You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
A decent family 1920s saga of the criminal class and the dodgy dealing police. With a large cast of characters, lightly based on real life.
This was book was a contradictory read - I both wanted to get to the end quickly to solve the mysteries but I also wished it was as twice a long so I could spend more time in its world with its characters. It’s not a groundbreaking novel but, as a lover of mystery, 20th century history and British settings, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Not as compelling as some Atkinson novels. I had some difficulty listening because the story loops back on itself and it was tricky to keep track of the whens of the narrative. About a crime family in 1920s London who own 5 nightclubs, two girls who run away to London, a librarian who goes to find them, and the police.
This is the perfect read for a bookish, fun-loving woman that hates men unless they fawn all over her. Beyond this point *SPOILERS GALORE*.
There are two tropes that are at the backbone of this book- the Mary Sue, and the Kill Your Gays trope- although here it expands out to Kill Your Men Except the One Man That Makes the Cut to be the Heroine's Love Interest.
If you don't already know the concept, a Mary Sue is a central character obviously living out the wish fulfillment of the author. She's perfect. Everyone admires her. She's strong, but can be saved by a handsome man when it's romantically fulfilling. She's noble, but willing to bend society's rules when it's romantically fulfilling. She's smart but not stuffy. She gets away with everything. She suffers nothing, other than the tough, tough choice of which man should be her boyfriend. Our Mary Sue in this book is the librarian turned police spy Gwendolyn. She ostensibly is in London to search for missing girls, but she finds plenty of time to save the life of a stranger, shop for expensive clothes, be put up in expensive rooms, and toy with the affections of strong, capable men.
But if you're not the man she picks in the end, then heaven help you. Because practically every other male in this story ends up dead. Shot, hit by a truck, hanged by the courts, hanged by themself, stabbed by women in righteous anger, stabbed by a stranger dressed up as a mummy for absolutely no reason, or thrown from their third-story window by who knows really. And who cares? If you're not going to whisk Gwendolyn away to an adventurous life of international travel and scintillating heterosexuality, then you're just flotsam anyhow.
I can think of three male characters who survive. There's a police sergeant whose role is to sit at a desk and provide a sort-of comic relief once in a while. There's a dad upcountry whose job is to worry and fuss over his wife and daughter. And there's a tattooed bartender/boxer who pushes dope on his (male) lover until that lover is found dead.
The exception, of course, is the bad boy with a heart of gold that will be Gwendolyn's paramour. Cynical about the whole world, except Gwendolyn? Check. Tall and handsome? Check. Rich? Check. Able to handle himself in the roughest situations, but a perfect gentleman when it comes to Gwennie? Check. He dislikes his family, so they won't be any competition for his attention when Gwennie needs him. But he adores his dog, so you can see that he really does value companionship if only he could find the perfect Mary Sue that deserved it from him. Well he has. And if that turns your crank, you'll love this book.
There are two tropes that are at the backbone of this book- the Mary Sue, and the Kill Your Gays trope- although here it expands out to Kill Your Men Except the One Man That Makes the Cut to be the Heroine's Love Interest.
If you don't already know the concept, a Mary Sue is a central character obviously living out the wish fulfillment of the author. She's perfect. Everyone admires her. She's strong, but can be saved by a handsome man when it's romantically fulfilling. She's noble, but willing to bend society's rules when it's romantically fulfilling. She's smart but not stuffy. She gets away with everything. She suffers nothing, other than the tough, tough choice of which man should be her boyfriend. Our Mary Sue in this book is the librarian turned police spy Gwendolyn. She ostensibly is in London to search for missing girls, but she finds plenty of time to save the life of a stranger, shop for expensive clothes, be put up in expensive rooms, and toy with the affections of strong, capable men.
But if you're not the man she picks in the end, then heaven help you. Because practically every other male in this story ends up dead. Shot, hit by a truck, hanged by the courts, hanged by themself, stabbed by women in righteous anger, stabbed by a stranger dressed up as a mummy for absolutely no reason, or thrown from their third-story window by who knows really. And who cares? If you're not going to whisk Gwendolyn away to an adventurous life of international travel and scintillating heterosexuality, then you're just flotsam anyhow.
I can think of three male characters who survive. There's a police sergeant whose role is to sit at a desk and provide a sort-of comic relief once in a while. There's a dad upcountry whose job is to worry and fuss over his wife and daughter. And there's a tattooed bartender/boxer who pushes dope on his (male) lover until that lover is found dead.
