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Clubul clepsidrelor: Vremea sufragetelor
Londra, 1912. Jurnalista Frankie George primeşte sarcina de a realiza un interviu cu Ebony Diamond, trapezista-vedetă a circului din oraş. Între cele două femei se leagă rapid o prietenie, iar Frankie se trezeşte că o urmează pe artistă într-un misterios magazin de corsete din Mayfair. Atunci când Ebony Diamond dispare în mod bizar chiar în toiul uneia dintre reprezentaţii, Frankie îşi dă seama că este captivă într-o lume plină de minciuni, urmărită de colegii jurnalişti în căutare de subiecte-bombă, de londonezii care au un fetiş pentru corsete, dar şi de artiştii de la circ. Până la urmă, cum a dispărut Ebony, de cine se temea ea şi ce se întâmplă în misteriosul magazin de corsete?
448 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2015
104 people are currently reading
4067 people want to read
About the author
Lucy Ribchester
6 books109 followersLucy Ribchester writes thrillers under the pseudonym Elle Connel.
Lucy Ribchester is a dance and fiction writer based in Edinburgh. She studied English at the University of St Andrews, and later Shakespearean Studies at Kings College London and Shakespeare’s Globe. She then embarked on a strange and waggly career path organising parties at a boutique cinema in London, working for Al Jazeera television network, freelance writing while living in Spain, and later coordinating the National Trust for Scotland’s annual cruises (where I worked onboard a ship, swam with icebergs, set foot on St Kilda, and finally learned how to ceilidh dance).
She won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2013, and now work as a freelance dance journalist and adult education tutor, alongside fiction writing. When she's not doing any of those things she likes to make origami jewellery out of old book paper.
Lucy has a retired greyhound called Buster whom you will see a lot of if you follow her on Twitter.
Picture credit: Kuba Kolinski
Lucy Ribchester is a dance and fiction writer based in Edinburgh. She studied English at the University of St Andrews, and later Shakespearean Studies at Kings College London and Shakespeare’s Globe. She then embarked on a strange and waggly career path organising parties at a boutique cinema in London, working for Al Jazeera television network, freelance writing while living in Spain, and later coordinating the National Trust for Scotland’s annual cruises (where I worked onboard a ship, swam with icebergs, set foot on St Kilda, and finally learned how to ceilidh dance).
She won a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award in 2013, and now work as a freelance dance journalist and adult education tutor, alongside fiction writing. When she's not doing any of those things she likes to make origami jewellery out of old book paper.
Lucy has a retired greyhound called Buster whom you will see a lot of if you follow her on Twitter.
Picture credit: Kuba Kolinski
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 319 reviews
April 18, 2015
This has taken me over a month to read, it was so hard going. The worst of it is, though, that there is nothing i can point to to say ‘this was bad’, but at the same time, not much i can point to to say ‘this was good’. It wasn’t so exciting or engrossing that i wanted to pick it up to keep reading, but it wasn’t so bad that i just wanted to give up altogether. I wanted to have read it, i just didn’t want to read it. And in some ways, that’s worse than just disliking a book enough to not finish it.
The plot meandered, with the characters fumbling from one clue to the next, not really figuring anything out until it was put right in front of their noses. And never actually finding the missing Ebony–instead she finds them. The end culminates in action-packed fashion, but mostly i didn’t care, unfortunately.
There was just so much to like about this book… but it was so lacklustre and mediocre. I’m annoyed with it for not being what i had hoped it would be.
A longer review can be read at my book blog: Marvel At Words.
The plot meandered, with the characters fumbling from one clue to the next, not really figuring anything out until it was put right in front of their noses. And never actually finding the missing Ebony–instead she finds them. The end culminates in action-packed fashion, but mostly i didn’t care, unfortunately.
There was just so much to like about this book… but it was so lacklustre and mediocre. I’m annoyed with it for not being what i had hoped it would be.
A longer review can be read at my book blog: Marvel At Words.
February 15, 2017
Wow there have been some good books coming out in 2015 and this one was breathtaking!!!!!
If you like history that is well-researched, relatable characters that are complex a believable yet unlikable villain and complex understandings of issues woven together with fast-paced plot, only the barest hint of maybe romanc....no they are just friends...I think. Then I heartily recommend this almost perfect book.
It will broaden your mind as it takes you through lushly coloured (but not tiresomely over-explained) settings. There is some awful stuff in there, the suffragette-man getting force-fed in gaol made me actually burst into tears (even though I was on the bus).
That's the other thing, even though the book is about females who talk to females and interact with females and fight for females (anyone want to apply a Bechdel test) and some of the minor characters are horrid narrow-minded sexist men, there are also sweet lovable male characters that you emotionally invest in AND at least a couple of horrid power-hungry women who you hate.
So absolutely a feminist book but absolutely NOT one-sided or misandrist. I would give this to my son to read no problem!
Even if you just like action with costumes and settings....I mean this book just had so much to give! I would have enjoyed an actual sex-scene between Frankie and Milly but maybe they were just friends. The uncertainty there is also exquisite!
I will be voting for this book on some list at the end of the year AND I will be seeking out more Ribchester to read.
If you like history that is well-researched, relatable characters that are complex a believable yet unlikable villain and complex understandings of issues woven together with fast-paced plot, only the barest hint of maybe romanc....no they are just friends...I think. Then I heartily recommend this almost perfect book.
It will broaden your mind as it takes you through lushly coloured (but not tiresomely over-explained) settings. There is some awful stuff in there, the suffragette-man getting force-fed in gaol made me actually burst into tears (even though I was on the bus).
That's the other thing, even though the book is about females who talk to females and interact with females and fight for females (anyone want to apply a Bechdel test) and some of the minor characters are horrid narrow-minded sexist men, there are also sweet lovable male characters that you emotionally invest in AND at least a couple of horrid power-hungry women who you hate.
So absolutely a feminist book but absolutely NOT one-sided or misandrist. I would give this to my son to read no problem!
Even if you just like action with costumes and settings....I mean this book just had so much to give! I would have enjoyed an actual sex-scene between Frankie and Milly but maybe they were just friends. The uncertainty there is also exquisite!
I will be voting for this book on some list at the end of the year AND I will be seeking out more Ribchester to read.
June 22, 2016
2 stars might be harsh. It's an interesting time period (1914 London) and concept (murder mystery wrapped in women's suffrage movement); but it was unnecessarily long and complicated, filled with characters who were never fully developed. So much potential, unrealized.
January 15, 2015
From time to time you come across a book that is a real gem. A book that firstly you have a good feeling about and secondly, this good feeling turns out to be right. A book where everything fits together perfectly: characters, background, plot, writing style... And I'm happy to report that "The Hourglass Factory" is such a book. It's a debut novel by Lucy Ribchester, and it is an awesome debut, I wouldn't say that it is her first book as it's written in such a confident, clever, sharp writing style. And the book landed on my doorstep wrapped in "The London Evening Gazette"! What a lovely, brilliant idea!
London 1912. A young journalist Frankie George is determined to make a name for herself in a world dominated by men. Unfortunately, she's sent again on doing a portrait of Ebony Diamond, a trapeze artist. But things don't go according to Frankie's plan. When a woman identified as Ebony is found murdered, Frankie sees that it's not Miss Diamond and is determined to find her. She follows her to a show in a circus, but Ebony disappears from the scene in the middle of her trapeze performance. Frankie is sure that Ebony is in danger and so she sets on finding her again, which leads her to the world of circus, suffragettes, corsets, murders, unexpected new friends and many, many dark secrets. Is she going to find Ebony in time? And who is really in danger? And who is the real murderer?
"The Hourglass Factory" is set in an era that belongs to one of my favourite historical ones (it's either this or Henry VIII :) ). It's 1912 in London and the author must have done her research, as she brilliantly recreates atmosphere of those times. She describes the foggy, dark streets in a very vivid, realistic way, it almost felt not like reading a book but watching a film. The early 20th century is also the time of suffragettes fighting to obtain the vote possibilities for women, and oh my gosh, I am so going to read much more on this! I learned a lot from this book but it also made me long to learn still more about those times. It was not only Suffragettes, but also the men's movement going strong, the happenings in prisons, force - feeding etc... amazing, unbelievable but true and I want more!
