The Lost Future of Pepperharrow

Author/Guide: Natasha Pulley

Why a Booktrail?

18oos:The sequel to the Watchmaker of Filigree Street.

ISBN: 978-1408885161
Genre: Fantasy/Sci Fi, Gothic

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What you need to know before your trail

For Thaniel Steepleton, an unexpected posting to Tokyo can’t come at a better moment. The London fog has made him ill and doctor’s orders are to get out.

His brief is strange: the staff at the British Legation have been seeing ghosts, and his first task is to find out what’s going on. But staying with his closest friend Keita Mori in Yokohama, Thaniel starts to experience ghostly happenings himself. For reasons he won’t say, Mori is frightened. Then he vanishes.

Meanwhile, something strange is happening in a frozen labour camp in northern Japan. Takiko Pepperharrow, an old friend of Mori’s, must investigate.

As ghosts appear across Tokyo and the weather turns bizarrely electrical, Thaniel grows convinced that it all has something to do with Mori’s disappearance – and that Mori might be in far more trouble than any of them first thought.

Travel Guide

map from the novel

Before you head to Tokyo via this novel, it’s really best to read The Watchmaker of Filigree Street before reading this. We are taken immediately to Japan to meet Thaniel Steepleton, Keita Mori, Grace Carrow, Six and the rest of the gang.

Keita Mori, the clairvoyant watchmaker, is sent to consult with the staff at the British Legation. They have started to experience a number of hauntings and spooky goings on. They don’t know what is going on and this world of ghostly deeds soon grows into a magical and fantastical land.

Historical elements also blend in seamlessly here as the Russians have a fleet of ships of the coast of Nagasaki – could these be about to invade the country at any moment?

Funny humour of the Japanese Language:

“She waited by the blackboard, trying to scrape up enough of her abysmal Japanese to ask what was going on. Lectures were always in English, which was just as well, because she had the linguistic capability of a sea cucumber. As far as she could tell, the word for ‘husband’ and the word for ‘prisoner’ were identical. Half the faculty were still worried that she’d got Baron Matsumoto locked away in her attic.”