At the Stroke of Nine O'Clock

by Jane Davis

London 1949. The lives of three very different women are about to collide.

Like most working-class daughters, Caroline Wilby is expected to help support her family. Alone in a strange city, she must grab any opportunity that comes her way. Even if that means putting herself in danger.

Star of the silver screen, Ursula Delancy, has just been abandoned by the man she left her husband for. Already hounded by the press, it won’t be long before she’s making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Patrice Hawtree was once the most photographed debutante of her generation. Now childless and trapped in a loveless marriage, her plans to secure the future of her ancient family home are about to be jeopardised by her husband's gambling addiction.

Each believes she has already lost in life, not knowing how far she still has to fall.

Six years later, one cause will unite them: when a young woman commits a crime of passion and is condemned to hang, remaining silent isn’t an option.

“Why do I feel an affinity with Ruth Ellis? I know how certain facts can be presented in such a way that there is no way to defend yourself. Not without hurting those you love.”

'This is a well-crafted story that brilliantly depicts the place of women in post-war England and the injustices they suffered.' Readers' Favorite

‘Another triumph from indie author Jane Davis in this gloriously gritty novel that engages head-on with a post-war London struggling to re-boot itself and wider society.’ BurfoBookish

'An extraordinary novel so rich and detailed you emerge feeling as if you've just watched a classic film.' ~ JJ Marsh, author

'I didn't so much read as consume this book.' ~ Vivienne Tufnell, author

'You are in the sure hands of a mistress of the written word.' ~ Alison Morton, author

'An author in total control of her craft.' ~ Martin Hamilton

'Perfectly captures the spirit of an age, the transition between pre- and post-war Britain and the changing role of women.' ~ Kathleen Jones, author

'Before the reform of an archaic legal system, before second-wave feminism, before the #MeToo movement, the idea that the future is yours to make as a woman is an illusion.' ~ Book Witch

'One of the best books I've read this year.' ~ Denny

'Portrays the gut-wrenching unfairness of life with ironies and bad timing worthy of Hardy. But there is always the possibility of redemption.' ~ Jean Gill, author

'An exceptional writer with a unique voice' ~ Bookaholic

'An author who always delivers the goods.' ~ Ali Bacon, author

'Davis has a light touch. She writes with subtlety and nuance. And she does something many writers of literary fiction fail to do: she tells a good story.' ~ Put It In Writing Book Blog

'Davis isn't just good; she's phenomenally good.' ~ Debra Hewitt

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Womens, Historical

330 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 13, 2020

About the author

Hailed by The Bookseller as 'One to Watch', Jane Davis writes thought-provoking page-turners, exploring a diverse range of subjects, from pioneering female photographers to relatives seeking justice for the victims of a fictional disaster. Interested in how people behave under pressure, Jane introduces her characters when they're in highly volatile situations and then, in her words, throws them to the lions. Expect complex relationships, meaty moral dilemmas and a scattering of dark family secrets!

Her first novel, 'Half-Truths and White Lies', won a national award established by Transworld with the aim of finding the next Joanne Harris. Further recognition followed in 2016 with 'An Unknown Woman' being named Writing Magazine's Self-Published Book of the Year as well as being shortlisted in the IAN Awards. In 2019 'Smash all the Windows', won the inaugural Selfies Book Award. Her novel, 'At the Stroke of Nine O'Clock' was featured by The Lady Magazine as one of their favourite books set in the 1950s and was a Historical Novel Society Editor's Choice.

Jane lives in Surrey, in what was originally the ticket office for a Victorian pleasure garden, known locally as 'the gingerbread house'. Her house frequently crops up in her fiction. In fact, she burnt it to the ground in the opening chapter of 'An Unknown Woman'. Her latest release, 'Small Eden', is a fictionalized account of why one man chose to open a small-scale pleasure garden at a time when London's great pleasure gardens were facing bankruptcy.

When she isn't writing, you may spot Jane disappearing up the side of a mountain with a camera in hand.

