The whalebone theatre / Joanna Quinn.
Publication details: London : Fig Tree, an imprint of Penguin Books, 2022.Description: x, 547 pages ; 24 cmISBN:- 9780241586228
- 1939-1945
- Underground movements, War
- Secret service
- War -- Underground movements
- Siblings -- Fiction
- Orphans -- Fiction
- Eccentrics and eccentricities -- Fiction
- Whales -- Carcasses -- Fiction
- Stepfamilies -- Fiction
- Self-realization -- Fiction
- Social role -- Fiction
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Secret service -- Great Britain -- Fiction
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- France -- Fiction
- France
- Great Britain
- Great Britain -- History -- George V, 1910-1936 -- Fiction
- Great Britain -- History -- George VI, 1936-1952 -- Fiction
- 823/.92 23
Item type | Home library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item reserves | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Melbourne Athenaeum Library | Fiction - Adventure | QUI | Available | 071625 |
"An utterly enchanting, immersive novel about an irrepressible young heroine who becomes an undercover agent during World War II-a sparkling debut, by turns heartwarming and heartbreaking. One blustery night in 1928, a whale washes up on the shores of the English Channel. By law, all whales belong to the King, but twelve-year-old Cristabel Seagrave has other plans. She and the rest of the household and their guests-her sister, Flossie (known affectionately as "The Veg"); her brother Digby, the long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor; Maudie Kitkat, maidservant; Taras, a hot-tempered visiting artist-build a theatre within the whale's skeleton. Cristabel is an orphan, mostly ignored by her feckless step-parents and brisk governesses. But within the Whalebone Theatre, she is fully at home and in charge, and her imagination comes to life. As Cristabel grows into a headstrong young woman, chafing against expectations, World War II rears its head. She and Digby become British secret agents working undercover in Nazi-Occupied France on separate missions-a more dangerous kind of play-acting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart. The Whalebone Theatre is a sweeping, transporting, completely irresistible novel, full of warmth and charm, humor and poignancy, passion and adventure-a story of love, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation"--