The beginning was very long and there were moments that it felt a little slow, but believe me, it was necessary to understand the book and get into it, into the atmosphere and times, and feel a part of the story ourselves. To be honest, the beginning had me in very sour giggles. Why? Well, everything is set for the Suffragettes big stunt in the British government, it's going to be a big news, but in the end it isn't... Why? One word: Titanic. Bad luck or what?
Frankie wants so much to cover the real stories, and not those fluffy stories from women's boudoirs but although she's sharp, clever, observative, wears trousers and smokes cigarettes, nobody takes her serious. So it was really no wonder she wanted to follow her instinct and find out what really is going on with Ebony, even if there were moments that her interest seemed more like obsession or unhealthy curiosity. Nevertheless, hats off to Frankie for her determination and detective skills. What I also spotted, and well, it's not a problem in fact, and it didn't spoil the reading, but it seemed that on every corner there was a right person who could help Frankie in whatever she needed. Amazing connections did the girl have :), and everything seemed to come to her in a very easy way. But she was a great woman. I in fact really admire all the women of those times who were incredibly brave, courageous and weren't afraid to put their foot down. There was something masculine in them, they wanted to dress like men, they wanted to have as many rights as men (CORRECT) but they were lovely and very womanly. For example our Frankie: dressing in the suit, she absolutely wants to make a name for herself in the magazine, but not writing a column for women, but as a reporter. Quickly she sees that in this men world it's not so easy and all the great, interesting and important assignments go to her male colleagues. Does she give up on her dream? Of course not, and I so loved her determination, her will to prove that she's worth as much as any other good male reporter.
There were, like, thousands different characters in the book and at first, with every new person introduced, I felt a little confused, but then it was easy to keep on track, as only a few of them were the main and most important ones.I know that Frankie was the main characters, but to be honest, getting to know the other characters made me like them even more than Miss George. Ebony was for a long time so secretive and mysterious and I was desperate to know her and her story much more, and when Frankie and Millie were always a step behind her made me almost howl with desperation. Millie was so colourful, she chosen a very different life path to that that many of us would expect her to choose, and she was so likeable and so easy to connect with! The policemen engaged in the case were so different and I would never say that they are doing the same investigation, each of them concentrated on so different leads, but this made the reading even more interesting. They were all colourful and full of live, and I always think that people in those times were much braver than we are now. They were clever, intelligent and they wasn't afraid to say things how they are. The characters in the background, such as the society columnist Frankie was working with, Twinkle, or Frankie's work colleagues, or Millie's mother, they all took their lives in their own hands, and were just popping out of the pages and felt so very realistic! Each, even the smallest character, had found a place in this story and added something to the plot.
The plot was so very complex one and so very well thought out and kept you guessing. To be totally honest, I haven't expected at least half of the things that happened in the book. It took me by surprise more often than I care to count and almost every page brought something new and something exotic. The author wrote about the world of circus, performances, tigers and snakes in such a vivid, colourful and engaging way that I would love to see this all again, with my own eyes - in 1912. It was amazing how one thing led to another and how Frankie gradually discovered all the missing points and facts, finally taking us into the world of Hourglass Factory and fetishists. Now maybe not so exciting, this fetishist thing, but in 1912 it was for sure a big, scandalous and exotic thing. The story felt as if it had thousand subplots, I really got a headache and must have concentrated hard on keeping on track, how did the author kept track of this all I don't know, but hats off, as it was done brilliantly and every subplot has found its solution and was developed in the most perfect way.
I loved the way Lucy Ribchester portrayed London of those times, city of chaos and suffragettes breaking the shop windows but making it a point of honour not to hurt any human being. She has also wonderfully pictured mentality of people living in those times, the way how they were thinking and what they were thinking, both men and women, and I found myself reading and reading, and not being able to put this book down, because I wanted to know more: about history, and about the plot.
Even if the author herself admitted she was playing with the historical facts a little, it was neither visible nor disturbed the reading. No, it was full of the right atmosphere and all those accurate details, that are so essential to historical fiction. Good historical fiction, I would add.
This book was truly astounding and like I said, I can't believe it's a debut novel, so matured it is, so completed. It has immediately drawn me into the world, the characters, the events and I didn't want to voluntarily leave that world. I loved everything in this book and I am going to recommend it to all my friends and family. There was everything that I could wish for in a book: brilliantly created atmosphere, fantastic times, vivid characters, mystery, drama but also a lot of dark and sharp humour. Full of twist and turns, surprises and gasps from me. I really can't wait what the author has in store for us and will be stalking Miss Ribchester daily.
Copy received from publisher in exchange for a review.
London 1912. A young journalist Frankie George is determined to make a name for herself in a world dominated by men. Unfortunately, she's sent again on doing a portrait of Ebony Diamond, a trapeze artist. But things don't go according to Frankie's plan. When a woman identified as Ebony is found murdered, Frankie sees that it's not Miss Diamond and is determined to find her. She follows her to a show in a circus, but Ebony disappears from the scene in the middle of her trapeze performance. Frankie is sure that Ebony is in danger and so she sets on finding her again, which leads her to the world of circus, suffragettes, corsets, murders, unexpected new friends and many, many dark secrets. Is she going to find Ebony in time? And who is really in danger? And who is the real murderer?
"The Hourglass Factory" is set in an era that belongs to one of my favourite historical ones (it's either this or Henry VIII :) ). It's 1912 in London and the author must have done her research, as she brilliantly recreates atmosphere of those times. She describes the foggy, dark streets in a very vivid, realistic way, it almost felt not like reading a book but watching a film. The early 20th century is also the time of suffragettes fighting to obtain the vote possibilities for women, and oh my gosh, I am so going to read much more on this! I learned a lot from this book but it also made me long to learn still more about those times. It was not only Suffragettes, but also the men's movement going strong, the happenings in prisons, force - feeding etc... amazing, unbelievable but true and I want more!
The beginning was very long and there were moments that it felt a little slow, but believe me, it was necessary to understand the book and get into it, into the atmosphere and times, and feel a part of the story ourselves. To be honest, the beginning had me in very sour giggles. Why? Well, everything is set for the Suffragettes big stunt in the British government, it's going to be a big news, but in the end it isn't... Why? One word: Titanic. Bad luck or what?
Frankie wants so much to cover the real stories, and not those fluffy stories from women's boudoirs but although she's sharp, clever, observative, wears trousers and smokes cigarettes, nobody takes her serious. So it was really no wonder she wanted to follow her instinct and find out what really is going on with Ebony, even if there were moments that her interest seemed more like obsession or unhealthy curiosity. Nevertheless, hats off to Frankie for her determination and detective skills. What I also spotted, and well, it's not a problem in fact, and it didn't spoil the reading, but it seemed that on every corner there was a right person who could help Frankie in whatever she needed. Amazing connections did the girl have :), and everything seemed to come to her in a very easy way. But she was a great woman. I in fact really admire all the women of those times who were incredibly brave, courageous and weren't afraid to put their foot down. There was something masculine in them, they wanted to dress like men, they wanted to have as many rights as men (CORRECT) but they were lovely and very womanly. For example our Frankie: dressing in the suit, she absolutely wants to make a name for herself in the magazine, but not writing a column for women, but as a reporter. Quickly she sees that in this men world it's not so easy and all the great, interesting and important assignments go to her male colleagues. Does she give up on her dream? Of course not, and I so loved her determination, her will to prove that she's worth as much as any other good male reporter.
There were, like, thousands different characters in the book and at first, with every new person introduced, I felt a little confused, but then it was easy to keep on track, as only a few of them were the main and most important ones.I know that Frankie was the main characters, but to be honest, getting to know the other characters made me like them even more than Miss George. Ebony was for a long time so secretive and mysterious and I was desperate to know her and her story much more, and when Frankie and Millie were always a step behind her made me almost howl with desperation. Millie was so colourful, she chosen a very different life path to that that many of us would expect her to choose, and she was so likeable and so easy to connect with! The policemen engaged in the case were so different and I would never say that they are doing the same investigation, each of them concentrated on so different leads, but this made the reading even more interesting. They were all colourful and full of live, and I always think that people in those times were much braver than we are now. They were clever, intelligent and they wasn't afraid to say things how they are. The characters in the background, such as the society columnist Frankie was working with, Twinkle, or Frankie's work colleagues, or Millie's mother, they all took their lives in their own hands, and were just popping out of the pages and felt so very realistic! Each, even the smallest character, had found a place in this story and added something to the plot.