Find out more about Jane at:
Website:jane-davis.co.uk
Get a FREEcopy of her time-slip, photography-themed eBook, I Stopped Time, when you signup to her mailing list at jane-davis.co.uk/newsletter

Reviews

[Kathleen Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christine Keeler meets Ruth Ellis: A compelling read

In the dark underworld of postwar London four women are trying to make their way in the world. But it doesn’t matter whether you’re a Duchess, a film star or a nightclub hostess, you aren’t in control of your own life. It was all black and white in 1950. Before the reform of an archaic legal system, before second-wave feminism, before the #MeToo movement, the idea that the future is yours to make as a woman is an illusion.

The women’s lives collide in a club, and Jane Davis captures the atmosphere brilliantly. As she writes in a note:. “Post-war London’s afternoon drinking clubs were key to 1950’ s culture. Few other places offered the opportunity for ex-servicemen and bored businessmen to rub shoulders with a roll-call of police, royalty, politicians, intellectuals, journalists, celebrities, high-ranking homosexuals and gangsters.” It provides the landscape and the cast list for a novel that unfolds like a movie.

As the story opens, a woman is about to be hanged for killing her abusive boyfriend. Jane Davis, without re-telling the story of Ruth Ellis, illuminates the context and puts the circumstances in front of the reader, who becomes judge and jury. Three other women have also been affected by the same moral standards, the same presumptions of male superiority, the same culture of abuse that a jaded post-war society turns a blind eye to. Their lives are unraveling. The novel also addresses the role the news media, skilled in wartime propaganda, plays in creating public opinion. A few choice words, a carefully chosen photograph. Madonna or Medea? A journalist has already decided.

Jane David creates original, sympathetic characters whose lives you want to follow from the opening of the book and she weaves their stories together until the point where they converge. Women support other women. You can rely on your friends. This is a compelling read.

[Liza Perrat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have loved all of Jane Davis’s novels, and At the Stroke of Nine O’clock is no exception to her literary genius. We follow three entirely different 1950s women whose lives come together in conjunction with the sentence to death by hanging of Ruth Ellis, real-life murder case that snatched the headlines of the day.
Working-class girl, Caroline Wilby, must take any opportunity to make money to support her family. Silver screen star, Ursula Delancy, is back in London from the USA, following a romantic deception. And Patrice Hawtree, wealthy patrician, attends her local club where these three women will ultimately meet due to the infamous Ruth Ellis case.
These three women, as well as Ruth Ellis, all existed in a man’s world –– a world where they were condemned for not meeting society’s expectations of them, and the author’s skill lies in subtly exposing this unfairness without directly hitting us over the head with it. The individual narratives bring to life each of the four women, locked into issues such as capital punishment, women’s rights and marriage. And each one gains our sympathy, our understanding, our outrage at the unfairness of it all.
All of Jane Davis’s stories are very different, but each one contains deeply-drawn characters, rich historical detail, nuanced layers of plot, and lyrical prose that is almost poetic. I would highly recommend At the Stroke of Nine O’clock for readers who enjoy literary fiction based on historical fact.

[Davida Chazan · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the 12th of August 1949, Big Ben was prevented from chiming at 9pm by four and a half minutes because a flock of starlings perched on the minute hand. This event initially panicked the British public, who didn’t know that it was only birds that stopped the clock. In Davis’ new novel, this is not only a starting point for her story, but also a metaphor for the lives of three fictional women living in post-WWII era London, whose lives are about to intersect. My #bookreview of this newly released novel is on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2020/07/1...

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another good read from Jane Davis, well researched, it is interesting to see how the three women's lives interact with each other.

[Cleopatra Pullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've enjoyed all of Jane Davis's books, each of which is different but all of them are absolutely brilliant. These are stories to get lost in.

In At the Stroke of Nine o'clock we are transported to the 1950s where we meet three women. We watch from the side-lines to witness the sexism that these women faced, and we watch in horror as their lives converge to the hanging of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in the UK.

An absorbing read that should not be missed.

[Lorraine Devon Wilke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit, I’m a Jane Davis fan. Having read several of her previous novels, I can’t help but be… she’s that good a writer.

