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3.19 AVERAGE
3.19 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Inconsistently paced and a bit hard to follow until the mystery really got going. Could probably have been edited down and easier to read. The last third was action-packed and really quite fun to listen to. Didn't particularly care for any of the characters, but learned a bit about the British suffrage movement that I'm eager to look into more.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Excellent descriptions of 1912 London. Story drags a bit in middle, but end is fast pace. Did not know how badly suffragettes were treated in UK.
Did not finish. Too many characters that somehow didn't seem different from each other. A couple of details drew me in (suffragettes, early 1900s London), but it didn't hold my attention.
This is really 4.5 stars it would have been 5 but it took me a while to get pulled in by the story. That said I really enjoyed this book once I was about 100 pages in and the characters developed and drew you in. Frankie George was a great character set against the backdrop of being a reporter in the time of the suffragettes and being torn in being herself and seeing it open up around her what theses women were fighting for. Ebony diamond the trapeze artist, tiger tamer and suffragette was also a great character who drives the plot towards the end and really feel that you would love to meet these women in real life. This was an enjoyable and informative read and the historical note at the end about the inspiration the writer had from various sources is great if you want further reading on a fascinating subject. I know I do. Read this you won’t be disappointed and I will definitely be reading another by this author
I've read elements of this story done better in other books, but I still really like this. Personally, I'm just a sucker for historical fiction set in the 19th/20th century. But this book has more to offer than just window dressing, it has an intricate mystery with the Suffragette Movement and even ties to The Ripper. Moves at a quick speed. Give this one a shot. It's one of the hidden gems of the year.
I wanted to like this book. But it took me a long time to get into the story, and even then, parts of it just seemed underdeveloped. I kept feeling like I was reading while distracted and therefore kept missing things when that wasn't actually the case. The writing just wasn't always clear and didn't effectively communicate the characters' actions or thoughts.
My biggest problem however, is that while so much of the plot is based on corsets and tightlacers, the author seems to have never put on a corset and didn't bother to try to interview any tightlacers before writing this book. One of the characters is killed off by being tightlaced to death, and mention is made of one tightlacer who apparently laced down so far her "liver split in two." While Victorian doctors liked to claim all sorts of ailments were caused by corsets (like cancer and tuberculosis), there is no actual documentation of anyone's liver ever being cut in two, or anyone dying of suffocation from being laced too tightly. In fact, modern MRI scans of corsetted bodies have shown that the internal organs are displaced and stressed no more than they would be during a healthy pregnancy.
I suggest the author pay attention to the more modern research into corsets and examine the anecdotal evidence from reenactors as well as the modern tightlacing community about what it's really like to wear a corset before she decides to make wild claims about their lethalness.
My biggest problem however, is that while so much of the plot is based on corsets and tightlacers, the author seems to have never put on a corset and didn't bother to try to interview any tightlacers before writing this book. One of the characters is killed off by being tightlaced to death, and mention is made of one tightlacer who apparently laced down so far her "liver split in two." While Victorian doctors liked to claim all sorts of ailments were caused by corsets (like cancer and tuberculosis), there is no actual documentation of anyone's liver ever being cut in two, or anyone dying of suffocation from being laced too tightly. In fact, modern MRI scans of corsetted bodies have shown that the internal organs are displaced and stressed no more than they would be during a healthy pregnancy.
I suggest the author pay attention to the more modern research into corsets and examine the anecdotal evidence from reenactors as well as the modern tightlacing community about what it's really like to wear a corset before she decides to make wild claims about their lethalness.
DNF. Found it hard going. Never wanted to pick it up again and keep reading. Why?
"Ebony Diamond had waited in the dark her wrists bound tight as shoelaces." As I tried to picture this, I thought she was tied up. So while reading, you make a picture in your mind of what you are experiencing, but turns out I was wrong.
"...keep your arms in or you'll lose one of them...once at the Crystal Palace a trapeze artist had landed so sharply on a falling jolt that part of his brain seeped out through his nose." Well, what does arms have to do with hitting your head?
I guess what I'm saying is that I had to keep re-reading even the most casual of sentences, trying to picture what the author was describing.
So it describes Ebony as jumping, then it cuts to a newspaper character watching a story come in on the newspaper tape. He is described as watching the details come in, and describes how the facts change, the Prime Minister is dead, the prime minister is alive, etc etc. But the book never tells you what actually happened. It skips forward.
Apparently 2 suffragettes pulled a stunt, using a trapeze, to display a banner over the prime minister during a speech.
But we leave that behind, and now comes the chapter on what must be the main character. She is a newswoman in 1912. She is sent to a corset shop for a story. She notices the proprietor had something odd about him. "...she realised what was so odd about the man. He was corseted to a gruesome size; fourteen and a half, fifteen inches."
So again, stop, what? I think the words gruesome size, is a poor choice. Gruesome size, to me, means BIG. So again, just trying to read the book and form a picture, I get stopped. What does "corseted to a gruesome size" mean? He was so cinched at the waist it was unnatural? I had to readjust the picture in my head, after careful analysis not just of the words, but of what they were trying to convey.
Just using these examples to show why I found it so tiring to try to read this book, and gave up.
"Ebony Diamond had waited in the dark her wrists bound tight as shoelaces." As I tried to picture this, I thought she was tied up. So while reading, you make a picture in your mind of what you are experiencing, but turns out I was wrong.
"...keep your arms in or you'll lose one of them...once at the Crystal Palace a trapeze artist had landed so sharply on a falling jolt that part of his brain seeped out through his nose." Well, what does arms have to do with hitting your head?
I guess what I'm saying is that I had to keep re-reading even the most casual of sentences, trying to picture what the author was describing.
So it describes Ebony as jumping, then it cuts to a newspaper character watching a story come in on the newspaper tape. He is described as watching the details come in, and describes how the facts change, the Prime Minister is dead, the prime minister is alive, etc etc. But the book never tells you what actually happened. It skips forward.
Apparently 2 suffragettes pulled a stunt, using a trapeze, to display a banner over the prime minister during a speech.
But we leave that behind, and now comes the chapter on what must be the main character. She is a newswoman in 1912. She is sent to a corset shop for a story. She notices the proprietor had something odd about him. "...she realised what was so odd about the man. He was corseted to a gruesome size; fourteen and a half, fifteen inches."
So again, stop, what? I think the words gruesome size, is a poor choice. Gruesome size, to me, means BIG. So again, just trying to read the book and form a picture, I get stopped. What does "corseted to a gruesome size" mean? He was so cinched at the waist it was unnatural? I had to readjust the picture in my head, after careful analysis not just of the words, but of what they were trying to convey.
Just using these examples to show why I found it so tiring to try to read this book, and gave up.
I liked this book. I loved the historical settings and the time period when the book was set into (I'm a sucker for that). All the characters were their own people who have their own fair shares of issues and strengths. I liked the dual narrative; it was interesting seeing the story progress through the eyes of two different people working their way through to solve the same mystery. It does drag a bit at some points, and I personally thought the big reveal was too lacking, but it's definitely a worthy read.
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
DNF
got to page 170 and still no mention of the hourglass factory
got to page 170 and still no mention of the hourglass factory