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Nonesuch
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Expected 26 Feb 26Win a free print copy of this book!
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25 copies available
U.S. only
It's the summer of 1939. London is on the brink of catastrophic war. Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman in the stuffy world of City finance, has a chance encounter with Geoff, a technical whizz at the BBC's nascent television unit.
What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into an adventure of otherworldly pursuit - into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes overhead. But Iris has more to contend with than the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand.
And only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history forever.
What was supposed to be one night of abandon draws her instead into an adventure of otherworldly pursuit - into a reality where time bends, spirits can be summoned, and history hangs by a thread. Soon there are Nazi planes overhead. But Iris has more to contend with than the terrors of the Blitz. Over the rooftops of burning London, in the twisted passages between past and present, a fascist fanatic is travelling with a gun in her hand.
And only Iris can stop her from altering the course of history forever.
480 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication February 24, 2026
5 people are currently reading
2623 people want to read
About the author
Francis Spufford
22 books765 followersOfficially, I was a writer of non-fiction for the first half of my career, and I certainly enjoyed scraping up against the stubborn, resistant, endlessly interesting surface of the real world. I like awkwardness, things that don't fit, things that put up a struggle against being described. But when I was excited by what I was writing about, what I wanted to do with my excitement was always to tell a story. So every one of my non-fiction books borrowed techniques from the novel, and contained sections where I came close to behaving like a novelist. The chapter retelling the story of Captain Scott's last Antarctic expedition at the end of "I May Be Some Time", for example, or the thirty-page version of the gospel story in "Unapologetic". It wasn't a total surprise that in 2010 I published a book, "Red Plenty", which was a cross between fiction and documentary, or that afterwards I completed my crabwise crawl towards the novel with the honest-to-goodness entirely-made-up "Golden Hill". This was a historical novel about eighteenth century New York written like, well, an actual eighteenth century novel: hyperactive, stuffed with incident, and not very bothered about genre or good taste. It was elaborate, though. It was about exceptional events, and huge amounts of money, and good-looking people talking extravagantly in a special place. Nothing wrong with any of that: I'm an Aaron Sorkin fan and a Joss Whedon fan, keen on dialogue that whooshes around like a firework display. But those were the ingredients of romance, and there were other interesting things to tell stories about, so my next novel "Light Perpetual" in 2021 was deliberately plainer, about the lives that five London children might have had if they hadn't been killed in 1944 by a German rocket. Ordinary lives, in theory; except that there are no ordinary lives, if you look closely enough. It was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Then in 2023 I returned to strong forms of story, and to plotting more like "Golden Hill", with a noir crime novel called "Cahokia Jazz", set in the 1922 of a different timeline, where a metropolis full of Native Americans stood on the banks of the Mississippi. I was aiming for something like a classic black and white movie, except one you never saw, because it came from another history than our own. It won the Sidewise Award for alternate history. And now (2025/6) I've written a historical fantasy, "Nonesuch", set during the London Blitz, where as well as German bombs the protagonist Iris needs to deal with time-travelling fascists, and the remnants of Renaissance magic, preserved in the statues of the burning city. As writers of fantasy, I like C S Lewis, Ursula Le Guin, John Crowley, Tamsyn Muir, Guy Gavriel Kay, Katherine Addison. If you like them, you may like this.
Biography: I was born in 1964, the child of two historians. I'm married to the Dean of an Anglican cathedral in eastern England, I have two daughters, and I teach writing at Goldsmiths College, London.
