Journal of Dora Damage [Hardcover]

Belinda Starling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2007

This work is set in Lambeth, London, in the year 1859. By the time Dora Damage discovers that there is something wrong with her husband, Peter, it is too late. His arthritic hands are crippled, putting his book-binding business into huge debt and his family in danger of entering the poorhouse. Summoning her courage, Dora proves that she is more than just a housewife and mother. Taking to the streets, she resolves to rescue her family at any price - and finds herself illegally binding expensive volumes of pornography commissioned by aristocrats.Then, when a mysterious fugitive slave arrives at her door, Dora realises she's entangled in a web of sex, money, deceit and the law. Now the very family she fought so hard for is under threat from a host of new, more dangerous foes. Belinda Starling's debut novel is a startling vision of Victorian London, juxtaposing its filth and poverty with its affluence. In "Dora Damage" we meet a daring young heroine, struggling in a very modern way against the constraints of the day, and whose resourcefulness and bravery have us rooting for her all the way.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Victorian fascination with forbidden sex and science inspires this first novel from Starling, who died last year in Essex, England, at 34. In 1859, arthritic hands and an impatient moneylender force Peter Damage to allow his wife, Dora, to enter the family trade, bookbinding. With assistance from apprentice Jack Tapster and German finisher Sven, Dora masters the art while looking after her invalid husband and their five-year-old epileptic daughter, Lucinda. Business thrives, and then Damage's major clients—dashing Sir Jocelyn Knightley; his crusading abolitionist wife, Lady Sylvia; and their distinguished circle of friends—hire Dora to bind pornographic texts (including Fanny Hill, The Satyricon and very low-end material). Dora can only guess at their other illicit activities, having no great romantic expectations for herself until the arrival of Din Nelson, an American slave seeking refuge in London. Starling thus sets up a tale of two cities, contrasting wealthy aristocratic London indulging in secret obsessions with London's working poor struggling through hard times. Not every choice Starling makes works, but she creates secondary characters with Dickensian flair, evokes Victorian pornography without being pornographic and viscerally captures the craft of bookbinding. Starling's heroine is a woman of great energy and courage. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'The vivid, stylish, witty story of a woman who refuses to accept her powerlessness ... Starling illuminates the period, diving beneath the surface of things with vertiginous introspection and consummate poise' Susanna Moore, author of The Big Girls and In the Cut 'A wonderfully vivid tale of intrigue, corruption and deceit ... Starling has left behind a heroine who is a testament to her talent and imagination' ***** Alex Clark, Red Magazine 'An elegant epitaph to a lost talent ... a triumph ... Starling created a witty and sympathetic heroine whose modern pluck enhances her charm' Francesca Segal, Observer 'A scrupulously researched, racy tale ... Starling skilfully conjures up a dank, deviant London ... Her bustling, energetic book is a worthy addition to the ranks of historical fiction' Catherine Taylor, Guardian

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing (November 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747585229
• ISBN-13: 978-0747585220
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,552,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dora Does it Better, November 6, 2007

By 

Andi Miller (Caddo Mills, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Journal of Dora Damage: A Novel (Hardcover)

London in the 1860s is a dangerous, scandalous place to exist, especially if you're Dora Damage, the matriarch of the ailing Damage Bookbinders. When her husband, Peter, begins to fall into rheumatic disability, Dora surpasses her station as a submissive wife and mother and takes over the family business.

Dora shows an exceptional talent for binding books, from her creative embroidery and color choices, to her quick mind and willingness to work her hands to cracked, aching stubs. However, no matter how hard she tries in the beginning, the money just doesn't come. Finally, based on her covert work, she lands a job binding ladies' journals and other miscellaneous books. This first innocent employment leads to greater, more dangerous things--namely the task of binding pornography for a treacherous group of London's powerful and ruthless upper crust.

Despite my initial attraction to this book based solely on the fact that it appealed to my bibliophile nature, it had much more to offer than I anticipated. Starling's writing flows seamlessly, a clever mix of English slang and contemporary English. One quickly gets the feeling of being smack dab in the middle of Dora's life, facing down a traditional, sick and slightly mad husband, not to mention the benefactors that could potentially ruin her life. Dora's relationships with her employees and her daughter, Lucinda, are expertly fleshed and achingly believable, making Dora all the more sympathetic and intriguing.

Dora's journey is not only economic, but certainly personal and emotional. Hers is the story of a budding intellectual curiosity, as she reads almost every book to come through the bindery, and eventually her sexuality begins to blossom as well. But nothing comes easily or without a price. And I won't say more for fear of ruining the book for you, dear reader.

