https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/mary-paulsonellis/emily-nobles-disgrace/9781529036176
In this evocative and disturbing historical, gothic mystery, Mary Paulson-Ellis again considers what happens when someone dies with no apparent heirs.
The story revolves around three women in a faded seaside suburb. Two, Essie and Emily, are alive and involved after the discovery of the body of the third, Isabella. Isabella was a hoarder. Her former boarding house is full to the brim with her possessions and accumulated junk. But, as with all belongings, these objects are imbued with memories and have hidden tales to tell.
Essie is part of the team of cleaners that empty the houses of the dead. They have the task of clearing the boarding house. Essie’s search for information and memories of her own past bubbles up while disposing of Isabella’s possessions.
Emily Noble is a young, lonely PC with a past in the same suburb as the boarding house. She is hiding from this past. But a grisly discovery on the beach brings her face to face with the boarding house and her past.
Mary Paulson-Ellis constructs the complex and cryptic mystery using jumps between the aftermath of the discovery of Isabella’s body and the events of the past. With each shift of timeframe, more secrets of the boarding house are revealed in a way that is often chilling and beguiling but is always heart-breaking. An intriguing cast of characters populates these scenes, with some familiar from previous novels. If you haven’t read Mary Paulson-Ellis’s previous novels, you’re in for a treat. All are well-crafted stories about the physical and emotional remains of the dead.
Emily Noble’s Disgrace asks us to consider what does it mean to live a life. And Porty will now forever be tinged with a macabre sadness.
Mary Paulson-Ellis lives in Edinburgh where she writes dual timeline novels about the world of people who die with no next-of-kin. Her critically acclaimed debut, The Other Mrs Walker was a Times bestseller and Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year. Her second, The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing was long-listed for the McIlvanney Prize for best Scottish crime novel and a Historical Writers Association Gold Crown. Her latest book, Emily Noble’s Disgrace, is her third novel. Mary has an MLitt in Creative Writing from Glasgow University where, on graduating, she was awarded the inaugural Curtis Brown Prize for Fiction. Her fiction, non-fiction and short stories have featured in various anthologies, the Guardian and on BBC Radio 4. She has been shortlisted as a Breakthrough Author in the Books Are My Bag Readers Awards and named an Amazon Rising Star. In 2019 Val McDermid selected her as one of the ten most compelling LGBTQ+ writers working today. Mary has performed her work at festivals and events across the UK and in Europe and her novels have been translated into German and Dutch. She is interested in what she calls the ‘murderous’ side of family life.