One of the things I find most appealing about her body of work is the sheer scope of stories she decides to tell, from the sharp contemporary drama of SMASH ALL THE WINDOWS, to her expertly crafted historical novel, I STOPPED TIME, with a wide range of other eclectic, engaging stories in the mix. As one who reads prodigiously, I am always delighted to find an author whose talent lies not only in her particular style of writing, but the matters she chooses to discuss. Davis’s choices are always provocative and compelling.

AT THE STROKE OF NINE O'CLOCK travels once more into historical territory, following the paths of three very different women whose lives intersect at a particularly fraught moment in time—post-war London—where they each tangentially connect to a very real-life character, the infamous Ruth Ellis, whose imminent hanging death for the murder of a lover roiled the headlines of the day.

Before we arrive at that incendiary moment, however, we meet each of the main characters in their very specific and individual lives: popular screen star, Ursula Delancy, who finds the shattering of her personal life leading her back to London from America; Caroline Wilby, a poor, working-class girl moved to the big city to make money to send home, and Patrice Hawtree, a wealthy patrician whose disintegrating marriage compels her nightly attendance at the local club, where all three women ultimately connect.

As with all Davis’s novels, the setting and characters are richly drawn, with a wealth of detail and selective description that paints the picture, giving us the full range of visual, sensual, and emotional palates. Political issues of the day come into play—the death penalty, women’s rights, the state of marriage—allowing us a glimpse into the attitudes and proclivities of the time. The unique narratives of not only all three women, but the notorious Ellis, are brought to life in such ways that we feel as if we know them, understand their impulses and longings, their flaws and foibles, wins and losses, keeping us immersed in their unfolding dramas.

Ultimately, it’s a story that will both illuminate a reader to the time and place, and engage their senses in a propulsive, emotional narative that wraps real events in the swirling lives of three expertly drawn fictional characters.

A great read.

[Denny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Jane Davis to date

“You don’t read a Jane Davis book - you inhabit it”
Long after finishing this book, I’m still immersed .... thinking about the women and their journeys to the final point in the story when Ruth Ellis is hanged, the social mores of the fifties, the unfairness of it all. Fifty years on from now, how will our social “imperfections” be judged.

I can recommend this novel on so many levels. As a story I feel I came to know and feel for the three women; as a commentary on the times I was indignant and sad; as a study of the death penalty I was encouraged to do more research.

This book could easily become part of a senior school literature curriculum. Or enjoyed by a book club. It is beautifully written and it is provocative.

This may well be one of the best books I’ve read this year.

[Dawn Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real and convincing characters, with an exceptionally convincing sense of place and time – this novel brings friendship, social history and class divide into sharp focus.
I loved the attention to the small details (classic Jane Davis); such as when Caroline puts on a dress belonging to a previous hostess, it smells of her perfume. Gave me a real sense of time and place.

Riveting, with a slow burn, and (this is excellent) a low level of dread / anticipation as I waited for something terrible to happen to Whitlocke and for a death. I was surprised by the outcome (another good thing)

I could say more - but I don't want to risk spoilers :-)

[Helen Hollick · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are, oddly, three protagonists in this book, three disparate women with different background and lifestyles. Each is facing a crisis in her life. All three are distinct characters with their own voices.

Caroline is a naïve seventeen-year-old, fresh off the bus from Sussex and alone in London. With the death of her father, her mother is counting on her to make a living and send money home. She manages to get a job as a hostess in a gentlemen’s club, which entails persuading the members to buy food and drinks – lots of drinks. Anything beyond that is entirely up to her, but the owner wants a cut.

Ursula is a popular movie star returned to London after a time in Hollywood. She has left her husband and is pregnant and about to marry the father, a Hollywood director, when she learns he has spent the night with his ex-wife who delights in telling her that she too is pregnant. Alone and pursued by a gossip-hungry press, Ursula struggles to form a relationship with the daughter, ten years old, whom she left behind in order to pursue her career.

Patrice is a socialite, married to a duke who is both difficult and a drunk. It is a marriage of money and title. The duke is also a gambler and makes fraudulent use of Patrice’s signature, putting at risk her beloved ancestral home and her entire future.

