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A review by candacesiegle_greedyreader
Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
5.0
So, I'm sniffing around Netgalley for something juicy to read, and I see a book called "Things in Jars." Who wouldn't want to know more? And although I'm usually not a fan of magic realism, author Jess Kidd may just convert me.
Bridie Devine is a little woman in a widow's cap and ugly bonnet who helps find people and things in 1860s London. She's hired to find an aristocrat's missing daughter Christabel, who has been kidnapped from the estate. She's accompanied by the ghost of a boxer named Ruby whose many tattoos shiver and travel around his nearly-transparent self. Bridie does not know him and has no idea why he's tagging along. However, he is useful, since he can pass through walls and gather intel for her and, if necessary, her seven-foot-tall lightly-bearded maid, Cora.
Jess Kidd takes us into Bridie's mottled past, including her connection to Valentine Rose, the police inspector who occasionally hires her and may have a thing for Bridie. Her connection to Ireland means that she has can comprehend the mysterious creatures that may come from there, including the sought-after Christabel, who she realizes may be other than human.
"Things in Jars" is frisky and bright, and Bridie and her cohorts are people you want to meet again. The end leaves the possibility of a sequel, and I'm all in if there is one.
Kidd writes like no one else, but the kind of delightful surprises this novel offers reminded me of Judith Merkle Riley's works. There! Lots of new authors to discover, my fellow greedy readers.
~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader
Bridie Devine is a little woman in a widow's cap and ugly bonnet who helps find people and things in 1860s London. She's hired to find an aristocrat's missing daughter Christabel, who has been kidnapped from the estate. She's accompanied by the ghost of a boxer named Ruby whose many tattoos shiver and travel around his nearly-transparent self. Bridie does not know him and has no idea why he's tagging along. However, he is useful, since he can pass through walls and gather intel for her and, if necessary, her seven-foot-tall lightly-bearded maid, Cora.
Jess Kidd takes us into Bridie's mottled past, including her connection to Valentine Rose, the police inspector who occasionally hires her and may have a thing for Bridie. Her connection to Ireland means that she has can comprehend the mysterious creatures that may come from there, including the sought-after Christabel, who she realizes may be other than human.
"Things in Jars" is frisky and bright, and Bridie and her cohorts are people you want to meet again. The end leaves the possibility of a sequel, and I'm all in if there is one.
Kidd writes like no one else, but the kind of delightful surprises this novel offers reminded me of Judith Merkle Riley's works. There! Lots of new authors to discover, my fellow greedy readers.
~~Candace Siegle, Greedy Reader