I’m delighted to participate in the blog tour for Jacquei Bloese’s book The Secret Photographs by sharing some of the inspiration for the settings, because not only is it calling to me from my TBR plie, but I loved Jacqui’s The French House which I reviewed online for My Weekly  – you’ll find details of that review here. My huge thanks to Graeme Williams for inviting me to take part.

Previously released as The Golden Hour, The Secret Photographs is published by Hodder and Stoughton and is available for purchase in all formats through the publisher links here.

The Secret Photographs

England, 1895: In the bustling seaside town of Brighton, photography is all the rage. Ellen Harper assists her twin brother running one of the city’s seafront studios, where fashionable ladies and gentlemen pose in their finery to have their likeness captured forever in a silver frame.

But behind the façade of a respectable business, the siblings have something to hide. After the studio closes for the day, secret photographs are taken in the back room. There is money to be made from this underground trade, but if exposed to the light of day, these photographs would destroy them…

When newly married Clementine comes to sit for a portrait, Ellen learns she is looking for a lady’s companion. Longing for a life of her own choosing and freedom from the deals her brother has made, Ellen accepts the post. The new position transports her to a sweeping white-fronted townhouse on one of Brighton’s most prestigious crescents, full of every luxury imaginable.

But Clementine’s gilded world hides as much darkness as Ellen hoped to escape… What will happen when the secrets Ellen has left behind finally catch up to her?

Don’t miss this richly atmospheric and gripping historical fiction shining a light on the role of women in a world dominated by men.

This book was first published as The Golden Hour.

Five Brighton locations which inspired The Secret Photographs

A Guest Post by Jacquie Bloese

 1) The West Pier

“The band is mid-way through The Sailor’s Hornpipe when Ellen Harper first sees the girl.”

Sunday afternoon, a brass band, tuppence for entry at the kiosk. Lily, a laundry girl, eating a penny ice under the shelters, catches Ellen’s eye …

West Pier then

West Pier now

2) Lewes Crescent

“… the houses were so bright and sparkling that Lily was sure that if she licked one of the stately columns that flanked the entrances, she would come away with a mouthful of sugar”

Known as “The Crescent”, this sweeping Regency terrace is home to unhappy newly-wed, New Yorker Clementine Williams, her older husband Herbert (when he’s not in London ‘on business’) and his ward Ottilie.

Lewes Crescent

 

3) Empire Theatre, New Road

Much loved male impersonator Harriet (Harry) Smart performs at the Empire most nights, warming up the audience before the provocative ‘living statues’ at the end of each show. All attempts by the Vigilance Association to ban them have so far failed …

Vesta Tilley

4) Albion Hill

“…what’s the bleeding point in having a bath, Lily thinks, if she’s to spend the whole of Sunday dragging her skirts through the muck of Albion Hill”

Home to Lily and her long-suffering siblings, her mother … and her lascivious Uncle Jack.

Victorian slums

5) The Chain Pier

“the creaking chains of the pier glint in the sullen moonlight”

Now known as the Palace Pier, the Egyptian-inspired Chain Pier was rusting and condemned in the late 1800s, then washed away in the storm of 1896.

 Chain Pier

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Don’t they look evocative? They’ve made me even more keen to bump up The Secret Photographs and read it as soon as I can.

About Jacquie Bloese

Jacquie is a writer of historical book group fiction, originally from the Channel Island of Guernsey. She draws her inspiration from atmospheric locations with intriguing histories, and people – both real and imaginary – whose stories are calling out to be told.

Her first novel The French House, set during the German Occupation of Guernsey in the second World War, was a Richard and Judy Winter 2022 book club pick, and a finalist in the Mslexia Novel Award. Her second novel The Secret Photographs is inspired by the seaside town of Brighton, where Jacquie currently lives, and tells the story of three women from different classes who become caught up in the underground world of erotic photography in 1890s Victorian England.

Jacquie began her professional life teaching English, in Turkey and Spain, before returning to the UK to work in ELT publishing for a number of publishers, including Scholastic, Oxford University Press and Penguin Random House. She now works freelance as an educational consultant, writer and editor.

In her spare time, Jacquie loves reading, walking, socialising with old friends and new, exploring new places & re-visiting old favourites, theatre, cinema, spending time in London, travel and daydreaming!

For further information, follow Jacquie on Twitter/X @novelthesecond and visit her website. You’ll also find Jacquie on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram.

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