Shrines of Gaiety: From the global No.1 bestselling author of Life After Life

Description

From the inimitable bestselling author, Kate Atkinson, a mesmerising novel set in the glittering world of Soho in the 1920s - a place of gangsters and showgirls, Bright Young Things and one remarkable woman. 'Atkinson on her finest form. A marvel of plate-spinning narrative knowhow, a peak performance of consummate control.' OBSERVER 'This is the perfect novel for uncertain times.' THE TIMES 'I can think of few writers other than Dickens who can match it' SUNDAY TIMES 'Brilliant' RICHARD OSMAN 'Kate Atkinson is simply one of the best writers working today, anywhere in the world' GILLIAN FLYNN ____ 1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. At the heart of this glittering world is notorious Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie's empire faces threats from without and within. For beneath the dazzle of Soho's gaiety, there is a dark underbelly, a world in which it is all too easy to become lost. With her unique Dickensian flair, Kate Atkinson brings together a glittering cast of characters in a truly mesmeric novel that captures the uncertainty and mutability of life; of a world in which nothing is quite as it seems. _____ 'Seduction, betrayal, and larger-than-life characters that will have you hooked until the last page' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'This book is one to savour, for the energy, for the wit, for the tenderness of characterisation that make Atkinson enduringly popular' GUARDIAN 'As vividly filthy, populous, dangerous as anything described by Dickens, but writing is closer to Thackeray's...Atkinson is a novelist of unrivalled immediacy, authority, and skill.' FINANCIAL TIMES

Kate Atkinson is one of the world's foremost novelists. She won the Costa Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her three critically lauded and prize-winning novels set around the Second World War are Life After Life, now an acclaimed BBC TV series starring Thomasin McKenzie, A God in Ruins (both winners of the Costa Novel Award) and Transcription. Her bestselling literary crime novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie, Case Histories, One Good Turn, When Will There Be Good News? and Started Early, Took My Dog, became a BBC television series starring Jason Isaacs. Jackson Brodie later returned in the novel Big Sky.

Brilliant. * Richard Osman * A heady brew of crime, romance and satire set amid the sordid glitz of London nightlife in the 1920s . . . Shrines of Gaiety sees Atkinson on her finest form . . . A marvel of plate-spinning narrative knowhow . . . a peak performance of consummate control. -- Anthony Cummins * OBSERVER * Sharp, witty and fiendishly plotted ... you don't so much as read it as surrender to it * FINANCIAL TIMES, 'Best books of 2022' * Seduction, betrayal and larger-than-life characters that will have you hooked until the last page. * THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH * Kate Atkinson is on deliciously acerbic form in Shrines of Gaiety ... exposing the underbelly of London nightlife in the roaring 20s * GUARDIAN, 'Books of the Year' * Atkinson has a plotter's mind: intricate, clever, satisfying. Shrines of Gaiety is all about life's tangled lines, intersections and synchronicities...The kind of fine-tuned observation that can produce an enormous, vibrant cast is quite something and I can think of few writers other than Dickens who can match it. Shrines of Gaiety is engrossing and fun, powered by subtle skills. * THE SUNDAY TIMES * This book is one to savour, for the energy, for the wit, for the tenderness of characterisation that make Atkinson enduringly popular. * GUARDIAN * As vividly filthy, populous, dangerous as anything described by Dickens, but writing is closer to Thackeray's... Atkinson is a novelist of unrivalled immediacy, authority, and skill. * FINANCIAL TIMES * Kate Atkinson is simply one of the best writers working today, anywhere in the world...she's a global treasure... [Shrines] is set during Jazz Age London, in all its fizzy madness and desperation for the new, the better, the hustle. Atkinson has a magician's ability to switch a reader's mood within a few paragraphs, and as dark as her stories can get, within them always shines a beacon of humanity. * GILLIAN FLYNN * Atkinson is a thoughtful writer with an astute understanding of 20th-century social history. This is the perfect novel for uncertain times, when comfort of a particularly English and nostalgic stripe is required. * THE TIMES * A rich cast of characters, an elegantly intricate plot - this is classic Atkinson. * OBSERVER * Atkinson has a tremendous gift for bringing the past to life but wearing her research lightly. With charismatic characters, witty dialogue and a compelling plot, she captures the reckless atmosphere of a city still coming to terms with the horrors of the First World War. It's an absorbing read and a novel to savour. -- Charlotte Heathcote * DAILY EXPRESS * Atkinson at her inimitable best. * VOGUE * Dickensian, yes, but infused with a playful knowingness that's pure Atkinson. -- Hephzibah Anderson * MAIL ON SUNDAY * A deliciously immersive novel full of deftly drawn characters. * RED * This part-literary, part-thriller novel showcases a host of glittering characters...Full of dry wit and charm...if you loved Peaky Blinders, you'll love this. * WOMAN & HOME * Exuberant, immersive storytelling featuring intrigue and betrayal is matched with wit and tenderness * MAIL ON SUNDAY * With charistmatic characters, witty dialogue, and a compelling plot, she captures the reckless atmosphere of a city still coming to terms with the horrors of the First World War. It's an absorbing read and a novel to savour. * DAILY EXPRESS, 'Fiction Highlights of 2022' * Full of grit and atmosphere. * PRIMA * Atkinson captures both the glamour and the seediness of this heady period with consummate skill in a book teeming with memorable characters. Gorgeously vivid, often strange and always very funny, it should cement her reputation as one of our finest novelists. -- Jake Kerridge * SUNDAY EXPRESS * If Dickens had lived to write about The Jazz Age, he would have produced a novel much like Kate Atkinson's "Shrines of Gaiety"... masterful. * WASHINGTON POST * There is the perfect balance throughout of sweetness and heartbreak. And, as always, there is the unmistakable zest of Ms. Atkinson's dry wit. -- Anna Mundow * WALL STREET JOURNAL * Combines the colour of a historical drama with the pace of a thriller and the detail of a police procedural... masterful. * i NEWS * The novel grabs the reader from the outset. It paints a picture of the capital's glittering nightlife and its seedier underside so vivid, that it is almost possible to smell the stale cigarette smoke and taste the alcohol... the story of Nellie and her family, and the characters they associate with, builds to a satisfying ending as the strands of their lives are deftly woven together. * INDEPENDENT * Magnificent. A rich and vivid portrayal of sly, brilliant characters in the nightlife of 20s London. I fell in love with them all, even the villains ... I loved every minute. * Laura Shepherd-Robinson *