[phrynefisher.com]
'Cor, you 'aint like any lady i've seen before!' said Cedric in disbelief.
'I should think not.' Phryne replied.'
Kerry Greenwood, Murder on a Midsummer night
Without a doubt if you asked me to pick a historical era in which to travel to in a time machine i would hands down choose the 1920s. There's something so incredibly enticing about it, the first steps towards the liberation of women, hemlines hitting higher than ever before (mid shin to knee, how shocking!), the excitement of a generation that had just escaped a horrific world war, increased travel, increased opportunities for women... I can just see me perched on a bar stool in some jazz club, tapping my heeled foot to a tune, waving a cigarette in the air to make ashy curls around my cropped hair, a dropwaist dress or elegant flapper outfit, long gloves, a fan, a seashell compact, big jewels... mmm how marvellous!
Perhaps that's why one of my favourite literary characters is Kerry Greenwood's enterprising and inimitable the Hon. Phryne Fisher. She is simply incredible. Educated, liberated, clever, confident, radiant, oh so chic and so sharp. What a character! A character to be envied indeed.
Phryne Fisher is the daughter of an English Lord, emigrated to Australia and begun a detective agency. She solves all manner of mysteries, although murder is her specialty, and often she juggles cases which, in true crime fiction fashion, end up being inter-related anyway. All in time for a scrumptious dinner, a delicious cocktail, a quick gasper and then out into the evening for dancing and debauchery.
The books stress that she is a lady of taste, and so it is always enjoyable for me to read about what she wears. She is a svelte and stunning woman with her dutch doll cap of black hair, green eyes and ruby red lips. Her lover Lin Chung calls her the 'Jade Lady'. In each novel her clothes are described in loving detail by Greenwood, and are always historically accurate and achingly chic. To dinner parties she wears satin sheaths that cling to her body like rippling water, she has smart two piece suits, drop waist dresses, flapper shifts, loose trousers and blazers, flippy skirts and romantic frills... all topped off with the most exquisite collection of hats (cloches, straw hats, flowers, corsages, fascinators, headbands), jewellery (rubies, emeralds, sapphires, garnets, amethysts and don't even get me started on the diamonds), shoes (boots, courts, sandals, ballet flats, stilettos) and other accessories like gloves and fans known to mankind.
I think a girl like me reads it as much for the murder mystery as i do for the fashion. Well, the fashion and the atmosphere. greenwood does a lot of research to create an authentic environment of the 20s, from the slang and vernacular of the characters to the brands, inventions, clothing houses, meals, household routines and nomenclature. Fascinated as i am by english aristocracy and history it is a real joy for me to get a look inside what is, to all intents and purposes, a 1920s lady's household with her maid Dot, her two daughters Ruth and Jane, her Butler Mr B, her cook Mrs B, and her string of lovers and attachments on the side.
They are not great literature, but they are great fun, and one shouldn't read only great things all the time, it would be incredibly boring. Everyone has a guilty pleasure, and when it comes to reading i have a few, one of which is the Phryne Fisher novels. They are simply delightful, and i have spent many an entertaining afternoon in their company.
Prepare to be ensnared. Onwards and upwards!
Monday, or indeed late sunday, love to you all!
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