art by Ileana Hunter. Design by Ash Collins
The Kensington Quartet; Four Charlotte Holmes mysteries set in Europe during the Great War.
London, 1912.
Charlotte Holmes, a brilliant polymath, and her former companion Dr Watan, an Indian doctor, have been estranged for nearly a decade, but a chance encounter leads to a ill-tempered meeting.Annabelle Holmes, elder sister of Charlotte, is getting married but the bridegroom is missing and our heroes must solve the mystery to ensure the wedding goes ahead.
Meanwhile Watan is hired by Baron Zorkin, the Russian agent, to retrieve some valuable items but the investigation repeatedly collides with the priorities of the Holmes siblings.
Charlotte and Branwell must confront dark secrets, their mother's affair with their servant leads to unexpected revelations and the family must re-assess their perceptions of the past.
Durga is feeling restless and is demanding that Branwell, her secret lover, must provide her with a baby. However, his wife Rebecca, is profoundly against the notion, thus Branwell attempts to satisfy all parties by suggesting Watan oblige Durga.
Dark family secrets are revealed and brutal truths confronted in the opening book of the new arc; The Kensington Quartet .
Author's Notes - Spoiler Warning
Picking up after the events of The Whore of Lahore the story finds our heroes desperately isolated, with no contact between the friends since those traumatic events.
The key theme of the story is forgiveness, not just between Charlotte and Watan but also between other members of the family. It's also the introduction of major characters who will become important in the forthcoming books; namely Emily, Lauren and the boys.
This is a mixture of a Holmes story and of Wuthering Heights - taking that as the starting point I was able to construct a narrative which allowed a different take on these established characters & reveal hithertoo unknown issues.
Great fun writing these characters again but also poking at their internal ghosts & ghouls; a very effective restart of their friendship but with added scorn and venom.
Be advised this page contains major spoilers for the previous books.
Enjoy!