The exception, of course, is the bad boy with a heart of gold that will be Gwendolyn's paramour. Cynical about the whole world, except Gwendolyn? Check. Tall and handsome? Check. Rich? Check. Able to handle himself in the roughest situations, but a perfect gentleman when it comes to Gwennie? Check. He dislikes his family, so they won't be any competition for his attention when Gwennie needs him. But he adores his dog, so you can see that he really does value companionship if only he could find the perfect Mary Sue that deserved it from him. Well he has. And if that turns your crank, you'll love this book.
Another trust the process book - started out slow and laborious as all the characters were introduced and the plot started to get sketched out but as things started to come together, I couldn’t put it down. I would have been annoyed with the ending were it from any other writer besides Atkinson, but her characters are so interesting and the writing so satisfying that I put this down and felt satiated and also as if I would read a sequel.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
With its many vivid characters and detailed world building, this book reads like a Charles Dickens novel if that author had lived to describe the Roaring Twenties in London.
The novel focuses on the glitzy and sleazy nightlife in London in 1926. The owner of several nightclubs is Nellie Croker who has built an empire of six shrines of gaiety/dens of iniquity. Chief Inspector John Frobisher sets out to topple that empire: “It was not the moral delinquency – the dancing, the drinking, not even the drugs – that dismayed Frobisher. It was the girls. Girls were disappearing in London. At least five he knew about had vanished over the last few weeks. Where did they go? He suspected that they went in through the doors of the Soho clubs and never came out again.” The bodies of some girls have washed up in the Thames. Frobisher enlists the help of Gwendolen Kelling, a former war nurse and discontented librarian from York, who comes to London to find two 14-year-old girls, Freda Murgatroyd and Florence Ingram, who have fled to the city in hopes of careers on stage. Gwendolen infiltrates Nellie’s queendom and becomes exposed to the machinations of the Crokers and others wanting to bring down the queen.
There are numerous colourful characters: the ruthless Nellie and her six children (Niven, Edith, Ramsey, Betty, Shirley, Kitty), the melancholic Frobisher and his troubled wife, star-struck Freda and her naïve friend Florence, corrupt policemen, a back alley abortionist, pickpockets, hedonistic socialites, sex workers, and gangsters. My favourite character is the plucky and competent Gwendolen. She is more astute than Frobisher, and because of her war experience, remains calm and cool regardless of circumstances. Her witty exchanges and not taking herself too seriously add some lighthearted notes to a novel set in the dark underbelly of London.
And there is indeed darkness: poverty, corruption, robberies, drug usage, alcoholism, gambling, prostitution, sexual assaults, gang violence, suicide, missing women, and murders. Certainly, all seven deadly sins make an appearance. The novel makes repeated reference to the trauma of the war that ended less than a decade earlier: “War was a foul thing. It should be sent back to the hell where it had come from and never let out again.” Gwendolen and Nellie’s eldest son Niven were both in the war and both think of it in derogatory terms: “At no point in the war or after . . . did Niven ever think anyone had won” and “Gwendolen had known men in the war whose nerves had not just been frayed but shredded by the abominations they had witnessed” and “the insanely stupid bastards in government who thought war was necessary and good.”
There are frequent shifts in perspective: certainly more than a dozen. The omniscient narrator takes the reader into the consciousness of Nellie, Frobisher, Gwendolen, and Freda several times, but also into the minds of many secondary characters. As a consequence, it is not possible to see anyone as one-dimensional. Nellie is an appealing anti-hero, and even villains have some positive traits.
There are also many coincidences. Objects like a demonic doorknocker, a bluebird brooch, and a silver penknife appear more than once and connect disparate characters. Characters also meet with improbable frequency. For instance, Frobisher has a chance encounter with Freda without realizing who she is. The coincidences in Dickens’ novels usually involve unexpected connections between a relatively small number of people, and that is the case here: Gwendolen and Niven, Freda and Ramsey, and Edith and Maddox. Atkinson is well aware of the number of coincidences because she even comments, “And then at that moment an extraordinary coincidence.”
This book can be described as an experimental genre. Ramsey Croker, a wannabe author, begins a novel he describes as unwieldy: ‘it was a crime novel, but it was also ‘a razor-sharp dissection of the various strata of society in the wake of the destruction of war’.’’ Atkinson’s book can be described as historical fiction with elements of a crime drama and romance, as well as satire. It is not, however, unwieldy. I loved the commentary on human foibles whether that is the description of Nellie and dictators as “hard-nosed yet occasionally mawkishly sentimental” or an older man as “foolishly flattered by the attentions of a younger woman . . . a story as ancient as the Greek gods themselves.” Some of the insights are more affecting: Freda meets a friend who behaves like a “jaded metropolitan girl” but Freda realizes “If you looked carefully, beneath the heavy makeup and the strained, tired eyes, the real Cherry was probably still in there trying to protect herself.”
