"Balancing a razor-sharp wire between greed and privilege, liberty and opportunity, this is a breathtaking, chilling, and vividly evocative historical tale. "
Hugely provocative, powerful, and suffused with a stinging, haunting beauty, The Clockwork Girl thoroughly deserves its inclusion as a LoveReading Star Book. Set in Paris during 1750, Madeleine is tasked with discovering the truth about a clockmaker who designs mechanical objects that appear to come to life. Three women sit centre stage, all from different backgrounds, yet struggling to survive in a male dominated world.Oh my word, from the very beginning this made me flinch, unapologetically raw and intense the words burrowed their way inside me. Anna Mazzola really is the most gifted storyteller, I was taken captive as I read, consumed by the fierce thrilling plot and the characters who invaded, and still remain in my mind. I loved the sharp edge of the unreal I found myself hovering over, the insinuations and suggestions that allowed my thoughts to run riot. While the spellbinding clockworks danced eerily featherlight in their own world, the reality of the time created a layer of foreboding that sat glowering, waiting, ready. As it soared into chilling evocative life in front of my eyes I fell in love with this tale. I just had to include The Clockwork Girl as a Liz Pick of the Month, it’s an entirely and gloriously captivating stunner of a read.
| Primary Genre | Historical Fiction |
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Paris, 1750.
In the midst of an icy winter, as birds fall frozen from the sky, chambermaid Madeleine Chastel arrives at the home of the city's celebrated clockmaker and his clever, unworldly daughter.
Madeleine is hiding a dark past, and a dangerous purpose: to discover the truth of the clockmaker's experiments and record his every move, in exchange for her own chance of freedom.
For as children quietly vanish from the Parisian streets, rumours are swirling that the clockmaker's intricate mechanical creations, bejewelled birds and silver spiders, are more than they seem.
And soon Madeleine fears that she has stumbled upon an even greater conspiracy. One which might reach to the very heart of Versailles... A intoxicating story of obsession, illusion and the price of freedom.
The Clockwork Girl features in the following genres: Historical Fiction, Action Adventure, General Fiction, Historical adventure fiction, Fiction, Book Club Recommendations, Liz Robinson's Picks of the Month, Recommendations, Star Books, Thriller and Suspense, Narrative theme: Social issues, Narrative theme: Sense of place, Fiction: narrative themes
The Clockwork Girl is available in Paperback, Hardback
The Clockwork Girl was written by Anna Mazzola and published by Orion an imprint of Orion Publishing Co
The Clockwork Girl has 362 pages
£9.89
