Age 11+

The author of this book is 19, and this is her fifth published novel, which makes her a phenomenon. She is also, by any standards, a Writer, in the proper sense. She produces clever, surprising prose, each sentence carefully avoiding banality: cabs carry “the rich and the richer to and from their wealth”; inns are “full of the silence of broken men taking their tankards too seriously to be safe”. Yet this thriller, in which Horatio Lyle, a dashing special constable and man of science, takes on dangerous supernatural beings and corrupt aristocrats to save, not exactly the world, but the pursuit of knowledge, is also rich in action and character. Defying current clichés of children’s fiction, the novel has evil forces that believe in restoring the planet to its natural state — even if that means murdering people — while the hero has faith in the industrical revolution and the potential of technology. Lyle is assisted in his helter-skelter adventure by a wealthy youth and by Tess, a delightfully cheeky child thief. Best of all is the detailed evocation of Victorian London.

(Atom £10.99)

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