The Whalebone Theatre
Joanna Quinn
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
4.04
· 24 ratings · 576 pages · Published: 09 Jun 2022
“The Whalebone Theatre is absolute aces…Quinn’s imagination and adventuresome spirit are a pleasure to behold.” —The New York Times
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.
Tagged as:
- historical fiction 3
- world war II 3
- historical 3
- literary fiction 2
- war/big battles 2
- family 2
- espionage 2
- coming of age 2
- political intrigue 1
- military, war & conflict 1
- 20th century 1
- Add topics
- format - reader age
- audiobook 3
- book 1
- adult fiction 1