by Ann Featherstone (Author)
A hanging always draws a crowd. But not everyone there has come to jeer at the condemned man. George Kevill's young son Barney is in the front row, and he knows his father is innocent. There are others there who know George is innocent, too - and the men who set him up have every reason to want to silence his boy . . .
Narrowly escaping the clutches of the sinister Nasty Man, young Barney finds sanctuary at the London Aquarium amongst his father's bohemian friends: Bob Chapman, whose performing dogs Brutus and Nero astonish audiences every night, the exquisite doll-lady, Princess Tiny, and her admirer, the giant Herr Swann. Together with Fortinbras Horatio Trimmer, aspiring novelist and meantime author of penny dreadfuls and popular plays, they will protect Barney and seek to uncover the conspiracy behind a dark secret that lies at the heart of the Victorian establishment.
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 288
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 02 Sep 2010
ISBN 10: 1848542038
ISBN 13: 9781848542037
Book Overview: In the tradition of Sarah Waters, a brilliant evocation of the dark heart of Victorian London
Ann Featherstone is Lecturer in Performance History at Manchester University. She is the author of several non-fiction books about the Victorian entertainment industry including The Victorian Clown, with Jacky Bratton. Her first novel Walking in Pimlico is also published by John Murray.