Publication
HarperCollins (2009), 496 pages
Description
An elegant, powerful novel, set in Victorian England, a time not so different from our own... perfect for fans of THE INTERPRETATION OF MURDER and THE SHADOW OF THE WIND Ambitious young journalist Thomas Kitson arrives at the battlefields of the Crimea as the London Courier's man on the ground. It is a dangerous place, full of the worst horrors of war but Kitson is determined to make his mark. Under the tutelage of his hard-bitten Irish boss Cracknell, and assisted by artist Robert Styles, he sets about exposing the incompetence of the army generals. Two years later, as Sebastopol burns, Thomas returns to England under mysterious circumstances. Desperate to forget the atrocities of the Crimea, he takes a job as a 'street philosopher', a society writer reporting on the gossip of the day. But on the eve of the great Art Treasures Exhibition, as Manchester prepares to welcome Queen Victoria, Thomas's past returns to haunt him in the most horrifying way...… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member pierthinker
Victorian historical novels, that is, modern historical novels set in the Victorian Age, all into two camps. Both share the intricate plotting, the flashmob approach to characters, the episodic thrust of the action. One however, tries to replicate the language of the Victorian novel, where the
Matthew Plampin has clearly done his homework in reasearching both the war in the Crimea and life in Manchester in the mid-19th century. His descriptions of the soldier’s life in the Crimea are especially affecting. I had not realised the similarities between this war and Great War 60 years later; talk about fighting the previous war rather than this one!
Unfortuantely, I do not think so highly of his Manchester descriptions. He does not quite convey the grimness and fatality of the time, instead presenting a very stoic, stiff-upper-lip, faintly Dick-van-Dykeish picture of the working classes.
Having said that, this is an exciting work with plenty of action and plenty of characters showing their darker sides. Plampin does preovide depth to his key players and colours the incidentals enough to make me want to know more about them(what is in the heart of Mr. Twelves?). I found Cracknell too self-absorbed and insensitive for my believability, but that just may be my sheltered life coming through.
I am not sure this has been a successful first novel, although I enjoyed it. Perhaps, at a hundred pages shorter, this might have been a blockbuster.
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other uses modern language and grammar, both trying to immerse the reader in the immediacy of the action. The jury is out over which is the more successful approach, though it is always the quality of the writing that decides the winner.Matthew Plampin has clearly done his homework in reasearching both the war in the Crimea and life in Manchester in the mid-19th century. His descriptions of the soldier’s life in the Crimea are especially affecting. I had not realised the similarities between this war and Great War 60 years later; talk about fighting the previous war rather than this one!
Unfortuantely, I do not think so highly of his Manchester descriptions. He does not quite convey the grimness and fatality of the time, instead presenting a very stoic, stiff-upper-lip, faintly Dick-van-Dykeish picture of the working classes.
Having said that, this is an exciting work with plenty of action and plenty of characters showing their darker sides. Plampin does preovide depth to his key players and colours the incidentals enough to make me want to know more about them(what is in the heart of Mr. Twelves?). I found Cracknell too self-absorbed and insensitive for my believability, but that just may be my sheltered life coming through.
I am not sure this has been a successful first novel, although I enjoyed it. Perhaps, at a hundred pages shorter, this might have been a blockbuster.
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LibraryThing member Kasthu
Thomas Kitson is a journalist, sent out the Crimea in 1854 to be the junior correspondent for the London Courier. The Courier team includes the senior correspondent, Richard Cracknell, a loose cannon who has an affair with the commanding officer’s wife and pens scurrilous pieces for the
This is one of those “unputdownable” books. I read it nearly in one sitting, on an airplane ride back to the States after vacation. I needed a distraction from the 300-pound gorilla groping his girlfriend in the seat next to me, and this book was perfect towards that end. I was glued to this book from start to finish, reading on and on to find out what would happen next.
At first, I thought I wasn’t going to like the shifts in time—usually they don’t work so well, but here they’re done subtly. There are quite a lot of battle scenes, but the author’s descriptions of them are particularly well-done. The author clearly knows his mid-nineteenth century history, but he doesn’t overburden the reader with his knowledge, instead allowing the reader to take things in gradually. At the same time, the mid-nineteenth century, both in the Crimea and in Manchester, comes alive for the reader.
The story, too, is very well-written, and the plot unfolds gradually. There are hints of the unspeakable things that happened in the Crimea, but they aren’t revealed until much later. The plot is complicated, and sometimes leaves the reader with more questions than answers, but not overly so. It looks as though rights for this book haven’t sold in the US (at least not yet), which is a shame, because this is a truly entertaining novel.
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newspaper; and Robert Styles, a young illustrator who quickly becomes disillusioned by the war. The war, culminating with the battle of Sebastopol, is interchanged with a second story line, in Manchester two years later, when Kitson is a social commentator for a local paper (a “street philosopher”), and trying desperately to run from the past. What, exactly, happened out in the Crimea?This is one of those “unputdownable” books. I read it nearly in one sitting, on an airplane ride back to the States after vacation. I needed a distraction from the 300-pound gorilla groping his girlfriend in the seat next to me, and this book was perfect towards that end. I was glued to this book from start to finish, reading on and on to find out what would happen next.
At first, I thought I wasn’t going to like the shifts in time—usually they don’t work so well, but here they’re done subtly. There are quite a lot of battle scenes, but the author’s descriptions of them are particularly well-done. The author clearly knows his mid-nineteenth century history, but he doesn’t overburden the reader with his knowledge, instead allowing the reader to take things in gradually. At the same time, the mid-nineteenth century, both in the Crimea and in Manchester, comes alive for the reader.
The story, too, is very well-written, and the plot unfolds gradually. There are hints of the unspeakable things that happened in the Crimea, but they aren’t revealed until much later. The plot is complicated, and sometimes leaves the reader with more questions than answers, but not overly so. It looks as though rights for this book haven’t sold in the US (at least not yet), which is a shame, because this is a truly entertaining novel.
Show Less
LibraryThing member bookmart
Intrigue, love lust, loss, revenge, greed, coruption, murder; there are all here in this cracking yarn about newspaper correspondents embedded in the army during the Crimean conflict and subsequently when all the characters meet again in Manchester a few year later.
LibraryThing member jan.fleming
Wonderful book with a duel narrative one taking place during the Crimean War and the other in Manchester in 1857. You learn about the horrors of the disaster that was the Crimea and the war correspondences of the time. Full of strong, unforgettable characters and driven by a compulsive storyline.
Awards
Waverton Good Read Award (Shortlist — 2009)
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
0007272448 / 9780007272440
Other editions
The Street Philosopher by Matthew Plampin (Paperback)
The Street Philosopher by Matthew Plampin (Paperback)
The Street Philosopher by Matthew Plampin (Paperback)