The Unseeing

August 22, 2016
Love, corruption, and retribution define Mazzola’s absorbing and unpredictable debut novel. At the opening in London in 1837, Sarah Gale is arrested and charged with assisting James Greenacre in the “horrific murder of a blameless woman,” Hannah Brown, who has been mutilated. However, Sarah repeatedly pleads that she had no part in the crime and that she also had no knowledge of it occurring afterward. Edmund Fleetwood, criminal investigator, is tasked with determining whether Sarah should be hanged through the evidence provided to the jury during her trial, upon her request of a petition for mercy. Murderess or not, it becomes clear Sarah is hiding something and as she and Edmund deal with their own personal demons along the way, the truth comes to light in a very satisfying conclusion. This is a cleverly written and intricate mystery that doesn’t try to outsmart the reader or become convoluted, and that includes great characters and subplots that eventually intersect to make for a multidimensional read. The authentic setting of Victorian London enhances the reading experience. Agent: Sasha Raskin, the Agency Group.

November 1, 2016
A grisly murder in an England on the cusp of the Victorian era sets the scene for this thriller.In 1837, a series of discoveries of scattered body parts led to a sensational trial known as the "Edgeware Road Murder." The novel follows the true case of Sarah Gale, convicted of "aiding and abetting" that murder by helping her lover try to cover it up. Debut author Mazzola displays her research chops with epigraphs at the heads of several chapters quoting genuine newspaper accounts from the time or actual excerpts from the trial. Mazzola has invented a sympathetic investigator to explore what might have happened: the fictitious Edmund Fleetwood, a young solicitor, is hired by the Home Office to reinvestigate the case in order to determine whether there are circumstances which would convince a judge to spare Sarah from the gallows. Both the convicted murderer, James Greenacre, and Sarah herself denied at trial that she had any part in the whole affair. Though she professes innocence, Sarah has failed to offer any further explanation or defense. Sarah is maddeningly passive but truly suffering from her secrets, which Edmund is determined to expose. He coaxes out the story of her genteel upbringing, which ended with the sudden plunge into poverty which led her on the road to misadventure. Edmund also struggles with finances and the weight of his more successful, overbearing father, who is unforgiving of any woman gone astray, including Edmund's own mother. No merrie olde England this, but a dirty, hardscrabble London in which even the clergy offer no mercy. Sarah's misery in Newgate Prison is particularly cruel and harrowing. As Edmund's doggedness eventually prevails, a number of plot points which seemed like loose threads are cleverly woven into a satisfying resolution. Haunting characters propel this well-paced story of true crime and imperfect punishment.

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