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white_hartThe Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow is the debut novel from Katherine Woodfine. It's a Young Adult book (or possibly what I think is called Middle Grades, despite grades not being a thing in the UK - aimed at 9 to 13-year-olds, more or less), though I think it's mostly only classified as that because the central characters are all teenagers, despite being 14 and 16 in a world where 14 and 16-year-olds were expected to work for their living in the same way as adults; it's certainly not an Issues Book.
What it is, is an Edwardian-era mystery set in and around a London department store not entirely dissimilar from Selfridges. The mention of the clockwork sparrow had made me think it was going to be steampunky, but it was pretty much straight historical adventure; it reminded me a lot of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart books, though there were also shades of Sherlock Holmes and a touch of Buchan in there. And it's utterly delightful. The central mystery isn't all that complicated but there was plenty of mild peril to keep me turning the pages, and the four main characters are engaging and well-drawn. I particularly liked the relationship between the two young women, Sophie and Lil, which I couldn't help reading as romantic in a way that none of the relationships between either of them and the two young men were (despite one of the men being attracted to Lil). I was very happy to see, when I got to the end last night, that a sequel was "coming in spring 2016", and even more pleased when I checked this morning and found that it was actually published last week. So I have bought that, and look forward very much to reading it in due course.
What it is, is an Edwardian-era mystery set in and around a London department store not entirely dissimilar from Selfridges. The mention of the clockwork sparrow had made me think it was going to be steampunky, but it was pretty much straight historical adventure; it reminded me a lot of Philip Pullman's Sally Lockhart books, though there were also shades of Sherlock Holmes and a touch of Buchan in there. And it's utterly delightful. The central mystery isn't all that complicated but there was plenty of mild peril to keep me turning the pages, and the four main characters are engaging and well-drawn. I particularly liked the relationship between the two young women, Sophie and Lil, which I couldn't help reading as romantic in a way that none of the relationships between either of them and the two young men were (despite one of the men being attracted to Lil). I was very happy to see, when I got to the end last night, that a sequel was "coming in spring 2016", and even more pleased when I checked this morning and found that it was actually published last week. So I have bought that, and look forward very much to reading it in due course.