The plot was so very complex one and so very well thought out and kept you guessing. To be totally honest, I haven't expected at least half of the things that happened in the book. It took me by surprise more often than I care to count and almost every page brought something new and something exotic. The author wrote about the world of circus, performances, tigers and snakes in such a vivid, colourful and engaging way that I would love to see this all again, with my own eyes - in 1912. It was amazing how one thing led to another and how Frankie gradually discovered all the missing points and facts, finally taking us into the world of Hourglass Factory and fetishists. Now maybe not so exciting, this fetishist thing, but in 1912 it was for sure a big, scandalous and exotic thing. The story felt as if it had thousand subplots, I really got a headache and must have concentrated hard on keeping on track, how did the author kept track of this all I don't know, but hats off, as it was done brilliantly and every subplot has found its solution and was developed in the most perfect way.
I loved the way Lucy Ribchester portrayed London of those times, city of chaos and suffragettes breaking the shop windows but making it a point of honour not to hurt any human being. She has also wonderfully pictured mentality of people living in those times, the way how they were thinking and what they were thinking, both men and women, and I found myself reading and reading, and not being able to put this book down, because I wanted to know more: about history, and about the plot.
Even if the author herself admitted she was playing with the historical facts a little, it was neither visible nor disturbed the reading. No, it was full of the right atmosphere and all those accurate details, that are so essential to historical fiction. Good historical fiction, I would add.
This book was truly astounding and like I said, I can't believe it's a debut novel, so matured it is, so completed. It has immediately drawn me into the world, the characters, the events and I didn't want to voluntarily leave that world. I loved everything in this book and I am going to recommend it to all my friends and family. There was everything that I could wish for in a book: brilliantly created atmosphere, fantastic times, vivid characters, mystery, drama but also a lot of dark and sharp humour. Full of twist and turns, surprises and gasps from me. I really can't wait what the author has in store for us and will be stalking Miss Ribchester daily.
Copy received from publisher in exchange for a review.
April 27, 2022
DNF. Found it hard going. Never wanted to pick it up again and keep reading. Why?
"Ebony Diamond had waited in the dark her wrists bound tight as shoelaces." As I tried to picture this, I thought she was tied up. So while reading, you make a picture in your mind of what you are experiencing, but turns out I was wrong.
"...keep your arms in or you'll lose one of them...once at the Crystal Palace a trapeze artist had landed so sharply on a falling jolt that part of his brain seeped out through his nose." Well, what does arms have to do with hitting your head?
I guess what I'm saying is that I had to keep re-reading even the most casual of sentences, trying to picture what the author was describing.
So it describes Ebony as jumping, then it cuts to a newspaper character watching a story come in on the newspaper tape. He is described as watching the details come in, and describes how the facts change, the Prime Minister is dead, the prime minister is alive, etc etc. But the book never tells you what actually happened. It skips forward.
Apparently 2 suffragettes pulled a stunt, using a trapeze, to display a banner over the prime minister during a speech.
But we leave that behind, and now comes the chapter on what must be the main character. She is a newswoman in 1912. She is sent to a corset shop for a story. She notices the proprietor had something odd about him. "...she realised what was so odd about the man. He was corseted to a gruesome size; fourteen and a half, fifteen inches."
So again, stop, what? I think the words gruesome size, is a poor choice. Gruesome size, to me, means BIG. So again, just trying to read the book and form a picture, I get stopped. What does "corseted to a gruesome size" mean? He was so cinched at the waist it was unnatural? I had to readjust the picture in my head, after careful analysis not just of the words, but of what they were trying to convey.
Just using these examples to show why I found it so tiring to try to read this book, and gave up.
"Ebony Diamond had waited in the dark her wrists bound tight as shoelaces." As I tried to picture this, I thought she was tied up. So while reading, you make a picture in your mind of what you are experiencing, but turns out I was wrong.
"...keep your arms in or you'll lose one of them...once at the Crystal Palace a trapeze artist had landed so sharply on a falling jolt that part of his brain seeped out through his nose." Well, what does arms have to do with hitting your head?
I guess what I'm saying is that I had to keep re-reading even the most casual of sentences, trying to picture what the author was describing.
So it describes Ebony as jumping, then it cuts to a newspaper character watching a story come in on the newspaper tape. He is described as watching the details come in, and describes how the facts change, the Prime Minister is dead, the prime minister is alive, etc etc. But the book never tells you what actually happened. It skips forward.
Apparently 2 suffragettes pulled a stunt, using a trapeze, to display a banner over the prime minister during a speech.
But we leave that behind, and now comes the chapter on what must be the main character. She is a newswoman in 1912. She is sent to a corset shop for a story. She notices the proprietor had something odd about him. "...she realised what was so odd about the man. He was corseted to a gruesome size; fourteen and a half, fifteen inches."
So again, stop, what? I think the words gruesome size, is a poor choice. Gruesome size, to me, means BIG. So again, just trying to read the book and form a picture, I get stopped. What does "corseted to a gruesome size" mean? He was so cinched at the waist it was unnatural? I had to readjust the picture in my head, after careful analysis not just of the words, but of what they were trying to convey.
Just using these examples to show why I found it so tiring to try to read this book, and gave up.
March 11, 2023
I am clearly in the minority here, and I am gobsmacked at the four- and five-star reviews. I slogged through all 504 pages thinking it HAD to get better. It didn't. So many times I had to stop and reread a sentence to figure out exactly what the author meant. Examples:
p. 23: "He ducked, cowering his hands to his head..." Cowering his hands? to his head? I don't think "cower" can be a transitive verb.
p. 43: "[His gaze] fell on the closed copy of Vincent's Police Code which he kept lying in the corner like a sneaky eye." Wait. People keep sneaky eyes lying in corners? What does this even mean?
p. 102: "[She] pressed her finger and thumb into her eyes as if she might staunch her crying." I assume the author means "stanch." "Staunch" is an adjective, meaning "stalwart."
p. 110: "Scanning her eyes round the hall she frowned." Never mind the missing comma, but she scanned her eyes? Most people would scan the room. With their eyes.
p. 245: "She tried to shake off her fermenting self-doubt..." Fomenting, perhaps? "Fermenting self-doubt" sounds messy.
p. 325: "...he could still taste the decaying pork pie he had grabbed outside Colney Hatch Station and sank on the underground." This one may reflect my ignorance; how does one sink a pie? Or did "he" sink? on the underground?
p. 368: "Tommy's teeth hovered threateningly over his bottom lip." I've tired to recreate this look, but I'm not sure if teeth can hover while still attached to gums. And was his bottom lip threatened, or were the people he was looking at?
Oh, and don't be fooled by the blurb on the dust jacket about the sinking of the Titanic and the Jack the Ripper murders. Both of these are barely mentioned and have nothing to do with the story itself. Corsets, suffragettes, and trapeze artists, yes. The Ripper, no. (If you want to read a great novel about Jack, try "I, Ripper" by Stephen Hunter.)
As I said, considering the overall high score this book was given by other readers, the problem must be me. I'm ok with that. :)
p. 23: "He ducked, cowering his hands to his head..." Cowering his hands? to his head? I don't think "cower" can be a transitive verb.
p. 43: "[His gaze] fell on the closed copy of Vincent's Police Code which he kept lying in the corner like a sneaky eye." Wait. People keep sneaky eyes lying in corners? What does this even mean?
p. 102: "[She] pressed her finger and thumb into her eyes as if she might staunch her crying." I assume the author means "stanch." "Staunch" is an adjective, meaning "stalwart."
p. 110: "Scanning her eyes round the hall she frowned." Never mind the missing comma, but she scanned her eyes? Most people would scan the room. With their eyes.
p. 245: "She tried to shake off her fermenting self-doubt..." Fomenting, perhaps? "Fermenting self-doubt" sounds messy.
p. 325: "...he could still taste the decaying pork pie he had grabbed outside Colney Hatch Station and sank on the underground." This one may reflect my ignorance; how does one sink a pie? Or did "he" sink? on the underground?
p. 368: "Tommy's teeth hovered threateningly over his bottom lip." I've tired to recreate this look, but I'm not sure if teeth can hover while still attached to gums. And was his bottom lip threatened, or were the people he was looking at?
