Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

BOOK ONE OF 2023 AND IT’S A BLINDER

I posted about my love of Kate Atkinson not too long ago. She is a writer with serious power and I literally love every sentence she puts together. I was so excited to receive this stunning proof and get started on her latest novel. 

Set in London in the 1920s, it’s partly the story of the infamous Coker family. Mother, Nellie, it’s formidable matriarch, has just been to prison and is back to preside over her empire of nightclubs, from her home in Hanover Square. But of course, things are about to get a bit more complicated.

This is a world where nothing is quite what it seems. And it’s a world packed to the brim with characters so fully fleshed, you’ll feel you know them as well as your friends — or perhaps, your enemies. The glittering setting, the darker realm that lies beneath, this is a novel so skilfully crafted, you’ll find yourself wanting to pop into one of the Coker family’s notorious venues on the streets of Soho, even for a fleeting moment. You’ll want to help find the missing girls — with or without DCI Frobisher who is hot on Nellie’s heels — and follow all the threads and lives within this story until the very end. And, even then, you’ll be longing for more.

Can you tell — I adored it. The perfect book to start 2023 with ~ S