Why a Booktrail?
1863: What are those things in jars? And where is the missing girl?
Things in Jars
What you need to know before your trail
London, 1863. Bridie Devine, the finest female detective of her age, is taking on her toughest case yet. Reeling from her last job and with her reputation in tatters, a remarkable puzzle has come her way. Christabel Berwick has been kidnapped. But Christabel is no ordinary child. She is not supposed to exist.
As Bridie fights to recover the stolen child she enters a world of fanatical anatomists, crooked surgeons and mercenary showmen. Anomalies are in fashion, curiosities are the thing, and fortunes are won and lost in the name of entertainment. The public love a spectacle and Christabel may well prove the most remarkable spectacle London has ever seen.
Locations
Reset- England - London
- A: Highgate Chapel
- B: St Giles
- C: Seven Dials
- D: Denmark St
- England - Sussex
- E: Polegate - train station
- F: "Maris House"
Travel Guide
Travel BookTrail style to Gothic Victorian London
This is the London you might not want to venture in for real – in case you end up as something in a jar! The world of anatomy collectors and doctors and people dealing in body parts is gruesome but fascinating in equal measure. Death and pickled objects align both the shelves and the pages here. Peruse at your leisure!
Much takes place in and around the Seven Dials area of London. This at the time was teaming with poverty and criminals. The narrow streets and tightly packed houses were a hotbed of crime and worse. But the cobbles and the characters made this a fascinating area which has been brought to life on these pages. The scene setting is amazing and kudos to the author. Does she have a time machine? She’s conjured a world of dens, laboratories, villains on the streets, inhumanity and filth on every corner and the Victorian morbid fascination with death and dying.
Anatomy collectors, gothic overtones, curiosities and more. It’s gloriously gory and deliciously dark. A feast for your reading senses.
Polegate
There’s a strand of the novel which takes the characters away from London and up to Polegate in Sussex. Don’t think the atmosphere of those things in jars is going to get any more gentle…
Streetview Maps
C) UK - London - Seven Dials
D) UK - London - Denmark Street
Booktrailer Review
I absolutely loved this! Gripping, atmospheric, a thrilling premise and a very interesting set of characters. That’s the review: I love this book
Read more of The BookTrail’s Bookreview of Things In Jars on the blog here
BookTrail Boarding Pass: Things in Jars
Destination: London, Polegate Author/guide: Jess Kidd Departure Time: 1863
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