Killing Beauties
By Pete Langman
Three 17th Century female spies work secretly to restore Charles II to the throne.
Sunday, 7 April 2019
Les Filles d'Ophelie - the significance of the locket
The locket shows membership of Les Filles d'Ophelie (the daughters of Ophelia), the all-female secret society to which both Susan and Diana belong. On the front it bears the image of a nightingale, the symbol of the sisterhood, while on the reverse, the sisterhood's motto: ego avis enim cantans inaspecta (I am the bird that sings unseen),
The locket is a vital part of the plot of Killing Beauties, and a beautiful thing in itself. As for its place in the book, you'll have to wait and see!
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Comments
As a lover of Shakespeare, I'm curious why the all-female secret society is called 'The Daughters of Ophelia'. Could you share the secret?
posted 22nd April 2019
Ah, now there's a question ... as I touch on in the new video, there are a few reasons for this. Ophelia is used to spy on Hamlet, and as such is one of the first female spies in literature. As for Hamlet's telling her to 'get to a nunnery', this has a secondary relevance. Not only were convents all-female spaces, but, in the case of Mary Knatchbull at least, they functioned as centres of information gathering and dissemination ... ultimately, of course, the Daughters of Ophelia are asserting their lineage in terms of intellectual birth.
posted 22nd April 2019