Description
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue is a vivid historical novel set in San Francisco during the scorching summer of 1876, a time when the city is gripped by a record-breaking heat wave and a smallpox epidemic. The story begins with the shocking murder of Jenny Bonnet, a daring and unconventional woman, observed through the window of a railroad saloon.
Blanche Beunon, Jenny’s friend and a French burlesque performer, takes centre stage as she races against time to uncover the truth behind her friend’s death. Over three perilous days, Blanche navigates a world of free-love bohemians, impoverished families, wealthy elites, and hidden secrets, confronting jealousy, deceit, and the dangers that lurk in a city teetering on the edge of lawlessness.
Donoghue’s narrative blends lyrical prose with cinematic suspense, reconstructing a forgotten and unsolved crime with attention to historical detail and atmospheric realism. Frog Music is a gripping exploration of friendship, survival, and the undercurrents of desire and violence in a turbulent boomtown, offering readers both tension and historical immersion.
