Shrines of Gaiety: A Novel

by Kate Atkinson

Hardcover, 2022

Call number

FIC ATK

Collection

Publication

Doubleday (2022), 416 pages

Description

"The #1 national bestselling, award-winning author of Life after Life transports us to the dazzling London of the Roaring Twenties in a whirlwind tale of corruption, seduction, and debts that have come due. 1926, and in a country still recovering from the Great War, London has become the focus for a delirious new nightlife. In the clubs of Soho, peers of the realm rub shoulders with starlets, foreign dignitaries with gangsters, and girls sell dances for a shilling a time. The notorious queen of this glittering world is Nellie Coker, ruthless but also ambitious to advance her six children, including the enigmatic eldest, Niven, whose character has been forged in the crucible of the Somme. But success breeds enemies, and Nellie's empire faces threats from without and within. For beneath the dazzle of Soho's gaiety, there is a dark underbelly, a world in which it is all too easy to become lost. With her unique Dickensian flair, Kate Atkinson gives us a window in a vanished world. Slyly funny, brilliantly observant, and ingeniously plotted, Shrines of Gaiety showcases the myriad talents that have made Atkinson one of the most lauded writers of our time"--… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Kate Atkinson’s latest novel is a sprawling tale of 1920s London, specifically the seedy nightclub culture, a form of organized crime that trafficked in drugs and young girls. Nellie Coker, owner of several clubs, is released from prison (for reasons never explained), and assumes control of her
Show More
empire, which during her absence was cared for by her adult children. Nellie is crafty and driven, both to succeed in business and ensure her children live in comfort. The police are wise to Nellie, but many are also in her employ.

The “good guys” in this tale include Frobisher, seemingly the only London detective who has not sold out to corruption, and Gwendolen Kelling, a young woman from York searching for two girls who recently left their families to “seek their fortunes.” From time to time readers also get a glimpse of the girls and understand the reality of their situation far more than Frobisher or Gwendolen.

I enjoyed the ride for a while, but ultimately the novel as a whole simply does not work. There are so many characters that none are realized fully enough for the reader to become emotionally invested in them. Frobisher, for example, is in a sad marital relationship but his wife’s back story, why they married, and how they got into such a bad state, are not sufficiently explained. Frobisher is also surprisingly inept even when clues are in front of him. This may have been Atkinson’s wry humor at play, but the humor doesn’t quite land and instead left me frustrated at Frobisher’s inability to solve a serious crime.

And subplots abound, so much so that after about 350 pages Atkinson abruptly starts killing people off and then resorts to one of those “where are they now” chapters that tidily sums up what happened to each character later. When my daughter (now a writer) was in primary school, she would end all of her stories with a sudden, unexplained party. That was fine coming from a 10-year-old. It is not fine coming from an author of Kate Atkinson’s calibre.
Show Less
LibraryThing member AdonisGuilfoyle
Not sure about this one. I love Kate Atkinson and was super excited to read her new novel, which I added to my Christmas wishlist (in hardback!), but actually getting through the story was underwhelming, to say the least. I'm not sure what the problem was, because I liked a couple of the characters
Show More
- although I never really believed in Nellie Coker and her family, even though she is based on a real person - and there is a plot there, or maybe two subplots, however plodding the pace. For all that, I could only read a few pages at a time until I bit the bullet and spent the whole day finishing the rest of the book to move on!

Based on the life of the formidable Kate Meyrick, who owned an empire of nightclubs in the roaring 20s, Kate Atkinson weaves together three separate stories - Nellie Coker, fresh out of prison, and her family, former librarian Gwendolen Kelling from York who travels to London after receiving a surprise inheritance, and two young girls, Freda and Florence, who get caught up in the seedy life of the city while trying to seek fame on stage. The forces trying to usurp Nellie's empire also seem to be behind the mysterious disappearances of young girls, and Gwendolen teams up with Detective Inspector Frobisher to find Freda and Florence before they too wash up in 'Dead Man's Hole'.

Gwendolen, coming from Yorkshire and starting out as a librarian, was my favourite character, and I liked Frobisher and Nellie's son Niven too, but most of the characters felt like Dickensian caricatures, and not in a good way. Ramsay's world of the Bright Young Things felt too much like research tacked on.

Ultimately a good story, even if the ending was a bit weak, but I might be donating my copy to the library or a charity shop!
Show Less
LibraryThing member nancyadair
There were the shrines to memorialize the men lost in the war, and there were the shrines of gaiety were people could lose themselves in wild pleasure and excess to forget the war.