Biography: I was born in 1964, the child of two historians. I'm married to the Dean of an Anglican cathedral in eastern England, I have two daughters, and I teach writing at Goldsmiths College, London.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
October 27, 2025
spectacular. i would like 50 more immediately. i know this is the randomest comparison of all time but: made me feel how i felt when i first finished ninth house
December 23, 2025
Speculative fiction that’s mostly a recount of women during the Blitz. Love the writing style and the characterisations, frustrated by the inevitable denouement and reveal
October 28, 2025
i am verklempt
November 9, 2025
This is the Francis Spufford of Golden Hill: erudite, adventurous, strong characters and fascinating social history all expertly served up in gorgeous prose. I savoured this novel, rooted for our protagonist Iris, and ended up with several browser tabs open as I wanted to follow-up all the historical references. I had never really thought too deeply before about what it must've been like in London during the Blitz - the sleeplessness, the ruins, the raids, the relentlessness of it all alongside the demands of ordinary life - but this book really made me see it. Not least, how dark it would have been in the blackout, and how people would have needed to get used to that (and the workarounds they developed for dealing with it). I was struck by the demographic changes too, summarisd by the higher pitch of public crowds - because female voices now outnumbered male ones. The insights into wartime finance and the stockmarket also had me gripped, and I never thought that finance could grip me! A fantastic five-stars - I will think of this book each time I'm in the City.
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October 12, 2025I ought to try to review this properly but all I really have to say is that I liked it a lot and during a pre-publication author event I went to Francis Spufford said that the fantasy fiction he was most inspired by when writing this was THE LOCKED TOMB BY TAMSYN MUIR.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is a fine piece of fiction.
It reminds me of Connie Willis, in that it's set in World War II, in the Blitz, and involves time travel, though the time travel doesn't come until the end. It also reminds me of Charles Williams, in that it's set in the period when he was writing and involves the occult (a secret society along the lines of the Golden Dawn, working from the writings of a 17th-century researcher who discovered how to bind lesser angels into statues around London). But it feels very different from both authors. It has more psychological and spiritual depth than Willis, and is more down to earth and much less self-consciously lyrical than Williams, and the main character is one that neither of them would write. It's like the best parts of both writers, plus something neither of them achieves.
The author started out as a nonfiction writer, which is probably why it feels so well researched, and yet the research isn't ground into the reader's face like some authors (including Connie Willis) sometimes do. It's used to give us a moment of observation that makes us feel like we're actually there and then, a passing detail that someone in that place and time might well have observed. It's literary in feel, but not in the trying-too-hard, overly lyrical way that some writers approach being literary. It feels literary because of the aptness of the observations, the way the characters come to understand themselves and each other, and the theme that runs throughout.
I'd summarize that theme as a confrontation and a contrast between people who believe that having power gives them the right to do whatever they want because they can, and people who believe that human freedom and dignity is a higher value. The most obvious level at which this operates is World War II itself, between the Nazis and the beleaguered British. Part of the plot hinges on the moment where Churchill almost didn't become Prime Minister and lead Britain to fight, instead of taking the easier route of folding in the face of the Nazi threat. But it's also operating at the level of the occultists and British fascists (there's considerable overlap between the two groups); real-life occultists often were seekers of power for its own sake, and if they had got it would have used it to exploit others for their own benefit, so this rings true. And at a personal level, it comes down to two women: Lall, an aristocratic British fascist who has got hold of some of the occult research and is determined to use it to impose her vision of how the world should be ordered, regardless of what anyone else thinks or what it costs them, and the protagonist, Iris, who is determined to stop her, who considers the losses Britain is suffering (and that she herself and her beloved are suffering) are a worthwhile price for freedom.
Iris is a complex character. She starts out, for me, at least, unsympathetic; she sleeps with a number of well-off idiots who she has no respect and not much liking for, mostly because she enjoys the sex, though also (very secondarily) because they take her to nice places beforehand. She picks up Geoff, a nerdy young radio engineer, at a bohemian club they both happen to be at, partly to spite Lall, who Geoff is obviously smitten by, though it's equally obvious Lall doesn't want him. But then events both supernatural and otherwise start to occur, and Iris starts to discover new dimensions in the world and in herself. Eventually, we get the story that's been hinted at throughout about the fire that changed her life, and it forms a key part of a devastating conclusion that pulls off the "surprising but inevitable" trick perfectly.
In fact, the whole thing is pulled off very nearly perfectly, with the odd exception (for such a careful researcher) of a family whose individual titles make no sense when taken together. I had a pre-publication version for review from Netgalley, and will mention this issue to the publisher, and it may well be corrected before publication. I did also wonder , but that was a minor point.
This is by far one of the best books I have read this year, and given that I've read, so far, 150 books in 2025, that's an achievement. Highly recommended.
