Admissible evidence

 

    When I heard that Clare Jacob's Ophelia in Pieces was a novel about a lawyer, I jumped at it. My own years in legal practice (though I was a solicitor doing civil work, including litigation, here in Scotland, whereas the eponymous Ophelia is a criminal barrister whose stamping ground is London's Old Bailey) mean that it's of considerable professional interest to me, but even if you know nothing of the world it portrays, it's a very enjoyable, fluent, highly readable book.

    Ophelia Dormandy's marriage is disintegrating, and she's struggling to reconcile the visceral pull of motherhood with the high demands of a pressured career which has no room for absences, preoccupations and competing loyalties. Her job defending those who may be guilty is one she's good at - it's a career she chose for reasons to do with her past - and while questions of conscience do arise, she has long since taken a pragmatic approach, so whether her client is an embezzler or someone accused of sexual offences, Ophelia acts for them, clear-minded, clever, largely in control. But when she finds herself with too much to handle, a simple slip leads her into dangerous territory, and work threatens her personal life in the worst way.

    Good novels about women with domestic problems are ten-a-penny, of course, and while that strand of the plot is well done, where the book really comes into its own is in the treatment of Ophelia's professional life. Clare Jacob is herself a barrister, so she knows well that of which she writes, and I hope that in future books she will revisit Ophelia's chambers and give us more of the QC Samuel Slidders and the clerks, of briefs and case conferences, of the Bailey and its environs, and of the whole frenetic world of the legal machine, because that is the book's real strength and distinction, and it's those scenes which stand out.

     On the basis of this debut I shall look forward eagerly to Clare's next novel, and if you're in the mood for some legal drama with a sympathetic leading character, then this one comes highly recommended.

 

(Just by the way, there's a tiny discrepancy in continuity at one point, and though it's of no relevance to the plot, had Ophelia noticed something similar during cross-examination, she would have used it to discredit or wrong-foot her witness; it has no deleterious effect, however, on my opinion of the book!).

Comments

[Fay]

Karen, I appreciate the way you discuss books without giving a detailed summary. So many newspaper reviewers seem to have devolved into a standard of regurgitating plot developments. No thanks. Suggesting the content is so much better, and then the reader hears the story from the author. - Fay

[Margaret Powling]

You are not going to believe this but I have just put this book down to come and check emails and blog postings and make a cup of tea, after which I shall return to it. I'm thoroughly enjoying Ophelia in Pieces, not quite halfway yes and as you say, more of her chambers and Samuel Slidders (I warm to anyone old fashioned enough to call someone "old fruit"!) would be more than welcome. This is an excellent first novel and I'm just wondering now whether I shall pick up that tiny discrepancy in continuity that you mention!

[adele geras]

I love anything with a legal setting and hadn't seen this yet. Will search for it and read. Thanks Cornflower. And agree with Fay that reviewers who give away the plot are very naughty.

[Jo]

Thank you for the recommendation, I love a legal setting on a TV programme so looking forward to it in a book form as well!

[Cornflower]

Thankyou, Fay.

[Cornflower]

So glad to hear you're enjoying it, Margaret.

[LizF]

I'm glad that it has your approval in terms of authenticity!
I love books with a legal setting, but as a former court reporter (the journalistic sort) it really annoys me when there are inaccuracies and especially when people get away with the sort of outbursts that would have had them thrown out for contempt (if not into the cells)
Another book to go on my ever-lengthening list!