The Curator King Owen (2023)

Half fairy tale and half historical account of a revolution that never was, Owen King’s The Curator is a Dickensian fantasy of illusion and charm, where cats are revered as religious figures, thieves are noble, scholars are revolutionaries and conjurers are the most wonderful criminals. At first glance, the world has not changed: trams run along the boulevards, grand hotels and cafs bustle with conversation, street children play on the two great bridges dividing the city, and fashionable society visits the Morgue Ship for an evening’s entertainment. Yet it takes only a spark to ignite a revolution. For Dora, a young maid at the university, this moment brings liberation. She leaves with the student radical Robert and begins investigating what her brother Ambrose may have seen at the Institute for Psykical Research before his death. Dora is also given charge of the Museum of the Worker, a strange, forgotten building filled with wax tableaux of miners, nurses, shopkeepers and other disturbingly lifelike figures. As revolution and counter-revolution unleash forces of love, betrayal, magic and terrifying darkness, Dora’s search for the truth behind a mystery she has long concealed reveals a monstrous conspiracy and brings her to the very edge of other worlds. Owen King creates an extraordinary setting that is historical, fantastical and compellingly real, along with a courageous, curious and unforgettable heroine.