The Fascination by Essie Fox

 

The Fascination by Essie Fox.

Published 22nd June by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

Victorian England. A world of rural fairgrounds and glamorous London theatres. A world of dark secrets and deadly obsessions…

Twin sisters Keziah and Tilly Lovell are identical in every way, except that Tilly hasn't grown a single inch since she was five. Coerced into promoting their father's quack elixir as they tour the country fairgrounds, at the age of fifteen the girls are sold to a mysterious Italian known as ‘Captain’.

Theo is an orphan, raised by his grandfather, Lord Seabrook, a man who has a dark interest in anatomical freaks and other curiosities … particularly the human kind. Resenting his grandson for his mother’s death in childbirth, when Seabrook remarries and a new heir is produced, Theo is forced to leave home without a penny to his name.

Theo finds employment in Dr Summerwell’s Museum of Anatomy in London, and here he meets Captain and his theatrical ‘family’ of performers, freaks and outcasts.

But it is Theo’s fascination with Tilly and Keziah that will lead all of them into a web of deceits, exposing the darkest secrets and threatening everything they know…

Exploring universal themes of love and loss, the power of redemption and what it means to be unique, The Fascination is an evocative, glittering and bewitching gothic novel that brings alive Victorian London – and darkness and deception that lies beneath…

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Identical twin sisters Keziah and Tilly are like two peas in a pod, apart from the heart-shaped mole on Tilly's cheek - until an incident when they are five-years-old, which means Tilly never grows another inch. Their manipulative, drunken father spots a business advantage in their physical disparity, and he takes them off travelling around the countryside fairs to be gawped at while he peddles his addictive remedies to the unwary.

When Keziah and Tilly are fifteen, their father cruelly sells them on to a mysterious man known only as Captain - a move which introduces them to a very different kind of family, and a chain of events that brings danger and darkness their way...

Theo's mother died in childbirth, after she was parted from her lover. Raised by his callous, grandfather Lord Seabrook, a man with very particular vices who resents the loss of his only daughter, Theo's only friend is his kindly old governess Miss Miller. When his grandfather remarries and produces a legitimate heir, he banishes Theo and Miss Miller from Dorney Hall and forbids them ever to contact him again. Theo's hopes of becoming a surgeon are dashed, and his future looks bleak, until he finds employment with Dr Summerwell at his Museum of Anatomy in London, and meets Captain and his unusual, theatrical ‘family’.

The story is told beautifully via the narratives of Keziah and Theo, who capture your imagination from the very first page, and through them Essie Fox brings the darker sides of Victorian entertainment alive from the points of view of the performers (both willing and unwilling), their clientele, and those who enable their weird, wonderful, and often debauched, pursuits. This is a world where the public are titillated by anyone deemed a 'freak', and willing to part with their cash for a glimpse of something shocking - or maybe more, if the price is right.

Against this backdrop, Fox conjures up deliciously Gothic storylines full of period feel that immerse you in the era, and fills them with characters painted as living breathing people that leap from the page and stir your emotion. There are villains and heroes enough to make this novel a highly entertaining Victorian melodrama, and Fox's writing ties you to the fates of Captain's little family, and the troubled Theo, through all the trials and tribulations she throws at them.

Fox weaves themes of loss, obsession, love, acceptance, and reconciliation throughout, and explores some very interesting aspects of the notion of 'fascination'. I love the way she also examines so many facets of the world of medicine during the Victorian age, and the myriad practices that existed on its fringes too, forcing you to think about the performance aspects of their work - and the macabre acts indulged in by some of those acknowledged as doctors. And the way she holds the secret of Theo's feelings of kinship with Captain's family until almost the very end was very cleverly done.

I adored everything about this book, especially the way Fox channels some of my beloved Victorian authors in constructing a story that easily holds you as fast as anything Wilkie Collins could have written. The nod towards the adventures of the notorious Fanny Hill, and the history of the author's family, is a delight too. If Gothic done well is your bag, then this is absolutely the book for you!

The Fascination is available to buy in hardcover, ebook and audio formats. You can support the very best of indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to join this blog tour.

About the author:

Essie Fox was born and raised in rural Herefordshire, which inspires much of her writing.

After studying English Literature at Sheffield University, she moved to London where she worked for the Telegraph Sunday Magazine, then the book publishers George Allen & Unwin – before becoming self-employed in the world of art and design.

Always an avid reader, Essie now spends her time writing historical gothic novels. Her debut, The Somnambulist, was shortlisted for the National Book Awards, and featured on Channel 4’s TV Book Club. The Last Days of Leda Grey, set in the early years of silent film, was selected as The Times Historical Book of the Month. Her latest novel, The Fascination is based in Victorian country fairgrounds, the glamour of the London theatres, and an Oxford Street museum full of morbid curiosities.

Essie is also the creator of the popular blog: The Virtual Victorian She has lectured on this era at the V&A, and the National Gallery in London.