Frances White on representation, confidence and magic in her fantasy murder mystery

Dumpling is not only the name of Frances White’s unspeakably adorable kitten, but also the name of a fluffy, teleporting miniature dragon butler in her début novel Voyage of the Damned. I meet Dumpling—the cat, not the dragon—when White speaks to me over Zoom from her home in Nottingham.

Voyage of the Damned, a dark and whimsical murder mystery crossed with fantasy, is the first of its ilk I’ve read: a classic locked room mystery, inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, but set in a fantasy world. The tale is narrated by the fantastically sarcastic Ganymedes “Dee” Piscero, the heir to the Fish Province, one of the 12 regions in the empire of Concordia. Each province boasts a unique landscape and is named after an animal: Ermine, Bear, Ox, Fish, a “Bunnerfly” (a flying rabbit), Grasshopper, Crow, Elephant, Tortoise, Spider, Tiger and Dragon. The future rulers of each province are known as the Blessed, and each is bestowed with magical abilities called blessings, which act as a rite of leadership. All possess these powers except for Dee, who is forced to pretend that his blessing has manifested. To keep up the pretence, Dee boards the vessel “Dragon’s Dawn” along with the 11 other province heirs on a pilgrimage to bond with the other soon-to-be rulers. Hopes for a smooth voyage are scuppered when one-by-one the province heirs are murdered in various gruesome ways. In a bid to catch the killer before everyone on the ship is dead, Dee assumes the role of detective, haphazardly attempting to solve the crime and cracking a few jokes along the way.

It’s a gloriously entertaining tale where White’s flair for comic writing is given the space to develop alongside her protagonist. But Voyage of the Damned is a story that nearly didn’t come to be. Over six years, White wrote four books, sending 200 queries to agents for representation before signing with Harry Illingworth at the D H H Literary Agency with Blood of the Gargouille, a French history-inspired fantasy novel. When Blood of the Gargouille didn’t find a publisher in 2021, White began writing Voyage of the Damned which found a home with Michael Joseph. 

I’ve grown up surrounded by people from all sorts of backgrounds and all sorts of walks of life and it just wouldn’t have felt natural for me to write a novel full of white, straight men

White’s début is a standalone fantasy novel, like her previously unpublished work,  but the real game changer was the narrator, Ganymedes. “When I was writing I was like: ‘This is my voice, this is what I should have been doing the whole time’... This one was really me. I don’t think anyone else could have written it.” Although Ganymedes’ name was chosen because “it sounded way too posh for who [he is]”, it is also by lucky coincidence the name of figure from an Ancient Greek mythology now seen, White says, as a “gay icon”.

Large cast of characters

The unwitting homage reflects the “queer-friendly world” White wanted to construct as, akin to Freya Marske’s Edwardian-set fantasy series, The Last Binding, she “didn’t want to write about a world where [sexuality] was an issue”. The large cast is illustrative not only of a LGBTQ+ friendly world, but the diversity found in our own. Negüi, the heir to Spider Province, uses they/them pronouns, many of the cast are LGBTQ+ and Tendai, from Elephant Province, uses a wheelchair. “I’ve grown up surrounded by people from all sorts of backgrounds and all sorts of walks of life and it just wouldn’t have felt natural for me to write a novel full of white, straight men, that doesn’t accurately represent any world I know,” explains White. For the experiences White herself had no knowledge of, she consulted sensitivity readers at Writing Diversely.

It was incredibly important for White not only to have a diverse cast but also to include a “plus size lead” as the hero. “Quite often [plus size characters are] either evil or comic relief or it’ll be a plus size main character who’s on a journey to accept that part of their body. Dee obviously has huge confidence issues, but it’s nothing to do with how he looks … which was quite healing for me to write.”

Even if you don’t feel like you belong, sometimes the reason you don’t belong can be an advantage. Going against the grain or against the norm can be your greatest weapon

Dee is truly a wonderfully flamboyant and vivacious character who flaunts not only a complete disregard for authority but a bright blue, sparkly fish costume for most of the novel. In a challenge to the stereotypical image of a mental health struggle, Dee’s outward confidence belies crippling self-doubt. “One of my main concerns was that people would be like: ‘Oh this main character says he’s depressed and look at him, he’s going round wearing sequins’. I tried to think of it more how in real life the people who are really suffering could be the loudest, most over-the-top people.” Importantly, Dee’s mental health problems stem not from his body size, but from feelings of alienation due to his lack of supernatural powers. “I didn’t want to write or read a book [where] the main character hates their body because they’re chubby,” White explains. “I just didn’t want that to be the issue. [Dee] likes his body.”

Going against the grain

White has dedicated the novel to “everyone who has ever entered a room and felt they did not belong”. The confines of the ship and the murderous circumstances force Dee to confront his self-criticism in the hopes of finding value and strength in his differences. It is this which White wishes her readers will take away from his character and the novel: “Even if you don’t feel like you belong, sometimes the reason you don’t belong can be an advantage. Going against the grain or against the norm can be your greatest weapon.”

In Concordia, Dee’s lack of magical powers inadvertently make him the perfect detective as, unlike the others, he is not embroiled in the power struggle between provinces. Like all great detectives he has sidekicks, the Dr Watson to his Sherlock Holmes, who won’t be revealed here. He creates “Detective Dee’s Diagram of Deduction”, displaying a fondness for organisation shared by his creator. “I didn’t have a diagram,” White explains, “but I had about a ‘bajillion’ spreadsheets” to keep track of clues.