The Curator

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What to expect

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

(P) 2023 Hodder & Stoughton Limited

Critics Review

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

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