Book Review: "The Photographer" by E.S Blake

I've never heard of E.S Blake and yet, I am compelled to know more. I read this book on the 6th of October 2023 and for some reason, felt like I was getting to the party a bit late. I managed to read most of it on a train I was taking back home which took roughly two hours and the rest earlier on in the same day. Notably, I couldn't wait to get my train home not only because I was taking the train home but because I wanted to read this book. Filled with atmosphere, tragedy and character development that is resonant of a Victorian novel, I found this book an intrguing read for those of us who love character-based descriptive novels.

The book is set in 1863 and the main character is called Charles Franklin. An intelligent man who is good at his job and makes for a great character of a gothic text as when tragedy strikes, we see a huge turn in his nature. Turning his back on his loved ones and taking a new path in life, he turns away from portraits of the living and instead begins photographing the dead. The Victorian world of everything post-mortem is bad enough but the Victorian world of post-mortem photography is far more ominous and macabre. With the help of 'Bates', Charles starts to become more and more involved in a process he once found a bit horrifying.

You would think that it ends there, but it doesn't - as we know main characters of these types of novels never really get their happiness when they think they have found it. One weird day, one simple knock on the door and Charles' entire world is turned upside down just at the moment he seemed most comfortable. Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? Well, I'm afraid you will have to read the book to find out. One man's journey for purpose is interrupted, shaken, turned around and changed entirely and teaches us that the path of life is not always as easy as having a job and a family.

E.S Blake crafts a novel so entirely delirious that the photographer himself is a man of stature and development until the very last page. Someone you can both like and dislike at the same time, someone who is both intelligent and ignorant at the same time - this character of Charles Franklin needs to be revisited in a sequel and I do not mind what kind of sequel that is.

With a narrative voice that is almost tone-perfect, E.S Blake manages to capture the atmosphere of the Victorian age perfectly, with all of the nastiness left in. It is not a place of romanticism and innovation in all aspects, but it is a time of great darkness and the macabre nature of some jobs is left to the imagination whilst the description of the atmosphere gives it a gritty and intense nature. E.S Blake writes with an artist's touch which paints the picture of a very realistic Victorian age even though everything is not as it seems.

Twists make this story great yes, but it is the writing that keeps us on our toes. The chapter titles are light, but get darker, the narrative allows us to become more and more involved with Charles, seeing him in ways that even other characters who are close to him do not. With each tragedy comes a new challenge, a new change and a new chapter of life. It is a well-written book yes, but there has been some serious thinking that has gone into it too. With a prologue to draw the reader in and an epilogue to ease them out again, this book frames its story within a picture-perfect scene of gritty Victorian dramatics.

All in all, I thought this book was a really good example of what some Victorian-based texts are missing: the grittiness that would make our gothic novels seem darker and more intense, the feelings of a man who has encountered a horrific tragedy and a purpose that changes over the course of a man's life. This book was absolutely brilliant and I hope you choose to pick it up.