Author, Mariam Michelson, gives you a new way of reading a book. Instead of using a third person voice to
introduce characters, she allows her main character, Nance Olden, to give you
the rundown on all the folks. This style of having one character tell you about
an encounter with someone and then repeat in her own voice what the person is
saying, as if questioning their response or commenting on it, is brilliant. Confusing
at first, but brilliant none the less.
Usually I
don’t like hearing one character do all the describing and talking in a book,
but this author won me over with her almost gossipy way of doing it. Also, the
fact that she uses primarily one main partner to the main character, Maggie
Monahan (Mag), as primary receiver of
her self-talking dialogues makes you feel as if you are part of their specially
bonded friendship.
Nance and
Mag grew up in “The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children” house,
or as they called the loveless orphanage, The Cruelty. Nance and Mag become seasoned
thieves and Nance hooks up with a brutish man (Tom) who uses her to help pull
off his small-time crimes.
The story
takes off immediately and you always find yourself rooting for Nance to come
out on top of the many challenging escapades she finds herself caught up in. Her
encounter “in the bishop’s carriage,” where she first meets the bishop, begins
an enlightening and life changing jump off point for Nance. In the bishop she
finds a loving fatherly type and in Nance the bishop finds a loving daughter.
But circumstances and bad luck of the thief haunts Nance as she struggles with this
newly discovered feeling of wanting to be a good girl for her fantasy-adopted father,
or at least not let him find out who/what she really is.
Only after
the brute Tom Dorgan, who Nance thought she loved, is sent away to sing-sing
prison, does she consider changing her ways.
She’s a bad
girl trying to do good, and once she realizes how much she likes being good,
honest and trusted by others, she begins to blossom. Nance becomes a successful
comedy star of the stage, using her mimicking ways to make satire of famous
celebs of the day.
It’s almost
as if Nance has traded in a bad thief for a good theatrical agent in Fred
Obermuller. Fred shows Nance how to trust in him by trusting in her time and
time again. Surprisingly, by the end of the book the two fall in-love and marry,
something that might have been hinted at in the story but really couldn’t be
seen coming.
Part of the
story is Fred saving Nance and another part is Nance saving Fred. And all the
while in between you’re hearing episode after episode of events being described
and shared with Mag from Nance’s point of view.
Think I
might have figured out how the author put together the story and came up with
the title. I read online, the book originated from a short story printed in the
newspaper titled “In the Bishop’s Carriage.” The short story consisted of only
the first chapter. In the book the second chapter mentions Mag for the first
time and The third chapter begins with:
“Oh, Mag,
Mag, for heaven’s sake, let me talk to you! You must let me tell you. No – don’t
call the other girls. I can’t bear to tell this to anybody but you.” Pg62
And there
begins the uniqueness of “In the Bishop’s Carriage.” The two women are like childhood
girlfriends who’ve grown to love and trust only each other. Though Mag never
says a word herself, Nance gives the reader enough to know that Mag is one of
those friends who listens well, rarely questions and is loyal in her commitment
to secrecy. Not sure what Mag’s standing was with Nance while Tom was around,
but with Tom out of the picture, Mag becomes Nance’s connection to her past
orphanage childhood and hard life existence to this point.
Some of the
memorable characters are the silken voiced Mr. Latimer, a wheelchair bound
invalid who Nance encounters while escaping a theft. Mr. Latimer covers for
Nance with the cops, shares with her some prophetic poetry, and enlightens her by
questioning why she lives a life of lying and thievery when she seems to have
so much talent for good. Mr. Latimer basically sets the moral stage for why one
chooses good over evil. And if Mr. Latimer is the good shepherd, the wretched
Edward was the snake in the garden. Edward’s criminal plot to marry the old
spinster Dowager for her money was foiled by Nance, and from then on it is
Edward who becomes Nance’s nemesis, trying to ruin her success throughout the
story.
Twelve-year
old Kitty the thief steals the purse of Nance and is then found sharing with
other street-urchins candy and cake bought with Nance’s stolen money. Kitty
reminds Nance of herself. Eventually Nance gains her trust and teaches Kitty a
lesson in why not to steal.
The Trust
was an interesting part of the story. The Trust being the monopolizing
corporate entity of the theatrical business. It was the organization that Fred
Obermuller had bumped heads with and felt he could never get ahead because of
them. Nance pulls a great hustle on the Trust lead man Mr. Tausig, ending with
the incriminating document that can bring down the Trust for what was then a
big deal, with anti-trust laws going into effect to stop big business
monopolies in industries like railroads, oil, etc…
All ends
well in this book as Nance and Fred become successful world travelers and
giving to the needy. At the end when Nance and the bishop meet where it all
began, in the bishop’s carriage, you feel as if the story has come full circle
and much more is understood about the journey. Then seeing Nance return to the
Cruelty, bringing toys for the little kids as she almost faints from the bad memories.
I believe it is Fred, knowing the nightmares the Cruelty has haunted Nance
with, who helps her see that her doing this good charity work is making sure no
more kids coming through the doors of the Charity will have to suffer like she
and Mag did. In one stroke of good intentions, Nance was able to whisk away the
dark, gloomy childhood thoughts imprisoned in her memory of the Cruelty, and
replace them with a happy outlook for the kids now living there.
In the Bishop’s
Carriage is a rags-to-riches story, a good-triumphs-over-evil story, a crime
and mystery thriller story and a comedy. Author Miriam Michelson ranks on the
level of the early suffragists members in the way she challenges convention and
pits the wits of a smart woman against the custom and convention of a male
dominated society.
Yes, I
rooted from beginning to end for the kindly thief Nance Olden!
Book Notes
- He looked like an unhealthy little frog, with his bald head, his
thin-lipped mouth that laughed, while the wrinkles rayed away from his cold,
sneering eyes that had no smile in them. Pg.214
-
The
little fellow laughed. His is a creaky, almost silent little laugh; if a spider
could laugh he’d laugh like that. Pg.215
-
The
thing to do is to be humble if you can’t be arrogant. Pg.211
- your face is unprotected with eyes closed; like a fort whose battery is withdrawn. Pg.185
* Three
times I came across references to a black person(s). In a reflection of the times, the words used were not considered racist and offensive to many whites; but to most blacks they were racist and offensive then and continue to be today.:
- "There I was seated in a box all alone, come to listen to the leading lady sing coon-songs.
Pg. 175
-
Oh
Mag, remember how we used to peep into those awful, imposing Board rooms! Remember
how strange and resentful you felt – like a poor little red-haired nigger up at
the block – when you were in there to be shown to the woman who’d called to
adopt you. Pg.276
