The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

And now for something completely different...  Thaniel Steepleton as part of his duties as a London Home Office telegraphist learns one day of an impending bombing by a militant Irish group.  That same day, he comes home to find that his room has been broken into, but nothing has been taken.  In fact, whoever it was has left Thaniel an elaborate pocket watch.  He has no idea who could have left him such a valuable present, but it isn't until the day of the threatened bombing arrives and the watch saves his life that Thaniel's search for its maker becomes urgent.  That's the premise of debut novelist Natasha Pulley's novel The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (#525).

If you've never ventured into the steampunk genre, this novel would be an excellent starting place.  Thaniel at first glance is a typical government bureaucrat in Victorian London, but his interactions with Keita Mori, the Japanese watchmaker who can remember the future, reveal that there is much more to Thaniel than meets the eye.  Grace Carrow, in the meantime, is facing her own problems pursuing physics at Oxford.  It isn't acceptable for a woman to even use the libraries there for her research.  Grace has her own way around that problem by borrowing men's clothes from her fellow Japanese student and fashion plate.  The Japanese are very much in vogue in Britain (think Gilbert & Sullivan!), and many forward-thinking Japanese are making the most of their Western connections, much to the dismay of the traditionalists among them.  It's a mixture ripe for revolution on two continents, and the politics play a definite role in unfolding events in London. 

Some of the clockwork creations described in this novel are so unique and interesting, I found myself wishing that some of them were real.  Katsu, a clockwork octopus of all things, sounds like an ideal pet; companionship without the fuss of feeding or walking it, and the endless pleasure of never knowing quite what it will do next, if you don't mind the odd missing sock or shiny bauble.  Natasha Pulley has successfully created her own world in this novel filled with unexpected twists and turns.  I can't wait to see where she is going to take us next.