1920s London drew the rich and the powerful to the nightclubs in Soho. And from the suburbs and countryside, young
Show More
women came to the city dreaming of the stage and fame, only to be reduced to living by their wits, or beds, or if they were lucky, as paid dancers at a night club. The money and tips were good. The recent epidemic of missing dancing girls is not.

Upon the death of her mother, Gwendolyn the librarian discovers she is wealthy. She leaves her quiet life to search for her best friend’s missing daughter who ran off to London with her best friend, sure they would be dancers on stage. Gwendolyn is plucky, an optimist, a risk taker. She has no fear. She was a nurse during the war, already she has seen the worst. She has freedom and money and is keen to embrace life.

Searching for the missing Florence and Freda, Gwendolyn becomes entangled with two men. The proper, melancholy Chief Inspector Frobisher who enlists her to infiltrate Nellie Coker’s clubs. And Niven Coker, war veteran and Nellie’s eldest son. Frobisher is married to a woman bearing the scars of war, and Nevin has no plans to settle down.

The delinquent Coker empire was a house of cards that Frobisher aimed to topple. The filthy, glittering underbelly of London was concentrated in its nightclubs…
from Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

Nellie is a self-made woman who has built an empire of nightclubs, from the low-life, drug-addled dens of inequity to the Amethyst where the Prince of Wales and film stars hang out, sometimes joined by local street gangs. She loves sweets and wears furs in all weather, matronly and plain. Her appearance belies her iron will and shrewd business sense. Also, she isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty, especially when protecting her empire.

The Coker children are rich in things and poor in parental love. Edith, her eldest, is the family business bookkeeper, her mother’s second in command. She is entangled with a police officer who gets kickbacks from Nellie, but is up to no good. The younger daughters Betty and Shirley may be Cambridge educated, but they are vacuous and vain. Nellie most despairs of the youngest, Kitty. Then there is Ramsey, an addict with plans to write a novel, confused about his sexual orientation. The eldest of the clan, Niven was a sniper during the war. Like Gwendolyn, he is sick of death and war.

Freda discovers that fame comes with a price, and the naïve Florence disappears. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn searches for the girls.

Based on real people and places, capturing a society reeling from a devastating war and seeking oblivion in living in the moment, Shrines of Gaiety has a Dickensian scope, delving into a criminal underworld that takes advantage of starry-eyed girls and the world-weary. It’s filled with wit and humor, mystery and suspense, betrayals, and plot twists. It’s a ripping good read.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Show Less
LibraryThing member pdebolt
This is a well-crafted combination of history and fiction, which begins in London in 1926 with the release from prison of Nellie Coker. Nellie is the well-known owner of infamous night clubs and the single mother of six adult children. There are many characters and intersecting story lines, which
Show More
flow seamlessly.

London is recovering from WWI as the story opens,and the jazz age is in full swing. Inhibitions are lowered, and Nellie is eager to profit from the new normal where some policemen are willing to turn a blind eye for the right sum. Raised in hardscrabble surroundings, she and her children now share a large home in a respectable part of London. The novel follows her enigmatic son, Niven, in particular. He chooses to distance himself from the family more than his brother and sisters have done. A chance encounter with a young woman, Gwendolyn, who has come to London seeking her friend's sister, Florence, leads to an entangement neither had anticipated. Ramsay, the younger son, is addicted to the drugs he regularly receives from the bartender at one of the nightclubs. He is an aspiring author with limited abilities and no maternal encouragement. Nellie’s daughters’ lives are under her direction.

Not all policemen in this book are easily bought, although some are proficient in profiting from the nefarious dealings of the underworld. DCI John Forbisher is determined to make the Coker family answer for their contribution to corruption. Sadly, he is married to a woman who battles mental illness. His interest in Gwendolyn is thwarted when she learns he is married. Into this scenario arrives 14-year old Freda, intent on making a name for herself on the stage. Accompanying her is Florence, whom Freda has convinced to accompany her on this journey to fame and fortune. Florence's sudden disappearance with their rent money adds another level of unease. Even the minor characters are fully revealed in a novel that is hard to put down once begun.
Show Less
LibraryThing member japaul22
I almost didn't read this after reading enough mixed reviews to think it might not be worth the time, but I'm glad I did because I really enjoyed it. My favorite novels by [[Atkinson]] are [Life After Life] and [A God in Ruins], and this new novel is definitely different than those. It doesn't have
Show More
the innovation present in her earlier works. But what it does have is a great cast of characters that I connected to immediately.

