Publisher's Weekly Review
Pulley's electrifying debut is a triumph of speculative fiction. It captures the frenetic energy of a world undergoing extraordinary changes: London in the time of new electrical devices, Gilbert and Sullivan's theater, and the terror of Irish nationalist bombings. Nathaniel Steepleton is a telegraph clerk in the Home Office, trapped in a life as regular as clockwork. Grace Carrow is a scientist seeking out the mysteries of ether. Their lives are brought together and into peril by association with Keita Mori, a genius watchmaker who can "remember" the future. When Steepleton receives word of a clockwork bombing and an anonymous gift of a pocket watch on the same day, he begins investigating Mori, who has been accused of building the explosive device-but those accusations are rooted in English xenophobia and exploitation of Japanese immigrants. Carrow is determined to prove Mori's guilt, and driven to make a scientific discovery that will free her from the limits society has placed on women. Pulley expertly employs the tools of mystery and fantasy to examine the social pressures faced by the marginalized. The plot revolves around finding the bomber, but the heart of the story is the universal human quest for acceptance, understanding, and love. Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates (U.K.). (July) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Pulley's imaginative first novel transports readers to a Victorian London teeming with danger and magic. Thaniel Steepleton is a clerk in the telegraph office at Scotland Yard when the radical Irish group Clan na Gael issues a bomb threat targeting their headquarters. Thaniel is even more shocked when he comes home to find that his apartment has been broken into. But rather than taking anything, the burglar has left behind a watch that ends up serving as an alarm just before the bomb is detonated, saving Thaniel's life. Thaniel sets out to find the man who made the watch and gets far more than he bargained for when he walks into Keita Mori's shop and discovers that the Japanese watchmaker possesses not only technological skills but otherworldly ones as well. When a dogged detective from Scotland Yard begins to suspect Keita of being the bomb-maker, he enlists Thaniel to spy on his new friend, creating a moral conundrum for the young telegraphist. Pulley mixes steampunk and intrigue with paranormal elements in this wholly original debut.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
As a telegraph operator in 1880s London, Nathaniel Steepleton works in the Home Office, lives in a small, spare apartment, and has a quiet life. The anonymous gift of a beautifully intricate watch changes everything. Soon after, terrorists set off a bomb using elaborate clockworks and Steepleton's device narrowly saves him from injury. He tracks down the watchmaker, Keita Mori, despite his policeman friend's suspicions that Mori might be behind the bombing. Mori is a genius craftsman with an unusual talent: he remembers the future. Mori and Steepleton's friendship is complicated by the introduction of Grace Carrow, an unconventional scientist who seeks to live unhindered by her family and society's strictures. VERDICT This delightful first novel is as impressive as a work of historical fiction, with its evocative details of 19th-century England on the cusp of technological and cultural revolutions, as it is a delicate fantasy with enough gadgetry to pull in the steampunk fans, and a mystery to boot. The climax is so well plotted that readers will immediately want to read it again. © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