It reminds me of Connie Willis, in that it's set in World War II, in the Blitz, and involves time travel, though the time travel doesn't come until the end. It also reminds me of Charles Williams, in that it's set in the period when he was writing and involves the occult (a secret society along the lines of the Golden Dawn, working from the writings of a 17th-century researcher who discovered how to bind lesser angels into statues around London). But it feels very different from both authors. It has more psychological and spiritual depth than Willis, and is more down to earth and much less self-consciously lyrical than Williams, and the main character is one that neither of them would write. It's like the best parts of both writers, plus something neither of them achieves.
The author started out as a nonfiction writer, which is probably why it feels so well researched, and yet the research isn't ground into the reader's face like some authors (including Connie Willis) sometimes do. It's used to give us a moment of observation that makes us feel like we're actually there and then, a passing detail that someone in that place and time might well have observed. It's literary in feel, but not in the trying-too-hard, overly lyrical way that some writers approach being literary. It feels literary because of the aptness of the observations, the way the characters come to understand themselves and each other, and the theme that runs throughout.
I'd summarize that theme as a confrontation and a contrast between people who believe that having power gives them the right to do whatever they want because they can, and people who believe that human freedom and dignity is a higher value. The most obvious level at which this operates is World War II itself, between the Nazis and the beleaguered British. Part of the plot hinges on the moment where Churchill almost didn't become Prime Minister and lead Britain to fight, instead of taking the easier route of folding in the face of the Nazi threat. But it's also operating at the level of the occultists and British fascists (there's considerable overlap between the two groups); real-life occultists often were seekers of power for its own sake, and if they had got it would have used it to exploit others for their own benefit, so this rings true. And at a personal level, it comes down to two women: Lall, an aristocratic British fascist who has got hold of some of the occult research and is determined to use it to impose her vision of how the world should be ordered, regardless of what anyone else thinks or what it costs them, and the protagonist, Iris, who is determined to stop her, who considers the losses Britain is suffering (and that she herself and her beloved are suffering) are a worthwhile price for freedom.
Iris is a complex character. She starts out, for me, at least, unsympathetic; she sleeps with a number of well-off idiots who she has no respect and not much liking for, mostly because she enjoys the sex, though also (very secondarily) because they take her to nice places beforehand. She picks up Geoff, a nerdy young radio engineer, at a bohemian club they both happen to be at, partly to spite Lall, who Geoff is obviously smitten by, though it's equally obvious Lall doesn't want him. But then events both supernatural and otherwise start to occur, and Iris starts to discover new dimensions in the world and in herself. Eventually, we get the story that's been hinted at throughout about the fire that changed her life, and it forms a key part of a devastating conclusion that pulls off the "surprising but inevitable" trick perfectly.
In fact, the whole thing is pulled off very nearly perfectly, with the odd exception (for such a careful researcher) of a family whose individual titles make no sense when taken together. I had a pre-publication version for review from Netgalley, and will mention this issue to the publisher, and it may well be corrected before publication. I did also wonder , but that was a minor point.
This is by far one of the best books I have read this year, and given that I've read, so far, 150 books in 2025, that's an achievement. Highly recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Author
An enormous treat of a book!
I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of Nonesuch, and I really can't say when I last enjoyed a novel so much. It feels at once huge and intimate, a gripping story that ranges from the squalid to the divine, with a human tale at the heart of it that I was rooting for passionately.
The premise is so clever I'm actually a bit hesitant to spoil it because seeing it unfurl is part of the joy. Let's say this: it's the end of the 1930s in London. Iris is a go-getting girl from Watford, out for a good time and with secret ambitions to take the world by storm - not an easy path to find for someone much smarter than someone of her class and sex is supposed to be. When she strays off her usual track one evening, she thinks she's just going to have a bit of fun with a more bohemian scene than she usually hangs around with. Then a good time with a nicer man than she usually hooks up with. Then . . . there's something outside his house. Something that moves wrong. Something that isn't safe. Something that isn't of this endangered world at all.