Oh, and don't be fooled by the blurb on the dust jacket about the sinking of the Titanic and the Jack the Ripper murders. Both of these are barely mentioned and have nothing to do with the story itself. Corsets, suffragettes, and trapeze artists, yes. The Ripper, no. (If you want to read a great novel about Jack, try "I, Ripper" by Stephen Hunter.)
As I said, considering the overall high score this book was given by other readers, the problem must be me. I'm ok with that. :)
September 15, 2018
This is historical fiction with a mystery and lots of action - I really liked it.
Set in 1912 in London Frankie George is an up and coming reporter trying to make her way in a man's world. She is tasked with getting a profile of suffragettes, specifically Ebony Diamond a trapeze artist who is causing havoc.
She's a bit resentful of this until Ebony goes missing and it all gets a bit more dangerous - two people have been murdered and Ebony is in danger.
With the help of unlikely allies Frankie delves deeper to solve the mystery, torn between a fantastic scoop and telling the truth in the face of adversity.
I liked the characters (Frankie took a while to warm up to as she is tempestuous and arrogant but we got there) and the story moved at an excellent pace. I wasn't as keen on the sections from Inspector Primrose but they did add an extra insight to the story and showed more of the attitudes to the suffragettes at the time.
I enjoyed learning more about the suffragette movement and would recommend this story to anyone who likes well-rounded characters, a mystery and historical background rolled into one.
Set in 1912 in London Frankie George is an up and coming reporter trying to make her way in a man's world. She is tasked with getting a profile of suffragettes, specifically Ebony Diamond a trapeze artist who is causing havoc.
She's a bit resentful of this until Ebony goes missing and it all gets a bit more dangerous - two people have been murdered and Ebony is in danger.
With the help of unlikely allies Frankie delves deeper to solve the mystery, torn between a fantastic scoop and telling the truth in the face of adversity.
I liked the characters (Frankie took a while to warm up to as she is tempestuous and arrogant but we got there) and the story moved at an excellent pace. I wasn't as keen on the sections from Inspector Primrose but they did add an extra insight to the story and showed more of the attitudes to the suffragettes at the time.
I enjoyed learning more about the suffragette movement and would recommend this story to anyone who likes well-rounded characters, a mystery and historical background rolled into one.
January 28, 2015
Alright, by 'read' I mean 'read halfway through, got really bored and read the last chapter'. In places, the plot moves quickly; in other places, it sludges along like treacle. I think my problem was really that I didn't feel any sort of connection to the characters. Ebony Diamond... meh. Frankie... meh with a side of irritating. Primrose... yeah, liked him well enough. Primrose's prat boss... can't remember his name. Twinkle... ugh and meh in equal quantities.
Not for me, but then this really isn't a genre that I particularly like. The title captured my attention, and I didn't actually read the first few pages in the bookshop.
Not for me, but then this really isn't a genre that I particularly like. The title captured my attention, and I didn't actually read the first few pages in the bookshop.
February 4, 2015
We’re not long into 2015 but I know this is going to be on my top reads this year. My review won’t do The Hourglass Factory justice!
I’ve always been interested in the Suffragettes since doing a project on Emmeline Pankhurst at school and The Hourglass Factory gives this life. One scene in the dock made an impression on me. How archaic it all seems through the eyes of today …
Travelling around with Frankie on foot gave me plenty of opportunities to visualise society and how it may have been. The show at The Coliseum was brilliant and of course the intrigue of Ebony’s disappearance.
I enjoyed the format. A third person narrative through the majority of the story switches from Frankie to DI Primrose which kept me engaged and eager to turn the pages. I usually finish a reading session at the end of a chapter which was really hard to do with The Hourglass Factory as I scanned the start of the next chapter and then became hooked in and just had to carry on!
All the leads are fabulous (and so are the secondary characters).
Frankie is impulsive, impetuous and stubborn. When she’s knocked down she’s not deterred but keeps on fighting. I loved her!
DI Frederick Primrose is apathetic about his job since being moved to the Suffragette squad. Through him we get to see how the police may have viewed Suffragettes, especially when there is the window smashing along Bond Street. He’s seen as far too courteous and self-effacing by colleagues, however, he’s the only one who is not in the job for the power …
Milly, a snake dancer at Jojo’s Cocoa Bar joins up with Frankie to find Ebony but she is hiding something about her past.
I loved eccentric Twinkle (she co-writes a column with Frankie for The London Evening Gazette). She’s a lady who has blackmailed Stark (editor from the paper) and holds a lot of power. Definitely someone to have on your side. I think there’s a novel that could be written just about her and her past!
There’s a mysterious figure in connection with the corset shop (‘Olivier Smythe; Parisian Corsetier’) as well as intrigue with what Frankie sees happening one dark evening.
All the mystery and tension leads us up to 5th November. It is such a pivotal scene in the plot. It is an awesome, hair raising, edge of seat tenseness that is full of pain and adrenalin (for the characters and it was for me too!). The images are vivid and still feel very real.
Ending the story with Frankie, DI Primrose and Twinkle on Derby Day (4 June 1913) was a perfect fit.
I would like to thank the publishers for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve always been interested in the Suffragettes since doing a project on Emmeline Pankhurst at school and The Hourglass Factory gives this life. One scene in the dock made an impression on me. How archaic it all seems through the eyes of today …
Travelling around with Frankie on foot gave me plenty of opportunities to visualise society and how it may have been. The show at The Coliseum was brilliant and of course the intrigue of Ebony’s disappearance.
I enjoyed the format. A third person narrative through the majority of the story switches from Frankie to DI Primrose which kept me engaged and eager to turn the pages. I usually finish a reading session at the end of a chapter which was really hard to do with The Hourglass Factory as I scanned the start of the next chapter and then became hooked in and just had to carry on!
All the leads are fabulous (and so are the secondary characters).
Frankie is impulsive, impetuous and stubborn. When she’s knocked down she’s not deterred but keeps on fighting. I loved her!
DI Frederick Primrose is apathetic about his job since being moved to the Suffragette squad. Through him we get to see how the police may have viewed Suffragettes, especially when there is the window smashing along Bond Street. He’s seen as far too courteous and self-effacing by colleagues, however, he’s the only one who is not in the job for the power …
Milly, a snake dancer at Jojo’s Cocoa Bar joins up with Frankie to find Ebony but she is hiding something about her past.
I loved eccentric Twinkle (she co-writes a column with Frankie for The London Evening Gazette). She’s a lady who has blackmailed Stark (editor from the paper) and holds a lot of power. Definitely someone to have on your side. I think there’s a novel that could be written just about her and her past!
There’s a mysterious figure in connection with the corset shop (‘Olivier Smythe; Parisian Corsetier’) as well as intrigue with what Frankie sees happening one dark evening.
All the mystery and tension leads us up to 5th November. It is such a pivotal scene in the plot. It is an awesome, hair raising, edge of seat tenseness that is full of pain and adrenalin (for the characters and it was for me too!). The images are vivid and still feel very real.
Ending the story with Frankie, DI Primrose and Twinkle on Derby Day (4 June 1913) was a perfect fit.
I would like to thank the publishers for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.
February 25, 2023
I grabbed this book because I wanted a mystery and Circus type setting. This book supplied that, but it wasn't as wonderful as I hoped.
Frankie, the main character is supposed to be an adult, but I swear she read about 15 or 16 to me. The way she processed things and the things she would say came across more teenager than adult. Also there was a bit too much going on and the story itself got lost. Now the research done regarding the Suffragettes was probably the best thing about this book. It was fascinating. The mystery plot was ok, but I just didn't gel with Frankie. She irritated me and half the time I wanted her to just be quiet. I did like Twinkle and Milly. They kept me invested enough to see the story through. I don't know that I would recommend this. It's not bad persay, it's just ok.
