Confesiones de una sirvienta

The whole world wanted her to be silent, but she decided to tell her story.

WINNER OF THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD.

«Profound and elegant.»
Margaret Atwood

This novel is the story of a maid accused of murder in 19th century London, but it is also the story of all the women who, throughout many generations, had to fight to find their own voice in a world that did not want to listen to them. Sarah Collins' extraordinary literary debut, awarded the prestigious Costa Prize and praised by authors of the stature of Margaret Atwood, tells us about a woman who, with everything against her, decides to take control of her own story.

Frannie Langton is a mulatto and illegitimate maid, of Jamaican origin, who arrives in London to be delivered, almost as an exotic gift, to a renowned scientist and his wife. The murder of the couple, of which the maid is accused, is a scandal: the newspapers portray her as a monster, despite the fact that she remembers nothing of the night the deaths occurred. It will be her lawyer who asks her to narrate her life, since in that story lies the only possibility of saving herself from the gallows. Is Frannie on time to tell her story? Is she or is she not a murderer?

Critics have said:
«A stunning debut with a truly memorable heroine.»
The Guardian

«A truly addictive novel, whose true power, however, is that it will make you look at your own reality in a new way.»
The Globe and Mail

«A tremendously original first novel.»
The Times

«Hard and powerful.»
The Sunday Times

«A dazzling first novel (...) Collins has written an authentic gothic novel.»
The Guardian

«From Charlotte Brontë to Sarah Waters, Alias Grace and Jean Rhys, The Confessions of Frannie Langton gathers the richest literary influences.»
Observer

«Reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace, a meticulously crafted first novel.»
The Oprah Magazine