Poor, poor Miss Lavender. According to Phryne, she was “cold as a halibut on ice”—and that’s when she was still alive! We talk about cyanotypes, the hidden agenda in women’s magazines in the ’20s, Phryne as employer, and the awesomeness of Camellia, Lin’s Communist revolutionary fighter bride.
A couple things we mentioned in the show that you may want to check out:
Info on Anna Atkins (cyanotypes of British algae):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Atkins
Book recommendation:
“Murder Must Advertise” by Dorothy Sayers
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Deborah Kennedy who played Regina Charlesworth in S1E8 Away with the Fairies also played Doris Collins in A Place to Call Home. Which by the way is a very interesting show that you ladies should check out. Dynamic female lead in 1950s Australia. It deals with life, love, romance, friendship, class, race & religion.
Love the podcast by the way ladies. It is great to find a good podcast that covers Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries.
Hi,
In the Away with the Fairies episodes you questioned why Lin would have armed thugs at his warehouse if you he isn’t involved in the opium trade and I had some thoughts on that, as well as some comments on other aspects of the episode.
1)During Ruddy Gore Lin mentions that his father was an opium addict and that the import business was affected by it, perhaps his father was importing opium and those cousins benefitted from it. They could have been displeased with Lin’s work to return the business to silk trade.
2)From other episodes in the series we know that there are all sorts of nefarious types hanging around the docks, from Latvian anarchists smuggling in guns to human traffickers, so it would make sense for Lin to have a couple of able fighters on hand to defend his silk stores from potential thieves.
3) When Camellia reveals her history to Phryne and Dot she mentions that her late husband had been executed because he was a member of the Communist party. In Ruddy Gore Lin mentions that business had been in decline for a while and I have a theory about this. In 1912 the Qing dynasty was overthrown and the Republic of China began. The Communist Party of China was founded in 1920 and for the following decade the Republic and the Communists fought for control of the country. Thousands of people were killed, I think it is potentially possible that this civil unrest played a part in the decline of the silk trade, the instability in China would have made export/import of Chinese goods dangerous and expensive.
4) You also discussed the books where Phryne maintains a relationship with Lin after his marriage and Camellia seems fine with that. Though marriage in China and Chinese diaspora is not an area I am well-versed in, I understand that concubines were, while not a common practice, were not so rare as to be strange, and were in fact legal until at least the Republic was established. Perhaps Camellia had been exposed to this and accepted her husbands extra-marital affair as normal. Or even as desirable since Phryne maintained a separate household and had no desire to become Lin’s wife.
I really love the podcast and am looking forward to more. I am glad that you have started doing the recaps at the beginning of the episodes, I have seen the series a few times and love it, but I am not watching it right now, so I had some trouble remembering the over all plot, which you don’t focus on in the podcast.
Hopefully my comments are welcome, unlike a lot of the podcasts I listen to you don’t invite people to comment or write to you, so I don’t know if you want feedback or not, but here it is.
Keep up the great work and I’ll keep listening,
Rebecca