Frankie, the main character is supposed to be an adult, but I swear she read about 15 or 16 to me. The way she processed things and the things she would say came across more teenager than adult. Also there was a bit too much going on and the story itself got lost. Now the research done regarding the Suffragettes was probably the best thing about this book. It was fascinating. The mystery plot was ok, but I just didn't gel with Frankie. She irritated me and half the time I wanted her to just be quiet. I did like Twinkle and Milly. They kept me invested enough to see the story through. I don't know that I would recommend this. It's not bad persay, it's just ok.
January 16, 2015
Frankie George is sent by her newspaper for her first proper piece – a profile of suffragette-trapeze artist Ebony Diamond. But while she’s on the trail, Ebony lashes out at her then disappears mysteriously in the middle of her performance. Frankie gains a snake-charmer and dubious errand boy as sidekicks along the way as well as meeting a vast variety of characters, and quest to find Miss Diamond uncovers plots and secrets that she would never have dreamt of.
I really, really, wanted to really really like this book. I started reading it just before Christmas, and with Victorian London, Suffragettes, circuses, plots, mysteries and journalists I was anticipating a novel of complete delight. And true, some of it was there. The plot swung around a huge variety of intriguing settings, bizarre twists and colourful characters – but for me, ultimately, this novel was lacking.
The plot uncovered excitingly and sufficiently misleadingly, the many pieces gradually coming together at the end. I was held enough by the mystery to keep reading despite my frustrations, though I do find that at the end I’m still not quite sure how it all came about.
I also LOVED the jaunts around London. Now that I live here I recognised a large portion of the street names that were mentioned, and loved to be able to imagine the characters in a place that I actually know. The setting was fun!
Probably the main obstacle to my enjoying it was the main character. Frankie is obtuse, circumspect about her past, and to me, rather unlike-able. I just couldn’t work her out at all – is she very ambitious, or just too lazy? Passionate about women’s rights or indifferent? Lesbian or not? Her complexities were presumably meant to keep us hanging throughout the book, but I mainly found that I didn’t care.
Which was a real shame, because really I would have liked to be on her side. She’s a female journalist in Victorian London, for goodness sake – you would have thought I could easily get alongside. But instead I found myself wishing that Ebony Diamond, perhaps, was the main character of the book.
Another thing this would have helped was the desire I had to see more of the inner workings of the suffragettes. I realised that I’ve never read any books based on them, whereas I would be very very interested to. And indeed, I was here – so this felt a bit like a waste of an incredible subject matter.
So it was a good book, but not quite as good as I hoped. And if Frankie George plans to reappear for any more books I’d need to see some serious development in her character to be convinced.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
I really, really, wanted to really really like this book. I started reading it just before Christmas, and with Victorian London, Suffragettes, circuses, plots, mysteries and journalists I was anticipating a novel of complete delight. And true, some of it was there. The plot swung around a huge variety of intriguing settings, bizarre twists and colourful characters – but for me, ultimately, this novel was lacking.
The plot uncovered excitingly and sufficiently misleadingly, the many pieces gradually coming together at the end. I was held enough by the mystery to keep reading despite my frustrations, though I do find that at the end I’m still not quite sure how it all came about.
I also LOVED the jaunts around London. Now that I live here I recognised a large portion of the street names that were mentioned, and loved to be able to imagine the characters in a place that I actually know. The setting was fun!
Probably the main obstacle to my enjoying it was the main character. Frankie is obtuse, circumspect about her past, and to me, rather unlike-able. I just couldn’t work her out at all – is she very ambitious, or just too lazy? Passionate about women’s rights or indifferent? Lesbian or not? Her complexities were presumably meant to keep us hanging throughout the book, but I mainly found that I didn’t care.
Which was a real shame, because really I would have liked to be on her side. She’s a female journalist in Victorian London, for goodness sake – you would have thought I could easily get alongside. But instead I found myself wishing that Ebony Diamond, perhaps, was the main character of the book.
Another thing this would have helped was the desire I had to see more of the inner workings of the suffragettes. I realised that I’ve never read any books based on them, whereas I would be very very interested to. And indeed, I was here – so this felt a bit like a waste of an incredible subject matter.
So it was a good book, but not quite as good as I hoped. And if Frankie George plans to reappear for any more books I’d need to see some serious development in her character to be convinced.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.
July 9, 2024
Geçtiğimiz kış yaptığım okumalarda tarihi kurguları çok sevdiğimin bir kez daha farkına vardım. Bu kitap da onlardan biriydi. Bu sefer 1912 yılındayız. Sepya bir film izler gibi anlatılan olaylarla Londra sokaklarında dolaşıyoruz. Süfrajet hareketi, cinayetler, fetişistler, tuhaf toplantılar ve kayıp bir süfrajetin peşinde erkek gibi giyinen, kadın olduğunu gizlemeye çalışan bir kadın gazeteci. Çok sürükleyici bir kitap. Edebi anlamda değilse de içerik, hikaye ve karakterleriyle beni oldukça mutlu etti. İlgilisine önerebilirim.
Okuyanlar için detay: Ebony’i GOT’taki Brienne karakteri gibi canlandırdım gözümde kitabın başından beri nedense. Brienne’i de çok sevdiğim için baştan puanları topladı kitap da karakter de:) Frankie, Millie ve Twinkle karakterleri de çok iyiydi, bu kadın çetesine komple bayıldım! Ama bu çetenin içinde bir de Liam olmasını çok sevdim, çok sevimliydi, özellikle kilit noktalarda ortaya çıkması. Leydi Thorne’u daha çok görmek hem istedim hem istemedim ama o da çok gerçek bir karakterdi yine.
Ocak ‘24 @yazariylakonusanlar #cevirmeniylekonusanlar @pinuccias @cicekoztek @alefkitap
“‘Dünyayı kana bulayan, erkeklerin militanlığı müfettiş; yarattıkları bu vahşetin karşılığında adlarına dikilen anıtlarla, yazılan şarkılarla, destanlarla ödüllendirilen erkeklerin. Kadınların militanlığıysa hiçbir insanın hayatına kastetmeden devam edecek, bu savaşı kendi bildikleri gibi yapmak isteyenlerin hayatları da dahil. Onlara verilecek ödülü zaman gösterecek. Size şöyle bir önerim olabilir müfettiş,’ dedi gözlerini köpek kırbacına dikerek, ‘elleri kanlı birilerini arıyor olsam, biraz daha uzağa bakardım, hükümetin yakınlarına yani.’”
Okuyanlar için detay: Ebony’i GOT’taki Brienne karakteri gibi canlandırdım gözümde kitabın başından beri nedense. Brienne’i de çok sevdiğim için baştan puanları topladı kitap da karakter de:) Frankie, Millie ve Twinkle karakterleri de çok iyiydi, bu kadın çetesine komple bayıldım! Ama bu çetenin içinde bir de Liam olmasını çok sevdim, çok sevimliydi, özellikle kilit noktalarda ortaya çıkması. Leydi Thorne’u daha çok görmek hem istedim hem istemedim ama o da çok gerçek bir karakterdi yine.
Ocak ‘24 @yazariylakonusanlar #cevirmeniylekonusanlar @pinuccias @cicekoztek @alefkitap
“‘Dünyayı kana bulayan, erkeklerin militanlığı müfettiş; yarattıkları bu vahşetin karşılığında adlarına dikilen anıtlarla, yazılan şarkılarla, destanlarla ödüllendirilen erkeklerin. Kadınların militanlığıysa hiçbir insanın hayatına kastetmeden devam edecek, bu savaşı kendi bildikleri gibi yapmak isteyenlerin hayatları da dahil. Onlara verilecek ödülü zaman gösterecek. Size şöyle bir önerim olabilir müfettiş,’ dedi gözlerini köpek kırbacına dikerek, ‘elleri kanlı birilerini arıyor olsam, biraz daha uzağa bakardım, hükümetin yakınlarına yani.’”