The story is gripping, an old-fashioned good read in the very best sense. The prose is full of sentences I want to eat whole. A building described a 'One of those art nouveau-ish blocks whose stonework was smoothed into curves, as if all the component parts had been partially sucked like gobstoppers before assembly.' A Christmas scene: 'The waters of the Thames were iron-dark, welling and wrinkling as the tide turned, and they ate each snowflake that fell in them as if it had never been.' The heroine experiencing 'the very distinctive feeling of unfairness that came of saying a true thing for an underhand reason.' There's a vividness and a dry wit to how the story is told that enlivens every page.
If you have an interest in history, occultism or the traditions of fantasy, it's also a marvellous game. Spufford wears his knowledge lightly, but plays with the past with a depth and subtlety that gives the book a real intelligence and humanity that keeps on being rewarding time and time again, even after you think you've gotten to grips with his subject and didn't expect another surprise.
Add to all this a genuinely moving romance at the heart of it and ... well, you know those books you find yourself thinking about in between reading, wondering, 'What's going to happen next? What are the characters up to? How's it all going to work out?' This is one of those books. It really stays in your mind, and I can guess now it's going to be a delectable reread.
Really, I can't recommend this enough; it's the best time I've had with a book in ages.
I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of Nonesuch, and I really can't say when I last enjoyed a novel so much. It feels at once huge and intimate, a gripping story that ranges from the squalid to the divine, with a human tale at the heart of it that I was rooting for passionately.
The premise is so clever I'm actually a bit hesitant to spoil it because seeing it unfurl is part of the joy. Let's say this: it's the end of the 1930s in London. Iris is a go-getting girl from Watford, out for a good time and with secret ambitions to take the world by storm - not an easy path to find for someone much smarter than someone of her class and sex is supposed to be. When she strays off her usual track one evening, she thinks she's just going to have a bit of fun with a more bohemian scene than she usually hangs around with. Then a good time with a nicer man than she usually hooks up with. Then . . . there's something outside his house. Something that moves wrong. Something that isn't safe. Something that isn't of this endangered world at all.
The story is gripping, an old-fashioned good read in the very best sense. The prose is full of sentences I want to eat whole. A building described a 'One of those art nouveau-ish blocks whose stonework was smoothed into curves, as if all the component parts had been partially sucked like gobstoppers before assembly.' A Christmas scene: 'The waters of the Thames were iron-dark, welling and wrinkling as the tide turned, and they ate each snowflake that fell in them as if it had never been.' The heroine experiencing 'the very distinctive feeling of unfairness that came of saying a true thing for an underhand reason.' There's a vividness and a dry wit to how the story is told that enlivens every page.
If you have an interest in history, occultism or the traditions of fantasy, it's also a marvellous game. Spufford wears his knowledge lightly, but plays with the past with a depth and subtlety that gives the book a real intelligence and humanity that keeps on being rewarding time and time again, even after you think you've gotten to grips with his subject and didn't expect another surprise.
Add to all this a genuinely moving romance at the heart of it and ... well, you know those books you find yourself thinking about in between reading, wondering, 'What's going to happen next? What are the characters up to? How's it all going to work out?' This is one of those books. It really stays in your mind, and I can guess now it's going to be a delectable reread.
Really, I can't recommend this enough; it's the best time I've had with a book in ages.
November 16, 2025
Another wonderful read by Francis Spufford and I’m saying that as someone who normally wouldn’t consider picking up a fantasy novel! ‘Nonesuch’ is about so much more than a fully devised ‘other world’. Spufford takes his reader to the outset of WW2 in London, where protagonist, Iris Hawkins, who has a lowly job in the City, has a close brush with fascist fanaticism and learns that only her actions can stop Nazi invasion.
Whilst this sounds preposterous, Spufford makes his world real through entirely credible characters. Iris is a wonderful creation; a working class woman who mostly uses men as they use her. Clever, unashamedly aspirational and yet vulnerable, we have her back throughout the novel, not least when she comes across the aristocratic Lalage, in every way her bête noir. Even when describing something as unlikely as a roof top showdown between the two women, Spufford always roots his characters’ behaviour in reality so that the fantasy element is lightly worn. After Lalage tells Iris that, if she sees her again, she will kill her, we are told that, ‘She ducked her head, fair hair dipping. ‘Thank you,’ she said formally. Thenk you. Some kind of script of politeness had kicked in. The kind of code that might linger in a grand family even when they all started wearing black shirts. ‘Please don’t follow me or pax will be over.’’
