But the more I read, the more I got used to the style. This conflict drives the course of the novel, causing Bessy to make a mistake that she will regret.Īdmittedly, it took about a chapter or so for me to really get into this book Bessy’s way of speaking is a little confusing at first. The toilet humor of this novel might scare some readers off, though, but I thought that was one of the things that kept this book funny.īessy’s attitude towards her mistress is two-sided: on one hand, she feels affection towards Arabella, who she tries with all of her might to please on the other, she bears a deep-seated grudge for her for the things she says about Bessy in her book. Her personality fairly leaps off the page, and her witty, irreverent, brutally honest (and sometimes coarse) observations are entertaining, to say the least. But she’s one of the most engaging heroines I’ve come across in a long time. Without Bessy, this novel might be your typical Victorian ghost story. Later, Bessy discovers a book that Arabella is writing, called The Observations, and begins to wonder what really happened to the maid before her. Keeping a journal to record the increasingly unusual duties requested of her by her beautiful mistress, nineteenth-century Edinburgh scullery maid Bessy. Arabella is a strange mistress, who has her maid-of-all-work keep a diary of her day-to-day activities.

Set in the 1860s in “Scratchland,” (aka Scotland), the story follows young Bessy Buckley as she obtains employment (honest, this time) with “the missus,” Arabella Reid, at Castle Haivers, which isn’t really a castle at all. The Observations is only the fourth book I’ve completed this year, but I can already tell that it’s going to be one of my favorites for 2009.

The Observations by Jane Harris