May 9, 2015
Disappointing. I was expecting more circus antics. I enjoyed lots of the characters but the most interesting ones spent most of the book absent or dead.I can't comment on the historic accuracy but the scientific fact-checking left a lot to be desired, especially in regards to nitrocellulose. To put on my chemist hat for a moment.
June 15, 2019
This book was just ok, felt it was dragged out a bit with unnecessary detail, it could have been much better I loved the idea but just felt it lacked something.
May 15, 2021
2.5 stars. I am sad to say this one disappointed me 😔
The concept, the time period, and the historical events were all fascinating - I loved the suffragette movement tied with macabre circus elements, but it fell very flat.
The characters felt very one-dimensional to me - we were shown their personalities and past histories through their dialogue, rather than ever genuinely feeling them. I don’t know how to best describe the writing and pacing of this book, other than a slow-paced Scooby Doo episode. The characters are constantly on the run, finding clues, trying to piece things together, but it felt so rushed and confusing, but also slow at the same time?!
I so wish I enjoyed this one, because the elements of the book felt like they were made for great reading. But overall it was lackluster, I didn’t really enjoy picking it up and reading it, and the ending made me a little annoyed.
HOWEVER, I do think this novel would make a terrific film adaptation. The writing and scene set-up made it very apparent that Lucy Ribchester visually saw the world, time period, and setting of this book. And to that I say a huge kudos!!! While I didn’t enjoy the writing, I do believe this could be a great cinematic story with the help of Lucy’s descriptive writing style and narrative mastery.
The concept, the time period, and the historical events were all fascinating - I loved the suffragette movement tied with macabre circus elements, but it fell very flat.
The characters felt very one-dimensional to me - we were shown their personalities and past histories through their dialogue, rather than ever genuinely feeling them. I don’t know how to best describe the writing and pacing of this book, other than a slow-paced Scooby Doo episode. The characters are constantly on the run, finding clues, trying to piece things together, but it felt so rushed and confusing, but also slow at the same time?!
I so wish I enjoyed this one, because the elements of the book felt like they were made for great reading. But overall it was lackluster, I didn’t really enjoy picking it up and reading it, and the ending made me a little annoyed.
HOWEVER, I do think this novel would make a terrific film adaptation. The writing and scene set-up made it very apparent that Lucy Ribchester visually saw the world, time period, and setting of this book. And to that I say a huge kudos!!! While I didn’t enjoy the writing, I do believe this could be a great cinematic story with the help of Lucy’s descriptive writing style and narrative mastery.
August 16, 2018
Vivid with a strong sense of place
December 22, 2019
“ Dünyayı kana bulayan, erkeklerin militanlığı müfettiş; yarattıkları bu vahşetin karşılığında adlarına dikilen anıtlarla, yazılan şarkılarla, destanlarla ödüllendirilen erkeklerin. Kadınların militanlığıysa hiçbir insanın hayatına kastetmeden devam edecek, bu savaşı kendi bildikleri gibi yapmak isteyenlerin hayatları da dahil. Onlara verilecek ödülü zaman gösterecek.”
İngiltere’de kadınların oy kullanma hakkını savunan süfrajetlerin konunun merkezine konulduğu bir polisiye aslında. Bir yandan çözümlenemeyen iki cinayet ve kaybolan bir trapezcinin gizemiyle akıcı bir hikaye sunarken, diğer yandan da 1912 İngiltere’sinde kadınların oy kullanabilmek ya da gazeteci olabilmek için nelerle mücadele ettiğini aktarıyor. Süfrajet akımına dair nitelikli olmasa da hap bilgiler verip temel okuma önerileri sunuyor. Gizem açısından, eğer dikkatli bir okursanız zaten olayın nereye gittiğini bir noktadan sonra çözüyorsunuz ama temel aldığı tarih açısından okumakta fayda olduğunu düşünüyorum.
İngiltere’de kadınların oy kullanma hakkını savunan süfrajetlerin konunun merkezine konulduğu bir polisiye aslında. Bir yandan çözümlenemeyen iki cinayet ve kaybolan bir trapezcinin gizemiyle akıcı bir hikaye sunarken, diğer yandan da 1912 İngiltere’sinde kadınların oy kullanabilmek ya da gazeteci olabilmek için nelerle mücadele ettiğini aktarıyor. Süfrajet akımına dair nitelikli olmasa da hap bilgiler verip temel okuma önerileri sunuyor. Gizem açısından, eğer dikkatli bir okursanız zaten olayın nereye gittiğini bir noktadan sonra çözüyorsunuz ama temel aldığı tarih açısından okumakta fayda olduğunu düşünüyorum.
August 5, 2015
I was really looking forward to reading this book. The subject topic of the suffragette movement sounded interesting. Half way through I almost gave up but continued after reading reviews on here. The story seemed to tread water all the time, when it started to get interesting, it would change direction. I felt there was not enough depth given to the characters maybe? And the most interesting person was barely in the book. There are some great reviews on here but I am afraid I felt very disatisfied by the whole experience.
July 16, 2015
I so wanted to like this book and I did, in a way. I liked it but I simply could not fall in love with it.
It had such an exciting premise. The blurb promised a world of intrigue in a changing London, packed with curious and beguiling characters. I’m not sure if it really delivered.
I will say, before really getting into my review proper that I did struggle to read this book and therefore I read it over quite a period of time. This is obviously not the best way to find yourself absorbed into a novel but, then again, had the novel captured me in the first place I wouldn’t have stretched out the reading process quite so much.
Thinking back, I think there were two main issues for me. The lack of characters who I found either likable or interesting and a somewhat confusing plot.
To start with the characters… Frankie is probably the main character and she, to be quite fair, annoyed me. She seemed to feel that the world owed her a real favour and, despite quite undoubtedly having something to prove, her tunnel visioned approach to getting a story bugged me a bit. It was something that, if I remember correctly, she is called up upon in the book itself but that didn’t appear to lead to any real character development.
Ebony is the mysterious character that everything seems to centre around. However, she ends up being neither all that mysterious or, indeed, likable. I found that I didn’t really mind what happened to her because I wasn’t intellectually or emotionally invested in her.
However, there were some characters that I managed to connect with and enjoy… mainly those with smaller roles. The portrayal of the morally torn policeman enforcing a method of justice that he couldn’t fully condone despite the fact that his working schedule is having great impact on his personal life… that was something that worked for me. The grieving sister who just wanted to offload… that was a moment of humanity in a sea of people who really don’t seem to have any.
And the plot itself… when I say that it confused me I do not mean that it was overly complex. Instead, I find that I still don’t really know what the plot of this book was. I mean, I know the beginning, I know the middle and I know the ending but I don’t know what the point was. There was a surface level driving force of ‘finding Ebony’ but none of the plot actually seemed to centre around that driving force. It just ended up winding and convoluted with, seemingly, no real reason. I feel that if the plot could have been solidified, had there been one strong thread that pulled the reader through the novel The Hourglass Factory could have been saved. Sadly, for me, this thread just wasn’t strong enough.
What really annoys me is that I can’t find any real good points about the story just as I can’t find any awful points about it. I finished it. It was okay. I hate that word but it seems to sum up how I feel to a T.
It had such an exciting premise. The blurb promised a world of intrigue in a changing London, packed with curious and beguiling characters. I’m not sure if it really delivered.
I will say, before really getting into my review proper that I did struggle to read this book and therefore I read it over quite a period of time. This is obviously not the best way to find yourself absorbed into a novel but, then again, had the novel captured me in the first place I wouldn’t have stretched out the reading process quite so much.
Thinking back, I think there were two main issues for me. The lack of characters who I found either likable or interesting and a somewhat confusing plot.
To start with the characters… Frankie is probably the main character and she, to be quite fair, annoyed me. She seemed to feel that the world owed her a real favour and, despite quite undoubtedly having something to prove, her tunnel visioned approach to getting a story bugged me a bit. It was something that, if I remember correctly, she is called up upon in the book itself but that didn’t appear to lead to any real character development.
Ebony is the mysterious character that everything seems to centre around. However, she ends up being neither all that mysterious or, indeed, likable. I found that I didn’t really mind what happened to her because I wasn’t intellectually or emotionally invested in her.