As the ending signifies, this is a clearly a story ‘to be continued’ and there are plenty of unanswered questions and elements of underdeveloped plot that will have me rushing to get my hands on the next instalment. The author’s depiction of a ‘warts and all’ wartime London, including financial systems in play and political expediencies at work, alongside a quietly developing, moving love story works incredibly well. And, the author being Spufford, of course the whole novel is beautifully written. Highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Whilst this sounds preposterous, Spufford makes his world real through entirely credible characters. Iris is a wonderful creation; a working class woman who mostly uses men as they use her. Clever, unashamedly aspirational and yet vulnerable, we have her back throughout the novel, not least when she comes across the aristocratic Lalage, in every way her bête noir. Even when describing something as unlikely as a roof top showdown between the two women, Spufford always roots his characters’ behaviour in reality so that the fantasy element is lightly worn. After Lalage tells Iris that, if she sees her again, she will kill her, we are told that, ‘She ducked her head, fair hair dipping. ‘Thank you,’ she said formally. Thenk you. Some kind of script of politeness had kicked in. The kind of code that might linger in a grand family even when they all started wearing black shirts. ‘Please don’t follow me or pax will be over.’’
As the ending signifies, this is a clearly a story ‘to be continued’ and there are plenty of unanswered questions and elements of underdeveloped plot that will have me rushing to get my hands on the next instalment. The author’s depiction of a ‘warts and all’ wartime London, including financial systems in play and political expediencies at work, alongside a quietly developing, moving love story works incredibly well. And, the author being Spufford, of course the whole novel is beautifully written. Highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
First book of 2026 and wow, the bar has been set high. I have loved every fictional work Francis Spufford has written, especially as each one is so different I have no idea what to expect except knowing I am guaranteed beautiful writing, twisting plots, moments of high emotion with deft touches of humour and characters who jump off the page they are so three dimensional.
Set in the Blitz Nonesuch blends literary, magic, horror and historical fiction seamlessly, evoking the weary horror of the Blitz in all its exhausting, dust-covered, terrifying detail. I have read many books set in London during this time and I don't think any of them have brought the day to day slog of life under bombing so vividly to life.
Iris is clever, ambitious, confident, aware of and in charge of her sexuality and has a keen financial brain- none of which is considered appropriate for a nice surburban girl in 1939. She is also fiercely practical so when she becomes aware of something other, something supernatural, magical and downright terrifying, it's a lot to take in. But she is also curious and despite herself finds herself drawn into the world of sinister secret scieties with facist tendancies and racing against time to stop them changing the course of history. Iris is a wonderful protagonist, not always likeable even to herself, complex and contradictory and self-aware - it's disappointingly rare for men to write multi-layered women well, especially women who are sexually confident, but Spufford produces a master class in how to do so.
This is a fabulous book. Read it. Highly recommended.
Set in the Blitz Nonesuch blends literary, magic, horror and historical fiction seamlessly, evoking the weary horror of the Blitz in all its exhausting, dust-covered, terrifying detail. I have read many books set in London during this time and I don't think any of them have brought the day to day slog of life under bombing so vividly to life.
Iris is clever, ambitious, confident, aware of and in charge of her sexuality and has a keen financial brain- none of which is considered appropriate for a nice surburban girl in 1939. She is also fiercely practical so when she becomes aware of something other, something supernatural, magical and downright terrifying, it's a lot to take in. But she is also curious and despite herself finds herself drawn into the world of sinister secret scieties with facist tendancies and racing against time to stop them changing the course of history. Iris is a wonderful protagonist, not always likeable even to herself, complex and contradictory and self-aware - it's disappointingly rare for men to write multi-layered women well, especially women who are sexually confident, but Spufford produces a master class in how to do so.