There are A LOT of characters to keep track of in this novel, but I found that Atkinson connects them enough and they all had enough personality to keep my interest and keep them separate in my mind. The novel revolves around Nellie Coker, who runs a network of clubs in 1920s London, and her family. They are in a crisis point, where Nellie has gained enough success to also draw negative attention from both the police and her business competitors. The parallel story is of two girls who run away from home to London to try to make it in show business. You can guess how that goes! A detective, Frobisher, and a family friend of the girls, Gwendolen Kelling, bridge the two stories.

I think that after reading a couple of dark books (I'm looking at you [Demon Copperhead]!), reading a book that could have stayed really dismal but didn't was very appealing. Even the "bad" characters (except one) have some redeeming qualities or a sense of humor.

I'm not going to widely recommend this, because I do see the faults in it (the plot isn't very tightly constructed and I don't think she really nailed 1920s London). However, I really enjoyed it and I'm glad I read it!
Show Less
LibraryThing member froxgirl
This amusing between-the-wars saga of swinging London is filled with the author's always remarkable insights into her protagonists, an unsavory family of nightclub owners (based on true characters), and those outnumbered, better souls in their ambit. We meet the aging matriarch Nellie Coker as she
Show More
is released from prison and, with her energy and spirit flagging, must fight to keep her six nightclubs away from the avaricious corrupt police and the gangsters who can smell her lessening powers. Nellie has six mostly useless grown children, only two of whom can be depended upon for assistance, and so she enlists an unlikely double agent, Gwendolen Kelling, a young war nurse from Yorkshire who has come to London to search for the two missing teenagers from her hometown who have run off to be actresses.

The multi-faceted natures of and her fondness for the good and evil in her characters are a hallmark of Atkinson's novels. Here, as always, she shares worlds that enfold the reader from the first words through a particularly unique ending. This one will linger on and maybe even be deserving of a second reading.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ccayne
A fun frothy romp through London's clubs between the wars. Atkinson's range always amazes me. Don't take this too seriously - just enjoy.
LibraryThing member mojomomma
It's the 1920's and London is still recovering from the Great War. Nellie Coker is capitalizing on the roaring 20's by running a series of popular nightclubs in the city. Gwendolen Kelling served as a nurse in France and lost her two brothers in the war and her mother not long after. After she
Show More
discovers that she has inherited a tidy nest egg from her father, she offers to go to London to find a friend's niece and her friend who have run away to become stage stars. Gwendolen becomes attracted to one of Nellie's sons and manages one of her night clubs for her while she is also working with a police inspector who is trying to crack the corruption in London society. Meanwhile, we follow the two young girls, Freda and Florence, as they avoid the traps that await young girls in big cities, and they find ways to support themselves. Very interesting read that seemingly captures the uproar of 1920's London.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Castlelass
Mashup of historical fiction and thriller set in 1926 London, Nellie Coker is the operator of several Soho nightclubs. They serve shady characters from the criminal underground. She has recently been released from prison. She has six grown children that are occasionally involved in her businesses.
Show More
Chief Inspector John Frobisher is Scotland Yard’s designee to clean up the nefarious activities taking place in the clubs. Miss Kelling, a librarian and former nurse in the Great War, has come to London to look for the teenage daughter of a friend, and is recruited by Frobisher to infiltrate into Coker’s dealings.

