Unraveling History in Christi Phillips The Devlin Diary

Katrina’s Review of:
Phillips, Christi. The Devlin Diary. New York: Pocket Books, 2009.

 

 The Devlin Diary, Christi Phillips’ much-anticipated (at least by me!) second novel, does not disappoint. This engrossing book picks up where The Rossetti Letter left off with historian Claire Donovan fresh out of graduate school and beginning her professorial career at none other than the illustrious Trinity College in the historic city of Cambridge, England. Equally full of intrigue and astounding historical discoveries as Phillips’ highly acclaimed first novel, The Devlin Diary transports the reader to seventeenth century London at the close of a dark century for Londoners who are still recovering from the deadly plague and a devastating fire that gutted much of the city. Those familiar with the style of Phillips’ first novel will fall right back into the historical interplay between a modern-day scholar—Claire—and the intimate reality of individuals from an era long since past. It is in this manner that we are introduced to the enigmatic yet captivating figure of Hannah Devlin, a seventeenth century physician whose practice in the medical field flaunts the powerful College of Physicians’ misogynistic ruling against female practitioners of “physic” (their term for practicing medicine). Phillips alternates between Claire and Hannah’s stories every few chapters, further contributing to the narrative’s mounting suspense as we become enthralled in the dramatic lives of two amazing women, separated in time by three centuries but who share a similar conviction of following their passion against all odds.

Aside from the fact that I love historical fiction in the first place (I devour novels such as this in a matter of days, if not hours), Phillips’ work is especially appealing to me because of its lightly feminist slant in her portrayal of strong, educated women across the centuries who defy societal norms rather than acquiescing to them, and who allow both their minds and hearts to guide their paths in life. OK, that may sound kind of cheesy, but I’m a romantic at heart and I have to admit that the blossoming love between Hannah and fellow physician Edward, on the one hand, and between Claire and her Trinity College colleague Andrew Kent, on the other hand, had me more engrossed than your run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. Something about the virtue and decorum of courtship in the early modern and Victorian eras fascinates me; the countless unspoken rules restricting interactions between men and women make a love affair during that period all the more scintillating. In the late 1600s, Hannah and Edward—who is of a higher class and is engaged to a young beauty from a prominent London family—must overcome so many barriers to their love in a time when they had everything going against them. Meanwhile, Claire and Andrew’s relationship in the modern day turns out to be even more reserved and cautious than that of their seventeenth-century counterparts; leave it to the Brits to frustrate a burgeoning romance!

And I have yet to even mention the mystery at the heart of the novel, which ultimately ties Claire and Hannah’s stories together. The researcher and archivist in me held my breath along with Claire as she deciphered the coded journal she discovered in the Wren Library and began to unravel the mysterious murders of a series of men who were intimately involved in the death of Princess Henrietta Anne, King Charles II’s sister who died amidst rumors of poisoning. As Claire translates the seventeenth century diary written in a unique cipher (a fancy word for ‘code’)—which was penned by none other than Dr. Hannah Devlin—we learn that Hannah’s father is one of the murdered men, and follow her and Edward’s detective work with bated breath as they track down the serial killer. The shocking secret discovered by the duo in the late 1600s (I won’t give it away, for those of you who have yet to read it) remains obscured until Claire unearths the truth over three hundred years later—a truth that will change the course of history, and solve the murder of one of her Trinity College colleague’s. The excitement of Claire’s archival discoveries was almost as engrossing to me as the characters’ love affairs, since there is little that can match the triumphant feeling of piecing together a previously unknown moment in history from the scattered clues of our collective past. That is the beauty of The Devlin Diary; it masterfully intertwines historical fiction with scholarly intrigue—a combination that to me is irresistible.

 

Keep Writing,
Katrina Oko-Odoi
Founder & Chief Editor