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BONUS: This edition contains a Blindspot discussion guide.
Stewart Jameson, a Scottish portrait painter fleeing his debtors in Edinburgh, has washed up on the British Empire's far shores—in the city of Boston, lately seized with the spirit of liberty. Eager to begin anew, he advertises for an apprentice, but the lad who comes knocking is no lad at all. Fanny Easton is a fallen woman from Boston's most prominent family who has disguised herself as a boy to become Jameson's defiant and seductive apprentice.
Written with wit and exuberance by accomplished historians, Blindspot is an affectionate send-up of the best of eighteenth-century fiction. It celebrates the art of the Enlightenment and the passion of the American Revolution by telling stories of ordinary people caught up in an extraordinary time.
Stewart Jameson, a Scottish portrait painter fleeing his debtors in Edinburgh, has washed up on the British Empire's far shores—in the city of Boston, lately seized with the spirit of liberty. Eager to begin anew, he advertises for an apprentice, but the lad who comes knocking is no lad at all. Fanny Easton is a fallen woman from Boston's most prominent family who has disguised herself as a boy to become Jameson's defiant and seductive apprentice.
Written with wit and exuberance by accomplished historians, Blindspot is an affectionate send-up of the best of eighteenth-century fiction. It celebrates the art of the Enlightenment and the passion of the American Revolution by telling stories of ordinary people caught up in an extraordinary time.
13 Reviews
3.0
2lisa4
Created almost 2 years agoShare
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Chelsea Hardwick
Created almost 2 years agoShare
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“I read this book years ago before Goodreads. Well... I read MOST of this book years ago. Part of why I gave the book three stars is because of the uneven focus. We have two epistolary voices (male and female, both written by women) sure. But we also have a bawdy romance worthy of Shakespeare-level crude wordplay, a mystery woven around the injustice of slavery AND the beginnings of the American Revolution with the Hens/Friends of Liberty. It's a lot. The writing style relies heavily on period-specific style of speech (ie. Long-winded with Ancient Greek & Roman references) and humor.
I will give a lot of credit to the distinct voices. Jamie Stewart, our Scottish painter, is written full of passion and generous optimism. He is content with bisexual leanings in a time when homosexuality was illegal, but dalliances with men were often seen as an extension of brotherhood. We've got a heavy dose of "Twelfth Night" here, which is fun.
And with "Twelfth Night," we come to Fanny Easton/Francis Weston. Not super clever, as Doctor Alexander points out, but easier for her to remember. Her side of the story starts as letters to a childhood friend but eventually switches to a journal, as the romance heats up. I did enjoy this discussion on women's restrictions in the 18th century, alongside cries for freedom from tyranny. Fanny has a more measured take on events from a place of melancholy and hurt. Her story goes a little off the rails at the end.
While the romance of our would-be lovers could fill a book on their own (fewer than this one's 500 pages), we are weighed down with multiple levels of mystery, blackmail, and building political intrigue.
Yes, the discussions of burgeoning Patriots are important. Yes, slavery is incredibly horrible and should be decried. Yes, Doctor Alexander (and his real life inspiration) is a fascinating and sad story. But it all gets muddled and lost between the painting and various hidden identities and family issues and debtors and, of course, romance.
I would read this as just a story of a Scot that came to America, reunited with his genius Black friend after he escaped from slavery, and together they help the American Revolution begin. Great story! Give the romance its own separate book.”
Del Williams
Created over 2 years agoShare
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Mjeans
Created over 3 years agoShare
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“An intriguing dual perspective historical fiction novel in which a fallen woman decides to cross dress as a boy to learn the trade of face painting from a newly moved-to-Boston artist named Stewart Jameson. The plot thickens as Jameson comes to love his apprentice, Francis Weston (aka Fannie Easton) and his missing companion, Ignatius Alexander reappears. The three of them solve a murder mystery but will Weston be revealed as Easton?
This was an absolutely amazing novel; well, audiobook. I'm not often fond of multiple narrators but I loved it in this instance mostly because it worked very well with the dual perspective. Spoiler alert: Easton is revealed but that's really not the most interesting part in my humble opinion. Maybe I'm just naive or haven't read enough explicit novels but I have never encountered a book that so blatantly mentions anal sex. It was a new experience to me and was quite surprising that I laughed out loud. This is not why it is a favorite...”
Lucy Doughty
Created over 5 years agoShare
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About Jane Kamensky
Jane Kamensky is a professor of American history and chair of the History Department at Brandeis University. She is the author of The Exchange Artist and Governing the Tongue, among other books. Her scholarship has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She is currently writing a biography of the eighteenth-century American portrait painter Gilbert Stuart. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband and two sons.
Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University, where she is the chair of the History and Literature Program. She is also a regular contributor to The New Yorker. Her books include The Name of War and A Is for American. Her most recent book, New York Burning, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband, three sons, and an extraordinarily large and formidable dog of entirely mysterious extraction.
Jill Lepore is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University, where she is the chair of the History and Literature Program. She is also a regular contributor to The New Yorker. Her books include The Name of War and A Is for American. Her most recent book, New York Burning, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband, three sons, and an extraordinarily large and formidable dog of entirely mysterious extraction.
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