The Curator
Published on 12. March 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
480 pages
978-1-3997-1512-6 (ISBN)
Description
Half fairy tale and half historical account of a revolution that never was, Owen King's The Curator is full of sly humor, sensuality, and strangeness - Holly Black
From Sunday Times bestselling author Owen King comes a Dickensian fantasy of illusion and charm where cats are revered as religious figures, thieves are noble, scholars are revolutionaries, and conjurers the most wonderful criminals.
At first glance, the world has not changed: the trams on the boulevards, the grand hotels, the cafes abuzz with conversation. The street kids still play on the two great bridges that divide the city, and the smart set still venture down to the Morgue Ship for an evening's entertainment.
Yet it only takes a spark to ignite a revolution.
For young Dora, a maid at the university, the moment brings liberation. She finds herself walking out with one of the student radicals, Robert, free to investigate what her brother Ambrose may have seen at the Institute for Psykical Research before he died.
But it is another establishment that Dora is given to look after, The Museum of the Worker. This strange, forgotten edifice is occupied by waxwork tableaux of miners, nurses, shopkeepers and other disturbingly lifelike figures.
As the revolution and counter-revolution outside unleash forces of love, betrayal, magic and terrifying darkness, Dora's search for the truth behind a mystery that she has long concealed will unravel a monstrous conspiracy and bring her to the very edge of worlds.
In The Curator, Owen King has created an extraordinary time and place - historical, fantastical, yet compellingly real, and a heroine who is courageous, curious and utterly memorable.
'The Curator feels a little like Owen King somehow brought a curiosity cabinet to life. There are terrors here, but also marvels and delights, and a set of the most interesting characters I've met in some time. Put The Curator on the same shelf as other classics of the uncanny and uncategorisable, like Susanna Clarke's Piranesi and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. I loved it' - Kelly Link
'Owen King's The Curator is a rich read. Language, characters, and a fascinating world combine to create an intensely satisfying experience' - Charlaine Harris
From Sunday Times bestselling author Owen King comes a Dickensian fantasy of illusion and charm where cats are revered as religious figures, thieves are noble, scholars are revolutionaries, and conjurers the most wonderful criminals.
At first glance, the world has not changed: the trams on the boulevards, the grand hotels, the cafes abuzz with conversation. The street kids still play on the two great bridges that divide the city, and the smart set still venture down to the Morgue Ship for an evening's entertainment.
Yet it only takes a spark to ignite a revolution.
For young Dora, a maid at the university, the moment brings liberation. She finds herself walking out with one of the student radicals, Robert, free to investigate what her brother Ambrose may have seen at the Institute for Psykical Research before he died.
But it is another establishment that Dora is given to look after, The Museum of the Worker. This strange, forgotten edifice is occupied by waxwork tableaux of miners, nurses, shopkeepers and other disturbingly lifelike figures.
As the revolution and counter-revolution outside unleash forces of love, betrayal, magic and terrifying darkness, Dora's search for the truth behind a mystery that she has long concealed will unravel a monstrous conspiracy and bring her to the very edge of worlds.
In The Curator, Owen King has created an extraordinary time and place - historical, fantastical, yet compellingly real, and a heroine who is courageous, curious and utterly memorable.
'The Curator feels a little like Owen King somehow brought a curiosity cabinet to life. There are terrors here, but also marvels and delights, and a set of the most interesting characters I've met in some time. Put The Curator on the same shelf as other classics of the uncanny and uncategorisable, like Susanna Clarke's Piranesi and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. I loved it' - Kelly Link
'Owen King's The Curator is a rich read. Language, characters, and a fascinating world combine to create an intensely satisfying experience' - Charlaine Harris
Reviews / Votes
Owen King's The Curator is a rich read. Language, characters, and a fascinating world combine to create an intensely satisfying experience -- Charlaine Harris, no. 1 New York Times bestselling author of An Easy Death, and the Sookie Stackhouse series Half fairy tale and half historical account of a revolution that never was, Owen King's The Curator is full of sly humor, sensuality, and strangeness -- Holly Black, no. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Book of Night The Curator feels a little like Owen King somehow brought a curiosity cabinet to life. There are terrors here, but also marvels and delights, and a set of the most interesting characters I've met in some time. Put The Curator on the same shelf as other classics of the uncanny and uncategorisable, like Susanna Clarke's Piranesi and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. I loved it * Kelly Link * King writes with witty verve. * Entertainment Weekly * Intricately plotted and gruesomely detailed... Darkly hilarious and disturbingly moreish, this brilliant fantasy envelops us in its hallucinatory reality, then grips like rigor mortis * Daily Mail * [Owen King] has a captivating energy, a precision and a fondness for people that are rare . . . King loves people as well as words. * New York Times * Brilliantly bizarre . . . hugely ambitious and original literary cabinet of curiosities: waxworks, cat worship, magic, revolution, and a brave and memorable heroine * Anna Mazzola, author of Sunday Times Bestseller The Clockwork Girl * Extraordinary... Pulsating with love, betrayal and petrifying darkness... Uncanny and richly delivered * Sunday Post * Richly imagined * New York Times * An intricate and fascinating book... the work of a writer who is confident in his craft... His city is a panoramic creation, lively and grimy and teeming with secrets... an impressive balancing act of hope amid despair * SFX * Begins like an alternate world history, with the rich detail and varied cast of characters giving it an almost Dickensian tone... A tempting brew of realism, fantasy, whimsy and terror. * Guardian * A tempting brew of realism, fantasy, whimsy and terror. * Guardian * One of those books that straddles fantastic and modernist literature in that it seems to be set in our world, seems to be set maybe 100 years ago . . . And it's as magical as it is political and beautifully crafted * Neil Gaiman * Reminiscent of Dickens with its highly descriptive language that captures the essence of people and places... Extraordinary * Irish Examiner * Reminds me of Susanna Clarke's Piranesi . . . The Curator is a fast, clever novel with engaging characters and a lively prose style * BSFA Review *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Hodder & Stoughton
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
331 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-3997-1512-6 (9781399715126)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Owen King is the author of the novel Double Feature and We're All in This Together: A Novella and Stories. He is the coauthor of Sleeping Beauties and Intro to Alien Invasion and the coeditor of Who Can Save Us Now? Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories. He lives in Upstate New York with his family.