‘The Witness’ by Alexandra Wilson

Published by Sphere,
20 June 2024.
ISBN: 978-0-7515-8340-3

One of the pleasures of any novel is the glimpse it offers into someone else’s world, and this legal thriller delivers that twice over. First there’s lawyer Rosa’s home life: not the luxury dwelling you might imagine for a busy barrister, but a rented flat shared with her grandmother and her little brother. Junior barristers earn fees, not regular salaries, and however experienced they are, rarely find themselves in demand for lucrative, high-profile cases, and often have to wait months for modest fees.  

This time, though, Rosa is taking the lead on a case that makes headline news – and that gives the reader the second glimpse, this one into the legal world. She is asked to defend Emmett, a young black man accused of murdering a white male nurse in broad daylight in a busy park. The evidence against him is damning, and it looks like an open and shut case; Emmett insists he is innocent but refuses to say why.

It’s plain from the outset that both worlds, domestic and professional, are deeply familiar to Alexandra Wilson. Her own biography reveals a life not a million miles away from Rosa’s: a descendant of the Windrush generation who has forged a career in the law, her own rather more brilliant than her protagonist’s, but with parallels, nonetheless. Small wonder, then, that the novel’s background rings so true: hardworking grandmothers, close communities and a constant battle against other people’s preconceptions on the home front; and at work, dingy interview rooms, ill-prepared opponents and witnesses who are unhelpful at best, untruthful or disappearing at worst. 

The characters, too, are true to life. Rosa herself is determined and conscientious, and more concerned with achieving justice for her client than merely winning a case. Her grandmother Nana is taciturn and fiercely protective, though she doesn’t hesitate to take Rosa and her brother to task when she feels it’s needed. Craig the solicitor is overworked, practical and down to earth. Emmett, the defendant, is ingenuous, but loyal to his friends, and though he soon loses his naivety in prison, he retains his belief in the triumph of justice.

The tension stretches almost to the final page – can Rosa prove Emmett’s innocence? Will the one witness Rosa can rely on to tell the truth actually turn up at court? Can Rosa balance her domestic commitments with the most demanding case of her career? And what really happened that morning in the park? There’s only one way to find out – read her story!
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Reviewer: Lynne Patrick

Alexandra Wilson is a junior barrister. She grew up in Essex. She studied at Oxford university and obtained a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL), and her Master of Law at BPP University in London. Alexandra was awarded the first Queen’s scholarship by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Alongside her paid and criminal law work, Alexandra helps facilitate access to justice by providing legal representation for disenfranchised minorities and others on a pro[bino basis.

Lynne Patrick has been a writer ever since she could pick up a pen, and has enjoyed success with short stories, reviews and feature journalism, but never, alas, with a novel. She crossed to the dark side to become a publisher for a few years and is proud to have launched several careers which are now burgeoning. She lives in Oxfordshire in a house groaning with books, about half of them crime fiction.