Description
(Available after August 30th, 2023)
This historical fiction novel will delight long-time readers of the genre as well as people picking one up for the first time. Set in England in the years leading up to and then during World War II, the story follows a young woman from her childhood on the shores of the English Channel to her adulthood as a spy. This one has a heroine readers are sure to love and a sweeping setting that will keep pages turning.
A transporting, irresistible debut novel that takes its heroine, Cristabel Seagrave, from the gargantuan cavity of a beached whale into undercover operations during World War II—a story of love, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation.
“Utterly heartbreaking and joyous ... I just disappeared into The Whalebone Theatre and didn’t want to leave.” —Jo Baker, author of Longbourn
One blustery night in 1928, a whale washes up on the shores of the English Channel. By law, it belongs to the King, but twelve-year-old orphan Cristabel Seagrave has other plans. She and the rest of the household—her sister, Flossie; her brother, Digby, long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor; Maudie Kitcat, kitchen maid; Taras, visiting artist—build a theatre from the beast’s skeletal rib cage. Within the Whalebone Theatre, Cristabel can escape her feckless stepparents and brisk governesses, and her imagination comes to life.
As Cristabel grows into a headstrong young woman, World War II rears its head. She and Digby become British secret agents on separate missions in Nazi-occupied France—a more dangerous kind of playacting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart.
Number of pages: 432
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 35 mm
“Utterly heartbreaking and joyous ... I just disappeared into The Whalebone Theatre and didn’t want to leave.” —Jo Baker, author of Longbourn
One blustery night in 1928, a whale washes up on the shores of the English Channel. By law, it belongs to the King, but twelve-year-old orphan Cristabel Seagrave has other plans. She and the rest of the household—her sister, Flossie; her brother, Digby, long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor; Maudie Kitcat, kitchen maid; Taras, visiting artist—build a theatre from the beast’s skeletal rib cage. Within the Whalebone Theatre, Cristabel can escape her feckless stepparents and brisk governesses, and her imagination comes to life.
As Cristabel grows into a headstrong young woman, World War II rears its head. She and Digby become British secret agents on separate missions in Nazi-occupied France—a more dangerous kind of playacting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart.
Number of pages: 432
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 35 mm
