Blindspot

Blindspot must have been a joy for it's two authors to write, and it certainly is to read. The two main characters seem real and genuine, including true voice and self awareness projected in the language of colonial Boston. Their erotic thoughts (and actions) ring with excitement, doubt, and passion. Having two memoirs let's you into both minds far better than the single voice of an all-seeing observer. Set in the decade prior to the American Revolution, Blindspot leads one through the seedlings of the distinct American point of view that ripened to independence. You can feel the ambivalence towards slavery among Bostonians of the time and the tension arising as the rationale for liberty from the crown resounds so well with colonials, yet the same logic if applied to personal freedom invalidates any and all rationale for slavery. Blindspot is a delightful and historically authentic visit to Colonial Boston, best enjoyed with a cup of (duty free) tea.

This story is very well written, which means the reader is pulled into, and compelled to keep reading! I like the way the authors separated the tales of each of the two main characters, but also brought me, the "reader", into the intertwined adventures and everyday life of the painter and his apprentice. The painter speaks to the reader saying (quote) "I imagine you so that you can imagine me." The apprentice writes a series of letters to a dear friend that I, the reader, am privy to read. Each has a past that causes them to hide(escape).....either from across the sea, or "within" the outside persona. This story takes place mostly in Boston, all within a few month's time, during 1764. Slavery is a big part of the young America's way of life, and plays a big role dealing with mayhem and murder. The painter has a black friend that plays an important role in solving the mystery. The painter and apprentice each have their own agendas dealing with their dire circumstances in life, and are blind to their awareness of each other, but of course, that will change! This is fiction, but also includes real places, names, & etc. A captivating story well worth the read!

What a delightful book! Sometimes it's difficult to craft historical fiction in an accurate, interesting way, but these two authors had no such problem. The plot, two main characters, and supporting characters fascinated me from beginning to end. Kamensky and Lepore transported this reader back in time and held me there, a captive to their storytelling skill. Scotsman Stewart Jameson is a card playing, womanizing libertine and gifted artist escaped to the Colonies to avoid jail for non-payment of a loan. Boston in 1764 is the outback of America, just beginning to establish itself as a center of learning and patriotism. Accompanied by his great mastiff Gulliver, Jameson tries to blend in and earn a living. It's a fine line he walks at first: avoiding the sort of publicity that might attract interest in England while advertising himself as a painter of fine portraits. Frances Easton is a fallen woman, desperate for freedom and playing a dangerous game. When Jameson advertises for a young lad to be his assistant/apprentice, she binds her breasts and masquerades as a boy. Life on the streets of Boston has not been kind to her. She comes to Jameson's home a half starved, filthy waif with no options left to her. As the young lad Francis Weston, she finds shelter and kindness with Jameson. Her artistic abilities are considerable and immediately obvious to her master. Jameson calls his young apprentice Weston. Their story unfolds through Jameson's thoughts shared with readers and Weston's letters to a childhood friend. Jameson is a long time lover of women, bewildered by his powerful attraction to this ragtag apprentice. Weston finds her master to be a man of great compassion and kindness, a skillful painter who sees into the very heart of the wealthy citizens he paints. Neither knows the other's true story until Jameson's friend and runaway slave arrives on their doorstep. Fortune, aka Dr. Ignatius Alexander, is the catalyst that shatters every blindspot to reveal truths neither Jameson nor Weston could see. What a fine novel these authors have wrought! Love and murder, sly humor and pathos, greed and alchemy, tyranny and fledgling patriotism, all play a part in Blindspot. This well-written novel has my highest recommendation.

A blind spot, the authors of this novel tell us, is when you can't see something that's right in front of your face. I nearly had my own blind spot when deciding whether to order this book. Love in the midst of the American Revolution? A case of mistaken identity and an audacious young woman dressing as a boy? Ho-hum, I thought. But I swallowed my reservations and succumbed to "Blindspot's" temptation. Dear Reader, I'm glad I did. (You'll also notice, Reader, that I did not follow up on the double-entendre in the last sentence of the above paragraph. The main characters of the novel would not have been so restrained. This is an adult novel, with adult language and adult themes - caveat emptor, you delicate flowers of sensibility.) "Blindspot" is a delight, a novel rich in story and character, a joy to read - and, yes, a heartache too. At its center are two characters falling in forbidden love - Stewart Jameson, a portrait-painter fleeing his native Scotland to make a new home in Boston, and Fanny Easton, a fallen aristocratic woman who is also Francis Weston, Jameson's new apprentice. Together, they flatter and cajole Boston bluest bloods and most fervent patriots into having their portraits painted - and revealing their secrets and hypocrisies as well. For while Jameson and Weston flirt over their easels, a man is murdered - an abolitionist whose slaves are accused of poisoning him. And while they mouth talk of freedom and liberty, the cream of Boston society has no problem with enslaving and unjustly executing others. With Jameson's friend Dr. Ignatius Alexander - the "African genius" - our heroes must solve the murder and expose the corruption at the heart of America's birthplace. So this is a story about politics, philosophy, murder, revenge, adultery, religion, slavery, and love - yes, Dear Reader, love. For while the murder of Samuel Bradstreet forms the backbone of this story, the love between Jameson and Fanny/Weston is its soul. From the alternating first-person narrative, we come to know and care about these two characters deeply. Their romance, by turns funny, poignant, bawdy, infuriating, and moving, will captivate even the most head-hearted of readers. And the ending! I can't say too much without spoiling it, but oh, it's been a long time since a novel's ending has affected me like that. Dear Reader, I entreat you - seek out this book. Kamensky and Lepore have created a masterpiece, rich in both historical and narrative detail. I sincerely hope this is not the last collaboration between these two talented authors!