Shrines of Gaiety Hardback - 2022
by Kate Atkinson
Reader reviews for Shrines of Gaiety
Review summary
Readers widely admired the novel’s immersive 1920s Soho setting and its sharply drawn ensemble, with Nellie Coker a standout. Many praised the research detail and the blend of historical fiction and crime. Critiques focused on the sprawling cast, a plot that often feels secondary to atmosphere, and an ending some found abrupt or confusing; a smaller contingent found it dull.
Readers say this book is:
atmosphericvivid settingcharacter-drivenwell-researchedentertaininggenre-blendingcrowded castmeandering plotabrupt endingconfusing finale"The war was history, and history didn't interest Freda, she'd had no part in it. She was vibrant with the present and hungry for the future." Shrines Of Gaiety is the fifth stand-alone novel by award-winning, best-selling British author, Kate Atkinson. It's in the late spring of 1926 that the notorious Nellie Coker is released from Holloway prison, having served six months for a liquor licencing offence. Clearly, her paid policeman, DI Arthur Maddox, has fallen down on the job. Probably intentionally, Nellie thinks, and planning to take over her business as his own. Her five nightclubs have been operating under the management of her adult children, but her stint in jail has diminished her. Nellie has her finger firmly on the pulse, though: she realises that Maddox isn't the only threat she faces, and she won't go down without a fight. Gwendolen Kelling has come from York to look for two fourteen-year-old runaway girls. Freda Murgatroyd, half-sister of Gwendolen's friend, Cissy has dragged her best friend Florence Ingram to London, promising a singing and dancing career on the stage. The reality isn't as sparkly as they had hoped, but Freda is determined. She may not be entirely street-smart, but she's far from the naiveté Florence evinces. Having lost two brothers in the war, a father to illness, and then cared for her demanding, dying mother, Gwendolen quits her job at the library and seeks out DCI John Frobisher at Bow Street Police Station, assured that he is the man to help her find the girls. Frobisher is, indeed, concerned about the number of girls going missing in London over the last few months, believing that Nellie Coker's clubs are swallowing them up. Frobisher is on secondment from Scotland Yard, at Bow Street to root out the corruption that is rife. He is convinced that Maddox is the main actor, but the man remains frustratingly absent from duty, and Frobisher is unsure which of the men at Bow Street can be trusted: who knows if they are in league with Maddox? The ones that aren't lazy or stupid, that is. Frobisher quickly decides that there is clearly more to this librarian than meets the eye, and Miss Kelling's timely arrival somehow has him sending a civilian undercover into Nellie's citadel club, The Amethyst. She might spot her runaways there; she might just see something else useful… Once again, Atkinson has written a brilliant story with a wholly believable plot that twists and surprises. In a tale that includes murder, blackmail, theft, corruption, and a prostitution racket, there is also plenty of dark humour, some delicious irony, a few farcical near-misses, and dialogue with many amusing mental asides. Loyalty, trust and a perceived lack thereof, also feature. As well as main characters of surprising depth, Atkinson gives the reader a marvellously entertaining support cast: a war veteran who rescues damsels in distress, a somewhat precocious, perceptive pre-teen who fends well for herself, an aspiring novelist inclined to melodrama, a dissolute gossip columnist, and a jewel thief bent on revenge. She gives them insightful observations: "Men talked in order to convey information or to ruminate on cricket scores and campaign statistics. Women, on the other hand, talked in an effort to understand the foibles of human behaviour. If men were to 'gossip', the world might be a better place. There would certainly be fewer wars" Her extensive research into the era is apparent on every page, and as always, she is expert at setting a scene rich in detail with succinct descriptive prose: "The Cokers all had very eloquent eyebrows. They could conduct entire conversations with them, without saying a word" and "Sometimes he thought he could feel the weight of history in London pressing down on the top of his head" and "Much as he disliked being chained to his desk – Frobisher bound, his liver pecked at by bureaucracy – this pointless trailing around was time-wasting" are examples. Superlative historical fiction. This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld
CloggieDownunder
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From the publisher
Details
- Title Shrines of Gaiety
- Author Kate Atkinson
- Binding Hardback
- Pages 416
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Doubleday Books
- Publication date 2022-09-27
- ISBN 9780385547970 / 0385547978
- Weight 1.63 lbs (0.74 kg)
- Dimensions 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 in (23.11 x 15.49 x 3.81 cm)
-
Themes
- Sex & Gender: Feminine
- Category Fiction - General
- Library of Congress subjects Historical fiction, Gangsters
- Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2022014290
- Dewey Decimal Code 823.914
Media reviews
Citations
- Booklist, 08/01/2022, Page 30
- Kirkus Reviews, 07/15/2022, Page 0
- Publishers Weekly, 07/18/2022, Page 0
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