However, there were some characters that I managed to connect with and enjoy… mainly those with smaller roles. The portrayal of the morally torn policeman enforcing a method of justice that he couldn’t fully condone despite the fact that his working schedule is having great impact on his personal life… that was something that worked for me. The grieving sister who just wanted to offload… that was a moment of humanity in a sea of people who really don’t seem to have any.
And the plot itself… when I say that it confused me I do not mean that it was overly complex. Instead, I find that I still don’t really know what the plot of this book was. I mean, I know the beginning, I know the middle and I know the ending but I don’t know what the point was. There was a surface level driving force of ‘finding Ebony’ but none of the plot actually seemed to centre around that driving force. It just ended up winding and convoluted with, seemingly, no real reason. I feel that if the plot could have been solidified, had there been one strong thread that pulled the reader through the novel The Hourglass Factory could have been saved. Sadly, for me, this thread just wasn’t strong enough.
What really annoys me is that I can’t find any real good points about the story just as I can’t find any awful points about it. I finished it. It was okay. I hate that word but it seems to sum up how I feel to a T.
October 7, 2016
A very enjoyable read. Well written, great characters and an exciting plot with plenty of twists and turns. I found the historical notes at the end fascinating - it was interesting to see how much of the story was based on fact. I look forward to more from this writer.
January 29, 2015
Suffragettes, Emily Pankhurst, a mysterious hourglass factory, a female roving reporter and the world of the circus freaks…oh and a murderous plot too
Story in a nutshell
1912 and London is in turmoil…the suffragette movement is alive and well and so is the strange world behind the doors of the hourglass factory.
Frankie George is trying to get by in the male dominated world of the newspapers. Fascinated by the world of the circus and the trapeze artist Ebony Diamond, she wants to know more about her and her world. One day she follows her to a corset shop known as ‘The Hourglass factory’ in Mayfair and she enters a world she would never have imagined existed. At a performance at the London Coliseum, Ebony disappears and Frankie is sucked further into this new world.
Why did Ebony disappear and why? Who is this unusual and captivating creature. And what does go on behind the door of the Hourglass factory?
Place and setting
London 1912 seems to have been quite an intimidating and uncertain time especially if you were a woman. The suffragettes were a powerful and growing force in society and Emily Pankhurst was at the forefront.
Three and a half miles away on Shoe Lane, Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the Womens’ social and Political union – The Suffragettes walked into an ironmongers.
The author has quite clearly dived heart and soul into this and other issues as here is a lovely historical note at the back explaining about further reading. The performance of Ebony at the Albert Hall and her leap for example was inspired by a suffragette named Isabel Kelley who broke into Dundee’s Kinnaird hall via a skylight where there was a political meeting taking place from which women were banned.
The conditions for women at the time and the struggle for the Suffragettes – not to mention the treatment in prison for those who were jailed for their beliefs were hard to read knowing that it was based on true diaries and Pankhurst accounts. A research trip to the national archives is on the cards!
Oh and the world of the Hourglass factory and Ebony Diamond! –
The rich and sumptuous yet mysterious world of The Hourglass factory. The place is secretive, down a dark alley and involves all sorts of people going in and out under the cover of darkness. Corsets draw them in in more ways than one. but what exactly is going on behind closed doors? this was a particularly creepy and intriguing place to be –
Thoughts
What a wonderful world Miss Ribchester has created here. Who would have thought that a plot involving the suffragettes, and a world of circus freaks and a corset shop would work so well. but it does and it was a fascinating world to be in.
The two storylines are both different yet woven together well and I was captivated by each although I do admit to want to spend more time with Ebony and the world of the corsets as unique and mysterious as it was.
Whilst this is a fictional novel, the author is keen to point out the inspiration for it and it adds even more interest and intrigue to an already fascinating read. There is so much more further reading to do with both of these story strands and I will definitely be heading down to the national archives to read the actual diaries of Constance Lytton of the conditions in the prisons of the time.
Outrageouus, flamboyant with a feather bower wrapped around the women’s necks and chains around their wrists – the struggles of society, the hidden worlds borne of such repression and squalor. And all created on these pages for your delectation.
Story in a nutshell
1912 and London is in turmoil…the suffragette movement is alive and well and so is the strange world behind the doors of the hourglass factory.
Frankie George is trying to get by in the male dominated world of the newspapers. Fascinated by the world of the circus and the trapeze artist Ebony Diamond, she wants to know more about her and her world. One day she follows her to a corset shop known as ‘The Hourglass factory’ in Mayfair and she enters a world she would never have imagined existed. At a performance at the London Coliseum, Ebony disappears and Frankie is sucked further into this new world.
Why did Ebony disappear and why? Who is this unusual and captivating creature. And what does go on behind the door of the Hourglass factory?
Place and setting
London 1912 seems to have been quite an intimidating and uncertain time especially if you were a woman. The suffragettes were a powerful and growing force in society and Emily Pankhurst was at the forefront.
Three and a half miles away on Shoe Lane, Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the Womens’ social and Political union – The Suffragettes walked into an ironmongers.
The author has quite clearly dived heart and soul into this and other issues as here is a lovely historical note at the back explaining about further reading. The performance of Ebony at the Albert Hall and her leap for example was inspired by a suffragette named Isabel Kelley who broke into Dundee’s Kinnaird hall via a skylight where there was a political meeting taking place from which women were banned.
The conditions for women at the time and the struggle for the Suffragettes – not to mention the treatment in prison for those who were jailed for their beliefs were hard to read knowing that it was based on true diaries and Pankhurst accounts. A research trip to the national archives is on the cards!
Oh and the world of the Hourglass factory and Ebony Diamond! –
The rich and sumptuous yet mysterious world of The Hourglass factory. The place is secretive, down a dark alley and involves all sorts of people going in and out under the cover of darkness. Corsets draw them in in more ways than one. but what exactly is going on behind closed doors? this was a particularly creepy and intriguing place to be –
Thoughts
What a wonderful world Miss Ribchester has created here. Who would have thought that a plot involving the suffragettes, and a world of circus freaks and a corset shop would work so well. but it does and it was a fascinating world to be in.
The two storylines are both different yet woven together well and I was captivated by each although I do admit to want to spend more time with Ebony and the world of the corsets as unique and mysterious as it was.
Whilst this is a fictional novel, the author is keen to point out the inspiration for it and it adds even more interest and intrigue to an already fascinating read. There is so much more further reading to do with both of these story strands and I will definitely be heading down to the national archives to read the actual diaries of Constance Lytton of the conditions in the prisons of the time.
Outrageouus, flamboyant with a feather bower wrapped around the women’s necks and chains around their wrists – the struggles of society, the hidden worlds borne of such repression and squalor. And all created on these pages for your delectation.
February 4, 2020
Whilst this has an interesting story line, it flits about too much for you to ever get a real sense of the characters and what's going on. Whilst you only see the tale from two perspectives - that of a young reporter and a policeman forced into the suffragette unit - there are so many different characters and sub-plots that it felt like nothing was fully developed. Many of the characters end up being caricatured due to their eccentricities and roles in society, whilst some of the twists and turns are fractured and unbelievable.
The overall mystery is interesting, but it often gets lost within the sub-plots and there is nowhere near enough attention paid to the suffragette movement and politics; for a novel that is largely based upon them, you actually see precious little of them. Some of the best moments are these gritty real snapshots; the breaking of windows and the police brutality, the kangaroo courts and inhumane force feeding of prisoners, even some of the conversations between Frankie and her bosses at the newsroom. It's a pity they are overshadowed by the strange, the bizarre and the eccentric; a trapeze artist come tiger tamer, the snake dancer, the upper class and snobby courtesan and the phossy jawed seamstress. I found even our two lead characters undeveloped; Frankie's background is obscure, her motives often selfish and her actions wilful and ill thought out rather than sensible whilst DI Primrose is just a relatively conscientious copper.
