Finished January 16
Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
This novel won the GG for fiction in 2009 and I'd been meaning to read it for a while. It takes place in Victorian England and Egypt and is in the voice of Sally Naldrett, a lady's maid to Lady Duff Gordon. Pullinger was inspired by reading the letters of Lady Duff Gordon and wondering what happened to Sally afterward.
Sally really did work for Lady Duff Gordon and accompanied her abroad on more than one occasion, including her trip to Egypt. Sally had been loyal to "her lady", assisting in treating her illness and doing whatever needed to be done to make her life easier and minimize the awareness of illness by others. In Egypt, Sally was surprised by her own feelings and wouldn't likely have acted as she did if her feelings were not reciprocated.
Pullinger makes Sally come alive here, and I found the voice compelling. Egypt and its social life of the time come alive, as do the local people. Sally shows her development as she comes to realize her lack of real power over her life due to her social situation. As the title indicates, she is really mistress of nothing.
This is a moving and evocative book of a past time.
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