Novel: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
2015 http://www.amazon.com/Watchmaker-Filigree-Street-Natasha-Pulley/dp/1620408333
It is worth saying that ‘Steampunk’ is not an apt description of The Watchmaker of Filigree street. Yes, it is set in Victorian London (mainly), yes there are fantastical but quasi-era appropriate technology and yes it is some sort of species of speculative fiction but it isn’t steampunk per-se. I’m not disparaging that subgenre or trying to make those who hate steampunk like Watchmaker (after all people may hate steampunk because they hate Victoriana – in which case they will hate Watchmaker). Rather my point is that this is a book set firmly in a real late Victorian London with occasional forays into a real 19th century Japan. The characters are real middle-class Victorians encountering something odd, and quasi-magical in a mundane and occasional violent London.
In other words – there are no Zeppelins.
Despite this lack of Zeppelins (a reasonable and historically accurate absence) The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a well written story that weaves in themes about predicting the future and personal relationships. The story follows three characters: Thaniel Steepleton, a Home Office telegram operator; Grace Carrow, a physicist investigating the ether (the hypothetical substance light was supposed to travel through later debunked by relativity) and lastly Keita Mori, the eponymous watchmaker around whom the plot revolves. The three are drawn together by a series of events that have their roots in the Meiji Restoration in late 19th century Japan, Japanese nationalism and, in addition, the actions of Irish nationalist bomb makers.
The overall quality of the novel is one of charm. There are few truly awful people. The primary conflicts arise out genuine fears although xenophobia, nationalism and the restrictions on Victorian women’s capacity to engage in academic careers or control their own money/property play a role also. A recurring criticism of the book is that it loses its way towards then end and despite a climactic bomb explosion the final quarter of the book does seem less focussed. However, the sum total of the book is an original novel that follows atypical characters through an atypical plot in a relatively familiar setting.
Also the lack of Zeppelins is more than compensated for by a mischievous clockwork octopus. You simply cannot go wrong with clockwork octopuses*.
[No not ‘octopi’ because it is a Greek ending not a Latin ending.]
Camestros Felapton 