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.