I found this reasonably entertaining, but it was too meandering and too shallow for me to really find fall into the novel. I'd have liked more of a focus on the key plot line, rather than meandering around on sub-plots and then literally falling over the next clue. I'd have certainly appreciated more three dimensional characters with far more time being given to DI Primrose and the actual suffragettes. It really needed more detail on the suffragettes, their meetings, their strategies, their personalities, rather than skimming the surface like it did. It's taken me the better part of three weeks to read this on and off and it's largely because it just didn't grip me. By no means is it bad, it's just not great and there was nothing here to really catch and hold my attention.
The overall mystery is interesting, but it often gets lost within the sub-plots and there is nowhere near enough attention paid to the suffragette movement and politics; for a novel that is largely based upon them, you actually see precious little of them. Some of the best moments are these gritty real snapshots; the breaking of windows and the police brutality, the kangaroo courts and inhumane force feeding of prisoners, even some of the conversations between Frankie and her bosses at the newsroom. It's a pity they are overshadowed by the strange, the bizarre and the eccentric; a trapeze artist come tiger tamer, the snake dancer, the upper class and snobby courtesan and the phossy jawed seamstress. I found even our two lead characters undeveloped; Frankie's background is obscure, her motives often selfish and her actions wilful and ill thought out rather than sensible whilst DI Primrose is just a relatively conscientious copper.
I found this reasonably entertaining, but it was too meandering and too shallow for me to really find fall into the novel. I'd have liked more of a focus on the key plot line, rather than meandering around on sub-plots and then literally falling over the next clue. I'd have certainly appreciated more three dimensional characters with far more time being given to DI Primrose and the actual suffragettes. It really needed more detail on the suffragettes, their meetings, their strategies, their personalities, rather than skimming the surface like it did. It's taken me the better part of three weeks to read this on and off and it's largely because it just didn't grip me. By no means is it bad, it's just not great and there was nothing here to really catch and hold my attention.
March 11, 2015
The cover of this book looks a bit like the wrappings on old fashioned boiled sweet - and the insides are fairly similar as well - sometimes warm, sometimes spicy, a couple of rough bits, and hard to swallow whole.
It offers a slightly different take on the story of the suffragettes just over 100 years ago. Hard to believe that in 1912, women weren't allowed to vote. That much is true - and many of the leading characters mentioned in the book also have their places in the history books.
But the main action is carried out by a number of slightly fragrant fictional characters - a cub reporter who dresses like a man, and who exudes frustrated sexual frisson throughout the piece - most often in the direction of an exotic snake dancer who we find out to be a reluctant member of the aristocracy; and then a trapeze artist who can tame tigers, a slightly bilious madame, a man who likes to dress in corsets until he's eventually killed by one.... you starting to get the picture here?
This is almost comic book like in its characterizations, and some of the plot turns appear to be more Spiderman than Shakespeare. What the protagonists gain in caricature, they lack in depth. At times, this is a gripping yarn, set in the seedy underworld of the West End of 1912. It has plenty of historical references and touchstones - but then the next moment it suffers from dreadful anachronisms.
In recent times, it has been a popular literary device to use animals as extended metaphors within fiction - and tigers, elephants and snakes in particular have been used extensively over the past few years. This book has them all - without vesting the depth of their significance to the plot that other offerings have done. As such, as with most of the other elements in the book - I wonder if the author sets out to accomplish too much, tries to put too many things on too big a canvass, but runs out of paint before all of the empty bits can be filled in?
This book is not without its merits - but its not without many, many faults either.
It offers a slightly different take on the story of the suffragettes just over 100 years ago. Hard to believe that in 1912, women weren't allowed to vote. That much is true - and many of the leading characters mentioned in the book also have their places in the history books.
But the main action is carried out by a number of slightly fragrant fictional characters - a cub reporter who dresses like a man, and who exudes frustrated sexual frisson throughout the piece - most often in the direction of an exotic snake dancer who we find out to be a reluctant member of the aristocracy; and then a trapeze artist who can tame tigers, a slightly bilious madame, a man who likes to dress in corsets until he's eventually killed by one.... you starting to get the picture here?
This is almost comic book like in its characterizations, and some of the plot turns appear to be more Spiderman than Shakespeare. What the protagonists gain in caricature, they lack in depth. At times, this is a gripping yarn, set in the seedy underworld of the West End of 1912. It has plenty of historical references and touchstones - but then the next moment it suffers from dreadful anachronisms.
In recent times, it has been a popular literary device to use animals as extended metaphors within fiction - and tigers, elephants and snakes in particular have been used extensively over the past few years. This book has them all - without vesting the depth of their significance to the plot that other offerings have done. As such, as with most of the other elements in the book - I wonder if the author sets out to accomplish too much, tries to put too many things on too big a canvass, but runs out of paint before all of the empty bits can be filled in?
This book is not without its merits - but its not without many, many faults either.
April 15, 2016
2.5 stars. I really wanted to like this. Given the basic plot and the characters, I'd even say I felt like I should have liked it. But there were just too many problems with too little payoff.
The narrative is disorganized and hard to follow, made worse by too many unmemorable side characters who further confuse the story. It has very, very long stretches that are either boring or irritating, and has, at its climax, an obnoxious, Scooby Doo style expository rant by the villain.
But most of all, it just doesn't make you care. I liked Frankie. I liked Milly. I liked Liam. But not enough. It's truly a shame, because I'd like to think that this could have been a much better book with more effort on the part of author and a more conscientious editor.
The narrative is disorganized and hard to follow, made worse by too many unmemorable side characters who further confuse the story. It has very, very long stretches that are either boring or irritating, and has, at its climax, an obnoxious, Scooby Doo style expository rant by the villain.
But most of all, it just doesn't make you care. I liked Frankie. I liked Milly. I liked Liam. But not enough. It's truly a shame, because I'd like to think that this could have been a much better book with more effort on the part of author and a more conscientious editor.
June 6, 2017
This book has a lot going for it: suffragettes, women leads, London and journalism, but I feel it's rather over-complicated and confusing at times. I loved the lucid descriptions of dirty, dank London and hungry inhabitants. The novel breathes life into a snapshot history of the suffragettes' campaign. However, there are so many sub-plots, themes and minor characters that I struggled to keep pace (circus, theatre, journalism, corset tight-lacing fetishism). The main characters have much potential but are under-developed. The book would really benefit from losing a quarter of its content in a brutal redraft. Great ingredients, but a lack of cohesiveness and clarity in the execution. Still, memorable and well worth reading.
March 24, 2015
I love historical fiction so when I was given The Hourglass Factory as a gift I was very eager to read it. It truly does not disappoint. When reading you feel totally immersed in the suffragette movement and get completely wrapped up in the mystery. Most of the main characters are very likeable, although I would like to have read more about Liam.
There is one thing that made me struggle to decide between a 3 or a 4 star rating; without posting any spoilers I will say that I thought the conclusion to the mystery was a little implausible. Although it is still surprising and exciting, I just didn't buy it. However I enjoyed the rest so much that I decided to overlook it in my rating.
There is one thing that made me struggle to decide between a 3 or a 4 star rating; without posting any spoilers I will say that I thought the conclusion to the mystery was a little implausible. Although it is still surprising and exciting, I just didn't buy it. However I enjoyed the rest so much that I decided to overlook it in my rating.
April 10, 2017
This book was very hard to read, it took me over a month and I only persisted because I had recommended it to my book club. As it turned out I was the only one in the group who got to the end. Everyone hated it. I felt that it was a great opportunity missed, because it was obviously well researched, but she just couldn't weave those facts into a story with credible characters and believable story line. It didn't flow and at times it was utterly confusing. The only good thing I can say about it is, it has made me keen to read more about he Suffragette movement.
January 26, 2015
Mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed the period detail but felt that the plot was a little convoluted. I didn't really care about any of the characters and found myself reading hard just to get to the end, rather than because I wanted to know how it would be resolved.
March 22, 2015
I finally finished it but it was a struggle. The characters were very hard to connect with and characterisation was scant. The style of prose was also convoluted and had no flow.
I found it interesting to have a bit of an insight into the Suffragette movement.
I found it interesting to have a bit of an insight into the Suffragette movement.
June 26, 2018
According to my friends this has been really well researched, and the author is good at creating a feeling for the period in which it is set. However I couldn't get past the first few pages as I found it overwritten.
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