Emma Hinds - The Knowing

Powerful, intoxicating and full of suspense. The Knowing is a darkly spellbinding novel about a girl fighting for her survival in the decaying criminal underworlds.
Whilst working as a living canvas for an abusive tattoo artist, Flora meets Minnie, an enigmatic circus performer who offers her love and refuge in an opulent townhouse, home to the menacing Mr Chester Merton. Flora earns her keep reading tarot cards for his guests whilst struggling to harness her gift, the Knowing - an ability to summon the dead. Caught in a dark love triangle between Minnie and Chester, Flora begins to unravel the secrets inside their house. Then at her first public séance, Flora hears the spirit of a murdered boy prostitute and exposes his killer, setting off a train of events which put her life at risk.
The Knowing is a stunning debut inspired by real historical characters including Maud Wagner, one of the first known female tattoo artists, New York gang the Dead Rabbits, and characters from PT Barnum's circus.

Comment: I was given this book for my birthday. I had never heard of the author and, if not for it being gifted, I would not look for it on purpose. One of the labels is "gothic" and now I regret the package didn't arrive sooner, for it might have been a suitable choice for this month's TBR Challenge post.

In this story, set in the 19th century, we meet Flora, a young woman who lives in the slums in New York with Jordan, a man who uses her body as a canvas for his tattoo business. Flora is an orphan, one of many children left on their own and this is the only life she feels she deserves. Things change when she meets Minnie, a circus performer who promises her a new life if she follows her to a better part of the city. 

Flora has the Knowing, which is the ability to see ghosts and feel things and with her skill as a card reader, she has one of her feelings and believes leaving Jordan is her best chance. However, when she arrives at the address Minnie gave her, she finds a group of people who will expect her to perform her card readings and Chester Merton, the house's owner, seems to be too focused on her tattoos. Could it be that Flora only exchanged a prison for another? What will happen after she lets the Knowing out one time as she reads the cards to a noble man who murdered a lover?

This story is definitely a bit darker than what I usually prefer and while the book isn't long, I cannot say I was dazzled by the development. The writing isn't bad, and in fact I did appreciate the concise way certain things were presented, but... does it mean anything if I don't like what happens to the characters?

The set up of this story is very depressing, imagining all those people suffering, going through problems and poverty and the demands of gang-like groups that controlled everyone's lives and money... there is something to be said for contemporary stories where, at least, people have some social rights, or for historical romances where we only see the better part of wealthy people's days. This said, I was hopeful that Flora's change and her circumstances would lead her to something better.

Flora is a card reader but she also does tattoos, which she learned from Jordan, the man who "owns" her. This is terrible situation for Flora and I can understand why she decided to take a chance and accept Minnie's offer. The blurb makes it seem that by doing this, Flora will be part of a love triangle of sorts with Minnie and Chester but the reality is that Minnie can't make as many decisions as she implied and Chester is not simply this dark and kinky guy, he is truly deplorable and if I had some romance expectations, they were immediately over.

It can be quite disappointing to see the story is actually more about dealing with problems and surviving terrible odds. This is life, whether in the 19th century or now, but it's not usually a theme in novels I tend to look for. I think the friend who gave this to me probably didn't investigate the book that much! Still, it's inspiring to try new things and I was eager to give the book a chance, thus why I've invested my hopes in Flora but as her days go on and she gets more tangled up with Minnie's influence to perform as a way to gain enough freedom to leave one day, the more the sense of doom seemed to seep in through the story.

As expected, one day the Knowing is something Flora can't control and she talks more than she should. This means the higher ups want revenge on her and she and Minnie, along with three servants of Chester's house, end up leaving New York to England. I thought this would be a new opportunity for them but things don't go any better there and Chester's money does take him further than they imagined. At this point, I was already a little tired of seeing Flora go through so many issues and it felt as if any happiness or positive life was out of her reach. Then, something seems to happen out of the blue between her and another character and I was a little disappointed. It seemed as if the author didn't really plan on developing the characters that much and the notion they, well mostly Flora, should learn/evolve/make better decisions was not truly accomplished.

When the story ends, one can see what happens as something good enough, especially after some terrible situations Flora and the others go through. I can't tell if I wanted more of this Knowing business so that Flora could control this or use it for a chance at a better life, or if I would have been happier with her having a good life now or something to give her stability or dignity at least... I confess I wasn't too keen on the darker aspects and actively disliked that most characters were unpleasant. I also did not see the need for her to be attracted to Minnie either.

All in all, this was an interesting novel, very different from my usual, and some things were intriguing, but I got the feeling the author started string, has a good vision but the more things went on, the less control she had on what was being added, to the point a lot of things in this short book made it confusing. Since I disliked some elements, this wasn't as surprisingly positive as I hoped for.

Grade: 5/10