Natasha Pulley: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, 9781408854280, hardback (paperback in May 2016), Bloomsbury UK

Usually I am not known to pick novels with fantasy elements, except novels from authors of the school of magic realism such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Which is why I was so very surprised how much I loved Natasha Pulley’s debut novel “The Watchmaker of Filigree Street”.  I felt a little bit like entering a fairy tale.  If you enjoy historical novels, fantasy and Sherlock Holmes type of settings - this is your book!  It is a perfect novel to cuddle up with on the sofa when the weather becomes dismal outside or during the upcoming holiday break.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is set in the very atmospheric, late 19^th century Victorian London; several strands come together in this delicately woven plot.   Thaniel Steepleton, the main character, works as a telegraphist in the Yard and narrowly escapes a bomb attack on the Home Office. A special watch someone had placed in his flat went off to warn him, saving his life.  Steepleton traces the unusual mechanics of the watch to Baron Mori, a watchmaker of Japanese origin working from his shop in Filigree Street.   His visit to Keita Mori’s house changes his life forever; he finds a kindred soul and friend.  Entering Mori’s magical world where a mechanical, playful octopus called Katsu lives with his creator, he soon finds that his friend is also a clairvoyant.  Grace Carrow studying to be a theoretical physicist in Oxford is doomed to be married off by her mother very soon, a fate she is desperately trying to avoid at all costs as she much prefers to proof the existence of ether in her research.  As events speed along, the fate of these three main characters are dramatically entwined with each other, racing towards a climatic ending which finds you longing for more.  It is hard to believe this is Natasha Pulley’s first book, her prose is exquisite.

Rebecca Scherm: Unbecoming, Penguin Books US, 9780143128311, 16,00 $, paperback

“Unbecoming” comes with powerful recommendations by such well-known authors as Kate Atkinson, Tana French, Elizabeth George and Karen Joy Fowler, all with glowing quotes.   And the book does not disappoint, I can barely believe this is a debut novel.  Rebecca Scherm has written an extremely well-plotted story, a great delight to read, a mixture between suspense and coming of age and the publisher’s comparison to Hitchcock or Patricia Highsmith fits perfectly in my opinion.  

Grace or Julie as she calls herself now, lives in Paris, working as a restorer in a shady workshop where she repairs objects of art or bric a brac, probably not all of them legal or belonging to the clients her employer Jacqueline claims.  But Julie’s/Grace’s background is far from what she tells people it is, supposedly from California she claims to be on the run from an abusive boyfriend.  In truth she comes from Garland/Tennessee, where she spent a nearly picture perfect teenage life with her childhood sweetheart Riley, being virtually adopted by his mother Mrs. Graham who sees in her the daughter she never had. Her own flaky parents are too busy with twins to care much about their older child. Slowly cracks in Grace’s life appear and things start to unravel with every page.  Grace heads off to New York to study, getting a job as an assistant to an appraiser.  She becomes fascinated by the world of art, furniture and jewels she learns to appraise for auctions and estates and the people who are so very different from what she is used to in Garland. 

Shifting back and forth between Paris, New York and Garland, the puzzle is slowly put together.  In Paris Grace nervously follows the daily news of the newspaper back home. Finally she hits on what she has been looking for: the release of two young men from prison who served time for robbing the Wynne House, a museum in Grace and Riley’s hometown. They are none  other than Riley and Alls.  Alls also belonged to Grace’s inner circle, a guy very different from Riley and the secret object of her lust.  Grace was the architect of that heist gone bad but she escaped to Prague. A cat and mouse game unfolds after the release of the two and one becomes a helpless bystander as Grace’s old life catches up with her in Paris.

From the very first page Rebecca Scherm has you hooked, I hope this book finds many readers but sadly I don't think the cover treatment quite portraits what an excellent story is between the covers. I really look forward to the next novel Rebecca Schem hopefully has up her sleeves.

Jane Gardam: The Man in the Wooden Hat, Europa Editions 9781933372891

Jane Gardam I have just discovered for myself being tipped off by a friend from the publishing world. German publishing companies have discovered this wonderful author at the same time,   “Old Filth” has just come out in German as “Ein untadeliger Mann” although it was already published several years ago in the UK.

Having read “Old Filth” about a month ago, I had to read the second part of this trilogy which tells the story of mainly 3 people who are very connected with each other throughout their lives,  Sir Edward Feathers, his wife Betty and his old enemy Terry Veneering who plays an important part in Betty’s life.  The third part of this trilogy ,“Old Friends”, is on my reading list for sure.

“The Man in the Wooden Hat”  tells Betty’s version of life with “Old Filth” , Edward Feathers , beginning after WWII in London, Hong Kong and finally their retirement in Dorset.  I had missed more of Betty’s voice in “Old Filth”, her side of the story felt equally important and I was not disappointed– she is an immensely likeable, upbeat character as I imagined her to be.  I will not gallop ahead and reveal much more. Betty’s secrets come out in the open as you read on, be it why her life remained childless or about her relationship with Terry Veneering and his son Harry. Or why she married Edward Feathers to begin with. Other colorful characters appearing in “Old Filth” like aforementioned Terry Veneering, his son Harry, Isobel Ingoldby or Albert Ross - they all play an important part in  Betty's life.

Jane Gardam is a master storyteller, in her stories no one is really who they appear to be to outsiders. She paints the English stiff upper lip and the tragedies hiding behind it like no one else with her short, clipped sentences.   I was very surprised to discover that she is already 87 years old now and am really glad this wonderful writer has been discovered for German readers. I hope she achieves the same success here she had in the UK, she deserves to be high up in the German bestseller list.