The dramatic tension is maintained through shifting loyalties, betrayals, and duplicities. I like the premise and the first half. As it progresses, it starts to feel almost frenzied in its plots, subplots, and intertwined mysteries. This is a book that, in theory, I should have enjoyed more than I did, but it never grabbed or kept my attention. I prefer character development over plot, so for me, there was just too much going on.
Show Less
LibraryThing member pgchuis
I enjoyed this novel: the writing was good and it was humorous in a dry way. I liked the determined Freda and the way Gwendolyn enjoyed shocking everyone. However, the ending disappointed me. There was an announcement of what happened in later life to various characters, while the fate of others
Show More
was left suspended. Frobisher's fate was surprising and made the whole book seem like a waste of time for me somehow. I thought the author cleverly managed to make me root for even the non-law-abiding characters, but at the end I wasn't sure who had won and who had lost.
Show Less
LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
Set in the time between the world wars, this centers on the underground dance halls of London, with a large number of characters running the halls, preying on their denizens or trying to shut them down. Kate Atkinson excels at these labyrinthine tales with frequent shifts in the point of view and
Show More
it's clear she's having fun here. This was a good one to herald in the holiday season with. Now to wait for her next book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
This is the 10th novel that I have read by Atkinson and she never disappoints. This book is set in London in 1926 and has been described as Dickensian and it does have the sprawling elements of a Dickens novel. It focuses around Nellie Croker(based on a real character) who owns 5 nightclubs in
Show More
London and definitely deals on the wrong side of the law. However Nellie is not the lead character but the connection to the many characters that Atkinson populates the novel with. The London of this book is full of crime, colorful characters, humor, and a crime story that keeps shifting. The book uses a narrator and bounces between the view point of many characters. There are overlapping timelines with the same incident told from different perspectives. As always Atkinson's prose has enough great descriptions and insight to fill 5 books. If you like a story that has a good plot, colorful characters, and deals with the real issues of World War I's impact on London in the 20's then this is a perfect book. For those of you that have never read Atkinson, this book is a great introduction. For me it was page turner and illustrated her versatility.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Doondeck
Good take on an interesting era between the two World Wars in London. Enjoyable but not her best.
LibraryThing member maryreinert
Picked this book up without really knowing what it was about and found it delightful if just a tad bit too long. Set in London in the 1920's, the story centers around Nellie Carter, the owner and operator of a number of clubs and always bordering on the illegal. She has 5 children, most of whom she
Show More
works to advance - the younger ones she tries to ignore. A young lieutenant, Frobisher, is determined to bring Nellie and her establishments down. Gwendolyn Kelling is a librarian living with an overbearing mother who after her mother's death, goes to London to help find two missing young women kin to a friend of hers. These all converge in a funny, yet realistic mess of plot and characters. I especially enjoyed Nellie as a character. There is murder, mystery, and an overall good fun read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member PhilipJHunt
Long time between books from Kate Atkinson. Worth the wait. Kate could make a description of a fly walking up a wall entertaining. "Shrines of Gaiety" is no exception. Her writing is witty, erudite and clever. A large part of this thick book takes us into the world of its multiple characters.
Show More
Atkinson has the rare talent of handling many characters so that we never love track. Short chapters for the most part. Subtle reminders to keep us all singing off the same song sheet.

The plot resolution in the last few pages felt a bit mechanical, although it was satisfactorily neat (if a bit brutal to one or two characters). I'll say no more.