By accident the three come together at the club where Caroline works and form a compassionate friendship. As they struggle with their own crises, they become involved in the real life story of Ruth Ellis, who is sentenced to death for the slaying of a brutal boyfriend. There are contemporary issues here relating to the death penalty, women’s rights, spousal abuse, and a harassing press, and we can see that the answer to the problems these characters encountered are still eluding us today.

The author is really good at creating and developing characters. With their individual personalities, even the lesser characters refuse to sit in the background. From Caroline in the smoky gentleman’s club, to the glamorous actress, to the wealthy duchess, and the people they interact with, we see life in the post-war years on many levels. I thoroughly enjoyed this well-told story of the struggles of women to survive, to surmount the obstacles placed in their path, of endurance, and of friendship between women who on the face of it have nothing in common, but who come together to help each other and to try to save another who none of them know.

Excellent read. Highly recommended.

I realise it is a cliché but I’m going to write it anyway. I think this book would make a good movie.


Reviewed for Discovering Diamonds

[Peter Snell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three very different women in London in the 1950s

I had to give this book five stars because it is even better than Jane's previous novel, and I gave that one five stars too.

As ever Jane captures the mood and physicality of the period she is writing about with remarkable clarity. It is the time of Ruth Ellis and the last ever hanging of a woman in this country. Three very different women have to struggle against the expectations, constraints and judgements of society.

This is a great description of our society seventy years ago and helps explain some of the problems and hang ups that we still face today.

I so want to say more but I am determined not to give you any plot spoilers. But I will confirm that the pressures of gender, class and privilege, or otherwise, are apparent throughout the narrative

[Jean Gill · Rating 5 out of 5]

How dare we judge them!

Three women defy others’ expectations of them and have to pay the price society demands. We walk in their shoes and know the pain beneath the posing. I love the way actress Ursula flaunts her bad reputation, turning it to her advantage when she needs to distract the press from what she really cares about – her children. The passages featuring the two children moved me to tears – I believed every word and needed the reminder that good things happen. Not always despite the tragedies in life but sometimes because of them, inextricably entwined.

Jane Davis portrays the gut-wrenching unfairness of life with ironies and bad timing worthy of Thomas Hardy but there is always the possibility of redemption for these people we come to care so much about. I am still wondering what I would do if I were any of her three main characters as each one is dragged into problems of others’ making. These 1950s women live in a man’s world and the period background is so authentic you are shocked when Big Ben doesn’t bong at nine-o’clock.
The historical event impacting on all three women is the sentence to death by hanging of Ruth Ellis, murderess. I was born in 1955 and knew the name and the fact but nothing more. Although Ruth features only briefly, details of her last days in prison create tension, punctuating events in the lives of the fictional women. For all four, I wonder how we dare judge them at all. Yet judge and jury not only condemned Ruth Ellis to death by hanging but a recent appeal found that the ruling was ‘just’ by the laws of the time. The difference between legal justice, especially for women, and what’s right morally hit me hard, reading ‘On the Stroke of Nine o’Clock’ and I’m still thinking about it.
Each Jane Davis novel is different but all have her hallmark qualities: characters drawn from life; telling details; and written so well that I re-read some sentences for pleasure. Her latest book was well worth the wait and might even be my favourite – until her next one.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great choice for Bookclubs

Really interesting entwined storyline, so refreshing to read a book that’s completely different. This book plunges you straight into post war London and immerses you into the lives of three altogether different women. Very well researched and written, hard to put down but very thought provoking (hence would be great for bookclubs to debate). I have a feeling that Caroline, Ursula & Patrice will be in my mind for quite a while.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another brilliant book by Jane Davis.

[Sarah Tinsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I interviewed the author for my blog, you can read it here: https://sarahtinsley.com/2020/11/14/h...

Her novel revolves around a gentleman's club in high society London where the lives of three very different women become intertwined. It's pacy, thought-provoking and moving. I particularly enjoyed the way her female characters were strong and defiant in the face of societal expectations.

[Jane Davis]

You don’t read a Jane Davis book – you inhabit it. At the Stroke of Nine O’clock is no exception.’ ~ Clare Flynn, author of The Pearl of Penang

'This is the first time I have come across this author, and what a revelation! She writes stunning prose that keeps the pages turning.' Historical Novel Society, Editor's Choice.

