‘The Confessions of Frannie Langton’ by Sara Collins

I am guilty of this. I was a woman who loved a woman, chief among the womanly sins, like barrenness, and thinking.

‘The Confessions of Frannie Langton’ by Sara Collins begins in the Old Bailey in London in 1826. Frances, also known as Frannie or Fran, is on trial for the murder of George and Marguerite Benham. While in jail, she writes down her story from her childhood onward.

Born at the turn of the century in Jamaica, Frances used to be the enslaved housemaid of John and Miss-bella Langton on Paradise. Until one day, Langton took her to London and ‘gave’ her to George Benham.

At the Benham’s house, she quickly became close to her ‘Madame,’ often called Meg, and the two were rarely separable. One day, however, George and Meg are dead. And Frances was found in bed next to Meg, covered in blood.

Could she have killed the woman she loved? Or is she only guilty of being a Black woman?

CW: medical experimentation on enslaved people, corporeal punishment of enslaved people, derogatory language, drug abuse, child loss, suicide