Tatiana (Tatty) Caldwell lives in 1860s London. She is the daughter of an odd couple: her father, a successful businessperson, and mother, an ex-lady of the night, prone to profanity. Strange coupling but they adore one another. Tatty is well educated but when she loses both parents, she is left with little prospects and the taint of a terrible experience arising from their funerals.
At 17, with a small inheritance, she decides to pay a passage to Sydney in search of a better future. Her dream is to one day own her business. After three weeks, she meets Titus Crowe, a local undertaker, who takes her on as an assistant. He feels that a woman would add a compassionate touch to his services.
Undertaking is a huge business in Sydney and Tatty slowly realises that Titus is anything but compassionate. He is a nasty man who exploits the bereaved. Surprisingly, she marries him, but this is part of her plan, to one day own the business.
Challinor has done her research well with Black Silk and Sympathy. She paints a colourful picture of Sydney in the 1860s and a fascinating window into the funeral industry of the day. When Tatty is accused of murdering Titus, she has an interesting band of allies, mostly women, who help her. Against a ruthless rival and rampant misogyny, she manages to create a flourishing business. The first woman undertaker of Sydney.
The ending is surprising, feeling unfinished. But there’s more … another Tatty inspired book due in 2025. A great read for those taphophiles out there; someone with a passion for all things cemeteries.
Reviewed by Sue Stanbridge
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Deborah Challinor is an award-winning and consistently best-selling author of eighteen historical fiction novels, a young adult novel, and two works of non-fiction about the Vietnam War. In 1999 she completed a Ph.D. in history at Waikato University, for which she won a New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association Military History Scholarship in 1996. She was recognised as a Distinguished Alumni at Waikato University in 2017, and in 2018 she became a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature and historical research.
In the past Deborah has written an opinion column and feature articles for the Waikato Times, edited special publications and books, and taught New Zealand history, and researching and writing historical fiction, at university level for several years. These days she writes fulltime and her books are sold in New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Russia and Czechoslovakia, and in eBook, audio and large print formats.
Deborah was born and raised in Huntly and attended Huntly College. She believes the best music came out of the 1960s and ’70s (with some exceptions), reads a lot, loves cats, mourning jewellery and taxidermy, and follows the New Zealand Warriors (Up the Wahs!). But most of all, she loves history.
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