Q: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your new novel At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock?
A: It’s the result of a long-held fascination with one woman. I first became aware of Ruth Ellis as a teenager. What drew me to her story may well have been morbid fascination. After all, Ruth was that rarity: a female killer. ‘Six revolver shots shattered the Easter Sunday calm of Hampstead and a beautiful platinum blonde stood with her back to the wall. In her hand was a revolver…’ I was hooked by the story of the blonde hostess, who took a gun, tracked her errant racing-boy lover down to a public house in Hampstead, shot him in cold blood, then calmly asked a bystander to call the police. Not only this. She was also the last woman in Great Britain to be hanged.

The project really began with a televised documentary about the actress Ingrid Bergman. Left wanting more, I ordered her autobiography and a biography (I always go to at least two sources if I can). By coincidence rather than design, I followed this with two other biographies about women who lived through the fifties – and each had an association with or an anecdote to tell about Ruth Ellis. It seemed to me that I had stumbled on something. Ruth Ellis was a complicated, controversial and divisive character, but everyone had an opinion about her.

Q: How does At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock fit in with your other books and how does it differ?
A: After what was my most contemporary offering to date (Smash all the Windows) I’ve stepped back in time to 1950s Britain, into one of London’s afternoon drinking clubs. Few other places offered the opportunity for ex-servicemen and bored businessmen to rub shoulders with a roll-call of royalty, politicians, intellectuals, journalists, celebrities and gangsters. It seemed the ideal venue for my three main characters to meet.

The book has some elements my beta readers said they recognised from my other novels. We have multiple points of view, for example. It was only yesterday when answering a question about the book that I realised, although this is a very different book to Smash all the Windows, my approach to my subject-matter was the same. Smash all the Windows came about as my reaction to the result of second inquest to the Hillsborough Disaster. I was incredibly wary of writing about such recent history. You have to tread so carefully if relatives of victims are still alive. I asked myself, what could I add to the range of material that had already been produced? If a fictional account would be welcome? And what right did I have to tell the story? My decision was to create a fictional disaster to explore the issues faced by the Hillsborough families.

I had similar concerns about writing Ruth Ellis’s story. Instead of writing the book from Ruth’s perspective, I created three very different women and had them encounter some of the same struggles that Ruth encountered, so that when they learned of her fate, each would have their own reason to say, ‘There but for the grace of God.’

Q: Tell us a little about your characters.
A: My character whose trajectory most closely follows Ruth’s is seventeen-year-old Caroline Wilby. Like most working-class daughters, she’s expected to help support her family. For her this means leaving her family and everything she knows behind. Alone in a strange city, she must grab any opportunity that comes her way, even if that means putting herself in danger. She’s our direct route into the world of afternoon drinking clubs, where hostesses must use their powers of persuasion and feminine wiles to part male customers from their money.

Then we have star of the silver screen Ursula Delancy, who we meet when she’s just been abandoned by the man she left her husband for. Already hounded by the press, she’s soon making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Like Ruth, Ursula is pre-judged by those who think they know her simply because they’ve read about her in the press. And, like Ruth, Ursula appreciates all too keenly that it’s impossible to tell your side of a story without hurting those you love.

Making up the trio is Patrice Hawtree, a duchess, who was among the most photographed debutantes of her generation. In middle age she finds herself childless and trapped in a loveless marriage, and her plans to secure the future of her ancient family home are about to be jeopardised by her husband's gambling addiction.

Although the three don’t actually suffer Ruth’s fate, lied to and exploited by men, each finds a way to fight back. But this is the fifties. Defy others’ expectations of them, and they must pay the price society demands.

Q: The cover is very striking. What was the idea behind the image?
A: I asked my designer to come up with a contemporary take on a fifties film poster. I think he nailed it!

Q: One of the unspoken questions you ask in the book is whether women get a fair deal in the criminal justice system.
A: The traditional female role is nurturer, not killer. When women kill, their victims are usually people they have close relationships with, and their reasons for killing are very different from their male counterparts. Either they feel threatened in some way, perhaps physically, or because they fear they’re about to be abandoned. Or they kill as an act of mercy. This might be out of the belief that a child would be better off dead than alive, or they intend to kill themselves and don’t think that their child will be able to survive alone.

