He remembered placing her body in his car before he went for help. Bridger said that he had accidentally hit Jones with his car. However, he claimed that it was an accident. Jones went into Bridger’s car, and she was never seen again.īridger was arrested the next day. He stumbled upon five-year-old April Jones. After he had spent a typical evening drinking in 2012, he drove around to find a young girl. There is indeed a somewhat satisfactory resolution, but storm clouds are foreshadowed.Mark Bridger spent his days drinking, watching pornographic videos, and looking at indecent images of children. Numerous twists and turns engage the reader and offer insight into the lives of Londoners of the time. Cay embraces the linguistic oddities of the period and highlights specific words and terms to emphasize reality: bosky, chit, doxy, kinchin, nugging-house, pugilist, and whapper, along with a plethora of other past and lost linguistic curiosities that add an authentic tone to many descriptions. Life is hard for those not of the social elite, and everyday trials and tribulations are explored, often in exquisite detail. Her dialogue is crisp and pointed and not overly complicated.

The author provides an enthralling story that illustrates life in Regency London.

This is not a simple “who-done-it” rather, the author twists a complex and layered narrative with a host of supporting individuals often struggling on the fringe of contemporary society.ĭrawn together, both Bess and Os are searching for personal resolution to a basic human need: Os desires to find his long-lost mother in a teeming London, while Bess questions her very existence and what might the future hold for a woman such as herself. The reader follows the adventures of a blacksmith named Os Worley (noted to be a “person of color”) along with notable champion female boxer Bess Abbott. Following upon her successful initial novel, A Lady’s Revenge, this tale centers on two “misfit” characters who-much like fighters in a ring-are bobbing, grappling, and weaving to arrive at a satisfactory outcome. Yet, one of the protagonists of Edie Cay’s second of a planned trilogy is exactly that. “The best lady boxer in London” is an odd accolade to see in Regency-era England (1811-1820). The Boxer and the Blacksmith (When the Blood Is Up)

The Blacksmith by Barbara Howe