Like all of Atkinson’s books, I enjoyed this one. It has all those elements which I like and have come to associate with her, regardless of the genre: a complicated plot, eccentric characters, literary allusions, erudite vocabulary, and insights into human nature delivered with compassion and humour. This is an entertaining and immersive read.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
The novel focuses on the glitzy and sleazy nightlife in London in 1926. The owner of several nightclubs is Nellie Croker who has built an empire of six shrines of gaiety/dens of iniquity. Chief Inspector John Frobisher sets out to topple that empire: “It was not the moral delinquency – the dancing, the drinking, not even the drugs – that dismayed Frobisher. It was the girls. Girls were disappearing in London. At least five he knew about had vanished over the last few weeks. Where did they go? He suspected that they went in through the doors of the Soho clubs and never came out again.” The bodies of some girls have washed up in the Thames. Frobisher enlists the help of Gwendolen Kelling, a former war nurse and discontented librarian from York, who comes to London to find two 14-year-old girls, Freda Murgatroyd and Florence Ingram, who have fled to the city in hopes of careers on stage. Gwendolen infiltrates Nellie’s queendom and becomes exposed to the machinations of the Crokers and others wanting to bring down the queen.
There are numerous colourful characters: the ruthless Nellie and her six children (Niven, Edith, Ramsey, Betty, Shirley, Kitty), the melancholic Frobisher and his troubled wife, star-struck Freda and her naïve friend Florence, corrupt policemen, a back alley abortionist, pickpockets, hedonistic socialites, sex workers, and gangsters. My favourite character is the plucky and competent Gwendolen. She is more astute than Frobisher, and because of her war experience, remains calm and cool regardless of circumstances. Her witty exchanges and not taking herself too seriously add some lighthearted notes to a novel set in the dark underbelly of London.
And there is indeed darkness: poverty, corruption, robberies, drug usage, alcoholism, gambling, prostitution, sexual assaults, gang violence, suicide, missing women, and murders. Certainly, all seven deadly sins make an appearance. The novel makes repeated reference to the trauma of the war that ended less than a decade earlier: “War was a foul thing. It should be sent back to the hell where it had come from and never let out again.” Gwendolen and Nellie’s eldest son Niven were both in the war and both think of it in derogatory terms: “At no point in the war or after . . . did Niven ever think anyone had won” and “Gwendolen had known men in the war whose nerves had not just been frayed but shredded by the abominations they had witnessed” and “the insanely stupid bastards in government who thought war was necessary and good.”
There are frequent shifts in perspective: certainly more than a dozen. The omniscient narrator takes the reader into the consciousness of Nellie, Frobisher, Gwendolen, and Freda several times, but also into the minds of many secondary characters. As a consequence, it is not possible to see anyone as one-dimensional. Nellie is an appealing anti-hero, and even villains have some positive traits.
There are also many coincidences. Objects like a demonic doorknocker, a bluebird brooch, and a silver penknife appear more than once and connect disparate characters. Characters also meet with improbable frequency. For instance, Frobisher has a chance encounter with Freda without realizing who she is. The coincidences in Dickens’ novels usually involve unexpected connections between a relatively small number of people, and that is the case here: Gwendolen and Niven, Freda and Ramsey, and Edith and Maddox. Atkinson is well aware of the number of coincidences because she even comments, “And then at that moment an extraordinary coincidence.”
This book can be described as an experimental genre. Ramsey Croker, a wannabe author, begins a novel he describes as unwieldy: ‘it was a crime novel, but it was also ‘a razor-sharp dissection of the various strata of society in the wake of the destruction of war’.’’ Atkinson’s book can be described as historical fiction with elements of a crime drama and romance, as well as satire. It is not, however, unwieldy. I loved the commentary on human foibles whether that is the description of Nellie and dictators as “hard-nosed yet occasionally mawkishly sentimental” or an older man as “foolishly flattered by the attentions of a younger woman . . . a story as ancient as the Greek gods themselves.” Some of the insights are more affecting: Freda meets a friend who behaves like a “jaded metropolitan girl” but Freda realizes “If you looked carefully, beneath the heavy makeup and the strained, tired eyes, the real Cherry was probably still in there trying to protect herself.”
Like all of Atkinson’s books, I enjoyed this one. It has all those elements which I like and have come to associate with her, regardless of the genre: a complicated plot, eccentric characters, literary allusions, erudite vocabulary, and insights into human nature delivered with compassion and humour. This is an entertaining and immersive read.
Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Really liked this, but wished Atkinson focused on actually solving the mystery.