Don't stop writing, Kate. We need you.
Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
I found this historical crime-romance novel set in 1920s London to be very entertaining. It concerns several nightclubs owned by one family and the people involved in running them, working in them, or working to bring them down. Needless to say, there is a large cast of characters. I loved the
Show More
historical aspect, the shoutouts to 1920s literati, the characters (especially the women), and the setting. The only thing I did not love was the ending, which felt too pat and like it short-changed several of the more interesting characters. Why not write a sequel extending into the 1930s instead? I would read it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rmarcin
Nellie Coker is the maven of multiple nightclubs in London. She got her start by taking jewels from her landlady, after her death, and invested the money in clubs. She had a cop, Maddox, on her payroll, to warn her of raids. But, later, Maddox plans to take her down and get the clubs for himself.
Show More
John Frobisher is trying to bring Maddox to justice. Meanwhile, Freda and Florence come to London to find fame. Gwendolen Kelling was asked by Freda's sister, Cissy, to find them. When she asks for Frobisher's help, he hires Gwendolen to spy on Nellie for him.
This is the story of the Coker family: Nellie and her children, and the people who are her enemies. It gives some insight into the seedy underworld of drugs, drinking, greed, and deceit. Inspiration for the novel is from the life of Kate Meyrick, queen of Soho's clubs.
Show Less
LibraryThing member phyllis.shepherd
I gave up on this after a few chapters because I never felt engaged with any of the characters or the plot. I have enjoyed Kate Atkinson's books in the past, but this one was not for me.
LibraryThing member shazjhb
Not my favorite story. Some great characters. Very nice ending.
LibraryThing member ShellyS
Kate Atkinson is one of my favorite authors and she has yet to disappoint me. As always, her prose sucks me into whatever realm she's created. This time, it's 1926 and London's notorious nightclub owner, Nellie Coker, has just been released from prison. With police Chief Inspector Frobisher
Show More
determined to put Nellie back in prison and enemies just as determined to steal her night clubs from her, along with trying to secure the future of her six mostly grown children, Nellie has a lot on her plate and few people she can trust. There's a nice Dickensian feel to the narration, with darkness underlying the gaiety of the clubs. Bodies of girls are being pulled out of the Thames, and other girls go missing. Gwendolen Kelling, a librarian from York, shows up at Frobisher's office, hoping the police can help her find two girls who have runaway to find fame and fortune on the London stage. Atkinson pulls all the plot threads together in a satisfying way. As with all my favorite authors, the characters linger with me after I read the last page.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Smits
Kinda like a gangster movie. 1926 London nightclubs, parties and so much booze !! Life lived “ over the top” in every way. The matriarch of this novel is Nellie Coker and we learn how she came to a life of crime . Her family is filled with interesting characters , Nevin, mist sane, Edith the
Show More
oldest , and especially Ramsay who has no sweet clue about anything and lives off boize, drugs and gambling.
There are a few straight characters also. Gwendolyn , a librarian / detective looking for two missing girls for a friend. She winds up having huge adventures which is a bit of a stretch to me in this novel. We also have the good cop being Chief inspector John Frobisher. I got confused on the bad guys who sort of drift in and out in this novel. To me the strength of this novel is Freda and Florence, the two young girls who run away to London to be on the stage. What life was like for young people alone is well detailed and pretty scary.
I liked this novel, the whole idea of it but in the end I didn’t love it. I think Atkinson took on too much. Too many plots , big characters and in the end she suddenly just tidied it up.
Show Less
LibraryThing member adrianburke
A good yarn. I think the ending is a bit rushed.
LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
Shrine of gaiety, Kate Atkinson, author. Jason Watkins, narrator
This book was a joy to read. The author easily climbs into the heads of her readers as she reveals her characters and gives them life with multiple sides to their personalities. There are dozens, and it can get confusing, but in the
Show More
end, she knits all the disparate events and characters together and blends them perfectly.
The book is a novel that takes its breath from the real life of Kate Meyrick who was the real owner of dance clubs during London’s club heyday with all of its colorful characters and lawlessness. Using Nellie Coker and her family, she creates a marvelous novel about the heady days of the 1920’s. She examines all of life’s warts and foibles through the characters she creates. Their simple pursuits, hopes and dreams, as well as the way the world contrived to defeat them, is delicately handled with wit, as well as gravity, so that the reader is really immersed into the trials and tribulations of their lives, the good, the bad and the ugly. In addition, quite eloquently, Atkinson seems to shine a light on the many sides of the characters, of human beings, in general, as some thought of as evil turn out to have quite a good side and some who seem quite virtuous, turn out to be quite malevolent.
Nellie Coker owned several dance clubs which her children helped her to run. When hopeful girls, wayward girls, runaways, and the downtrodden, flocked to London to become stars, they often found employment in these dance clubs and were rewarded handsomely or tipped well, so that they sought work there.
Inspector John Frobisher was determined to send Nellie back to prison, convinced that she was a criminal. She had only recently been released after she was framed by Arthur Maddox, the “policeman” she paid to warn her of impending danger. He “failed” to do that.
The inspector engaged the spinster, former librarian, Gwendolyn Kelling, to help him find evidence against the Cokers. Gwendolyn was in London searching for two missing young girls, Florence and Frieda, for a friend. In exchange, he would also help her in her quest to locate the missing young women, though he advised her that in London, it was a monumental task, not easily fulfilled.
Characters enter and leave at will, Nevin and Ramsay Coker, Kitty, Edith, Shirley and Betty Coker and more, often making the reader’s eyes cross and head spin, but still, the book holds the reader fast in its grip as it exposes the criminal world, the underbelly of the gay nightlife in London, with its men who preyed on the vulnerable women, and the women who fell prey to their promises of stardom and success.
In a world filled with those eager to take advantage of anyone who appeared weak, in a world in which the weak were often lacking in skills and/or intellect, in a world with a huge divide between the rich and the poor, the educated and the illiterate, few were capable of understanding how they were being taken advantage of and abused. As Frobisher and Gwendolyn interact, we learn about the exploitation and manipulation of the innocent and vulnerable. We learn that things are not always as they appear. Right is sometimes wrong and wrong is sometimes right. We learn about how chance plays an important part in life’s journey. As we meet all of the characters, the laughing cop, Sergeant Oakes, the gossip journalist, Vivian Quinn, the exploiters of sex, the thieves and the righteous, we see life and the characters in all their glory and shame.
Show Less
LibraryThing member elimatta
I rarely abandon books The publisher claims this has "Dickensian flair". Many of Dickens' novels are as long or longer than this, but something happens in them by page 162, when I abandoned this. These characters and their backstories just don't justify such length.
LibraryThing member decaturmamaof2
Really interesting - enjoyed the characters and the well-researched details.

Pages

416

ISBN

0385547978 / 9780385547970
Page: 0.5197 seconds