Sadly, Belinda Starling passed away in August of 2006 after complications following surgery. She was 34 years old, and The Journal of Dora Damage was her first novel. It is tragic, for Starling was a talented writer with many stories to give. However, those of us daring enough to enter Dora Damage's world are lucky to have such a striking book to hold onto and enjoy.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric, absorbing Victorian melodrama, November 1, 2007

By 

Lynn Harnett (Marathon, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Journal of Dora Damage: A Novel (Hardcover)

The mother of an epileptic daughter and wife of an invalid London bookbinder whose hands are so swollen with rheumatism he can no longer ply his trade, Dora Damage illegally takes over her husband's business. Daughter of a bookbinder and a governess, she is no stranger to the skills or the world of books, but it's 1860 and a woman's place is domestic.

But the very illegality of her position, along with her unusual and resourceful designs, attracts the attention of an aristocratic clientele with special, illicit tastes. With the business in heavy dept and everything pawnable gone, Dora is in no position to refuse the lucrative, but increasingly prurient commissions.

Her principle patron, Sir Jocelyn Knightley, a doctor and world-explorer, takes a personal interest, providing an epilepsy remedy for Dora's daughter, Lucinda, as well as gifts of special food and quality clothing - somewhat out of place in grimy, down-at-heel Lambeth.

Sir Jocelyn's wife, Sylvia, member of an abolitionist group that finds jobs for fugitive American slaves, also takes an interest, foisting a rescued slave on Dora's business. While the extra hands are welcome and Lady Sylvia is paying, it's difficult to keep the nature of the work from him and Dora soon realizes that Din Nelson's reserve and prickly edges hide a complex, possibly violent, man.

As the money accumulates, Dora's position becomes more precarious, and her avenues of escape shrink as the material provided her slips from the lascivious into the violent and perverse.

Starling's posthumous debut (she died at age 34 in 2006) plunges the reader into the everyday stench and filth of coal-driven, drain-deprived London, the vulnerability of the poor and the callous entitlement of the wellborn. There's a wealth of detail about bookbinding and the rules of the trade.

Starling also explores Victorian attitudes toward sex, women and race within the context of her steamy, earthy, conflicted story. While the story is not perfect, the atmosphere is almost tactile and the plot builds to a perfect crescendo of melodrama and a fitting, almost over-the-top denouement.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There is nothing damaging about Dora's journal, January 12, 2009

By 

Lilly Flora "by Lilo Drandoff" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Journal of Dora Damage (Paperback)

I have rarely seen or read such a complete package as is in this absolutely wonderful book, "The Journal of Dora Damage." As fits a book about a bookbinder the outside cover design is beautiful and the novel itself is completely written with no missing elements, no boring pages, no plot line un-followed up and no character incomplete. There is no doubt in my mind that this was the best book I've read in the last calendar year.

Dora Damage's married life was never easy, with her epileptic daughter, housekeeping on a budget and helping out in her husbands Peter's book bindery, but in 1859 it's about to get a lot harder-and a lot more interesting. With Peter unable to work because of rheumatoid arthritis, a massive loan in the hands of one of London's most ruthless moneylenders and no money at home Dora takes the reigns of the business in her own hands and binds a commissioned bible herself. When the man who ordered it is delighted with Dora's unique style Damage's bookbinders gains a group of important new clients-who are having a most unusual kind of literature bound.

At first Dora is fascinated, and then repulsed, by the variety of pornography coming through her business. But by the time she realizes the true danger of her new clients she is too late. They own her, not only because they're paying the bills, but because her daughter's epilepsy is considered a mental illness and the threat of a mental hospital and unspeakable treatments hangs over her head.

With a bevy of strange new friends from all walks of life, some very detailed and complete sexual knowledge and wonderfully imaginative book binding skills Dora sets out to escape the trap she has fallen into. But can she get out with her family, her money and her own skin intact?

As I said above this was a wonderful book. It's one of a rare genera of book that seems to have elements from every genera available-romance, mystery, adventure, war, comedy- but doesn't overwhelm the reader with constant changes in direction. The writing style is warm and engaging and with the incredible plot and very human characters the book is overall, impossible to put down.

I was very sad to read the note in the back of the book by Belinda Starling's brother Boris telling of her tragic death a mere seven weeks after finishing the book. I would like to express my condolences to her family-it's true that you can't get a complete sense of a person by reading what they've written, but anyone with the imagination and heart that this book took to write must have been a joy to be around. I hope that this book manages to bring the acclaim to Belinda Starling that she so rightfully deserved.

Five stars.

Though I can't think of anything that makes these two books similar except for the setting of Victorian England and being narrated by strong women, I have a feeling that anyone who liked this book would enjoy "The Tailor's Daughter" by Janice Graham.