This is a fabulous book. Read it. Highly recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
...it had to be done whole-heartedly or not at all. Not at all! voted Iris the chief clerk, Iris the careful calculator of odds, Iris the prudent investor. All in, all at once, and fuck it, voted the bad girl, and the lover, and the risk-taker, and the suburban slut not willing to be defeated by some whey-faced bitch of a fascist. [loc. 3855]
Another alternate history, in a sense, from Francis Spufford. Set in London during the Blitz, it focusses on Iris Hawkins, an ambitious young woman prevented from success in business by her gender, but determined to make the most of her natural gift for finance. She's also determined to enjoy life: she's sexually active, self-sufficient and eminently pragmatic. She hooks up with Geoff, a young and innocent BBC engineer, on a night out, and finds herself drawn into an occult underworld, an anti-fascist plot, and some unexpected statues.
On the one hand, my favourite read in December and one of my favourites of 2025: on the other, these terrible words which I was not expecting: 'To be continued'. Woe!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers! Proper review nearer publication, which is due 26 FEB 26.
Read an excerpt here, and listen to The Coode Street Podcast featuring Spufford.
November 18, 2025
Nonesuch is a richly layered historical fantasy that captures the charged atmosphere of 1939 London with lyrical precision and speculative flair. Francis Spufford, known for his genre-defying storytelling, returns with a tale that bends time and reality, yet remains deeply anchored in human emotion.
At its heart is Iris Hawkins, a young woman navigating the rigid world of City finance, whose chance encounter with Geoff—a BBC technician—spirals into an adventure that’s as metaphysical as it is political. Spufford conjures a London teetering on the edge of war, where spirits can be summoned and history itself is malleable. The stakes are high: a fascist fanatic travels through time with a gun in hand, and only Iris can stop her.
The prose is elegant, the pacing deliberate, and the emotional resonance quietly powerful. Spufford’s vision of burning rooftops and twisted timelines is cinematic, yet intimate. Fans of Golden Hill will find familiar ingenuity here, but Nonesuch ventures further—into the uncanny, the urgent, and the deeply personal.
A triumph of literary imagination, Nonesuch is ideal for readers who crave historical fiction with speculative depth and emotional clarity.
My thanks to Francis Spufford, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
At its heart is Iris Hawkins, a young woman navigating the rigid world of City finance, whose chance encounter with Geoff—a BBC technician—spirals into an adventure that’s as metaphysical as it is political. Spufford conjures a London teetering on the edge of war, where spirits can be summoned and history itself is malleable. The stakes are high: a fascist fanatic travels through time with a gun in hand, and only Iris can stop her.
The prose is elegant, the pacing deliberate, and the emotional resonance quietly powerful. Spufford’s vision of burning rooftops and twisted timelines is cinematic, yet intimate. Fans of Golden Hill will find familiar ingenuity here, but Nonesuch ventures further—into the uncanny, the urgent, and the deeply personal.
A triumph of literary imagination, Nonesuch is ideal for readers who crave historical fiction with speculative depth and emotional clarity.
My thanks to Francis Spufford, the publisher and netgalley for the ARC
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I enjoy Francis Spufford's novels and Nonesuch doesn't disappoint. It is is a historical fantasy set in the years before WW2 and moving into the 1940s that shows us London on the edge of war. Spufford succeeds in making us feel part of the nervous anticipation of what is to come followed by the experience of war. The prose is lyrical and the descriptions are vivid and compelling - London after a bombing raid is vividly described.
Magical realism is combined with historical verisimilitude. A fascist has travelled through time with a gun and the main protagonist, Iris, must stop her. Meanwhile her relationship with Geoff, a BBC technician, provides another strand in the novel.
It's hard to do the book justice. I recommend you read it and many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a review copy.
Magical realism is combined with historical verisimilitude. A fascist has travelled through time with a gun and the main protagonist, Iris, must stop her. Meanwhile her relationship with Geoff, a BBC technician, provides another strand in the novel.
