, which makes it so much more fun for all of us. Of course Mama worries about that too. She shouldn’t really because Lieutenant Carmichael is one of the kindest, sweetest men –and he is so handsome!
Unfortunately, the other day one of the patients was found lying face down in the kitchen garden with his head bashed in which is really worrying, as the War Office might decide to close down the hospital. That’s why my brother, Harry, and I have decided that we must do all we can to help Mama and Mrs. Jackson get to the bottom of what is actually going on at the hospital.
You can read more about Lady Althea Talbot in Death Of An Unsung Hero, the fourth book in the “Lady Montfort” mystery series. The first book in the series is Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman.
Lady Montfort has been planning her annual summer costume ball for months, and with scrupulous care. Pulling together the food, flowers and a thousand other details for one of the most significant social occasions of the year is her happily accepted responsibility. But when her husband’s degenerate nephew is found murdered, it’s more than the ball that is ruined. In fact, Lady Montfort fears that the official police enquiry, driven by petty snobbery and class prejudice, is pointing towards her son as a potential suspect.
Taking matters into her own hands, the rather over-imaginative countess enlists the help of her pragmatic housekeeper, Mrs. Jackson, to investigate the case, track down the women that vanished the night of the murder, and clear her son’s name. As the two women search for a runaway housemaid and a headstrong young woman, they unearth the hidden lives of Lady Montfort’s close friends, servants and family and discover the identity of a murderer hiding in plain sight.
In this enchanting debut sure to appeal to fans of Downton Abbey, Tessa Arlen draws readers into a world exclusively enjoyed by the rich, privileged classes and suffered by the men and women who serve them. Death of a Dishonorable Gentleman is an elegant mystery filled with intriguing characters and fascinating descriptions of Edwardian life—a superb treat for those who love British novels.
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About the author
Tessa Arlen is the author of the Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson mystery series. She has recently moved from the rainy Northwest to the vast blue skies of New Mexico with her husband and her two corgis –one of which is on the cover of her fourth book in the series Death Of An Unsung Hero.
All comments are welcomed.