When Ruth Ellis’s case was brought before the court of appeal in 2003. The conclusion reached was that Ruth Ellis was judged by the law as it stood at the time, and that may be true, but shouts of ‘common tart’ were heard as she entered court number one at the Old Bailey. The judge found it necessary to repeatedly tell to the jury not to concern themselves with adultery or sexual misconduct; that Ruth Ellis was not being tried for immorality but for murder; that they shouldn’t allow their judgement to be swayed or their minds prejudiced in the least degree because, by her own admission, Mrs Ellis was a married woman when she committed adultery, or because she was having affairs with two different lovers. It’s impossible to imagine similar comments being made had a man been on the stand. And so it does seem that women are judged by different standards. Dual standards. And the further a woman steps away from the traditional nurturer, the harsher that judgement is.

Speaking in 2019 about the case of Sally Challen (Sally murdered her husband of over 30), human rights lawyer Harriet Wistrich said, “The law doesn’t work well for women in relation to issues of violence. If a woman fights back, they are often punished more severely than a man that’s violent.” It’s often argued that had the partial defence of diminished responsibility been available in 1955, Ruth Ellis would have been convicted of manslaughter rather than murder, but Sally’s case shows us that this outcome wouldn’t have been guaranteed. As at Ruth’s trial, the full story didn’t come out in court. Aware that their sister had suffered at her husband’s hands, Sally’s brothers challenged her defence team why the matter of their brother-in-law’s behaviour wasn’t raised. They were told, ‘Speaking ill of the dead doesn’t go down well will the jury’, a sentiment echoed by the Crown Prosecution Service’s representative: ‘It’s not Mr Challen who’s on trial. The fact that someone was incredibly cruel and abusive towards their partner is not on its own a defence to murder.’

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At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock was released on 13 July. (Price on publication £4.99/$4.99).
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Grace Masso, writing for Readers’ Favorite:

‘At the Stroke of Nine O’’Clock by Jane Davis is a pulse-pounding historical novel that follows three women against the backdrop of post-war London as they struggle to create a life for themselves. It is set in 1949 and introduces readers to Caroline Wilby, a working-class girl who is willing to grab any opportunity to make money to support her family; Ursula Delancy, a silver screen star who has just returned from the USA after a failed romantic adventure; and Patrice Hawtree, a wealthy, beautiful, and childless woman trapped in an unhappy marriage and dealing with an addicted husband. These women will eventually meet at a local club, thanks to the sensational Ruth Ellis case — Ruth Ellis is sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of her abusive boyfriend. This time around, Caroline, Ursula, and Patrice will not watch in silence.

This is a well-crafted story that brilliantly depicts the place of women in post-war England and the injustices they suffered. Readers are introduced to compelling women who struggle to survive in a world dominated by men. The novel is cleverly plotted and the lives of the four women are written in a suspenseful manner, with strong themes coming out clearly as one follows the characters — women’s rights, capital punishment, marriage, and social injustice. The characters are richly developed, each of them a reflection of the world they are born into; each of them has experienced the pain of broken promises and lost dreams. The setting in post-war London is well-written, with historical and cultural elements skilfully articulated. At the Stroke of Nine O’Clock features a real-life character — Ruth Ellis — and a historical world that readers will be excited to explore.’

[Annalisa Crawford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of four very different women whose stories, over the course of several years, weave together. With their back stories intricately sketched out, each of them draws sympathy from the reader. The author does an excellent job of drip-feeding information, at fading from one narrative to the next, at keeping the tension high.

[Barb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book. Jane Davis is a wonderful writer, and I happily recommend this tale.

[Bronwyn Kotze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Women helping other women straighten their crowns set in the post-war era in London.

Love, friendship, betrayal, and hope.
We meet 3 women from very different backgrounds who come together and form an unlikely friendship.
Like all of Jane Davis' novels, this one was well researched and beautifully written. I felt like I was there in London in the 50s, watching the story unfold. This was definitely one of my favourites so far and highly recommended.