It's hard to do the book justice. I recommend you read it and many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a review copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is my last read of 2025 and I am delighted that it has been hands down one of my best reads of the year. Brilliantly written with fantastic characters who I adore, this absolutely gripped me from beginning to end. The setting, London in the Blitz is beautifully realised. I loved that Iris, the main character, is a woman operating in the world of high finance and her desire to be recognised for her skills in finance and trading are really well handled. The addition of a magical element to the story with secret societies using arcane skills to further the cause of fascism is a stroke of genius. The real and the magical elements of this are handled so well that this story never jars or feels wrong or odd. I will be buying many copies of this when it is finally published. I want everyone to read it.
November 14, 2025
I LOVED IT. I thought it was really fun and interesting concept for the book. Iris is a fantastic character and understanding her and the other characters is an extremely fun process over the course of the book. the magic elements are limited but tasteful and add structure and a framework for the more personal wartime story to take place.
The ending has lost the book a star though. It opens up a lot of questions and doesn't really fit with the themes within the book? I was a little confused as to why this was introduced right at the end. The guilt that drives it is touched on but isn't focussed on enough that it feels like the entire passage of the book is erased. It left me unfulfilled after loving the passage of the whole book.
The ending has lost the book a star though. It opens up a lot of questions and doesn't really fit with the themes within the book? I was a little confused as to why this was introduced right at the end. The guilt that drives it is touched on but isn't focussed on enough that it feels like the entire passage of the book is erased. It left me unfulfilled after loving the passage of the whole book.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I was asked by NetGalley to review this interesting and different spin on the London Blitz in World War 2- a fantasy novel .I have read a great deal about the London blitz but boy did the author conjure up the feel, the acrid smoke, the glass, devisation and black outs.
We meet Iris a young woman in the city working in finance, and Geoff working for the BBC, this is London at the beginning of the war, sprits can be summoned and history changed. a Fascist is travelling through time and it is Iris that will need to stop them.
What a different slant on history and a really good read a love story, morals of good v evil
I do hope there is a sequal.
Due for publication February 26 2026.
We meet Iris a young woman in the city working in finance, and Geoff working for the BBC, this is London at the beginning of the war, sprits can be summoned and history changed. a Fascist is travelling through time and it is Iris that will need to stop them.
What a different slant on history and a really good read a love story, morals of good v evil
I do hope there is a sequal.
Due for publication February 26 2026.
Read
January 2, 2026I’m not giving this a star rating because, whilst it’s not really for me, I can still see that it’s a remarkable book … I just can’t get on board with fantasy. I think Francis Spufford is superb - Golden Hill is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read and both Light Perpetual and Cahokia Jazz (which I’d call ‘imaginary’ rather than ‘fantasy’) were highly readable & impressive novels. But in Nonesuch the imaginary eg the ‘what if’ premises of Spufford’s 2nd and 3rd novels give way fully to the purely fantastical eg magical spirits, time travel etc and it’s just not my thing so, I’m gutted to say, I DNF’d it. There really is so, so much to love about this novel, just not if you’re allergic to fantasy like silly old me xx
November 16, 2025
An absolute banger of a book, looking forward to the sequel
December 20, 2025
Francis Spufford is probably my favorite working writer. What an incredible treat his books are every time.
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December 31, 2025I'm going to wait to review this until closer to its release. I can't wait to talk about this book with others!
December 1, 2025
3.6, rounded up.
This was a very readable cross- genre novel. Set in the lead-up to, and first years of, WWll, it excellently evokes the feeling of a nation living through this devastating time.
But it is also a quirky love story, and a good vs evil tale of magic.
The magical realism is relatively low key for most of the story but ramps up to a faster paced, tense ending.
The book is maybe a bit long, the pace lagged a bit at times, but I did enjoy it.
The main drawback….grrr…I’m going to have to wait for the sequel!
This was a very readable cross- genre novel. Set in the lead-up to, and first years of, WWll, it excellently evokes the feeling of a nation living through this devastating time.
But it is also a quirky love story, and a good vs evil tale of magic.
The magical realism is relatively low key for most of the story but ramps up to a faster paced, tense ending.
The book is maybe a bit long, the pace lagged a bit at times, but I did enjoy it.
The main drawback….grrr…I’m going to have to wait for the sequel!
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