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BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: The Fascination by Essie Fox


Victorian England. A world of rural fairgrounds and glamorous London theatres. A world of dark secrets and deadly obsessions...

Twin sisters Keziah and Tilly Lovell are identical in every way, except that Tilly hasn't grown a single inch since she was five. Coerced into promoting their father's quack elixir as they tour the country fairgrounds, at the age of fifteen the girls are sold to a mysterious Italian known as 'Captain'.

Theo is an orphan, raised by his grandfather, Lord Seabrook, a man who has a dark interest in anatomical freaks and other curiosities ... particularly the human kind. Resenting his grandson for his mother's death in childbirth, when Seabrook remarries and a new heir is produced, Theo is forced to leave home without a penny to his name.

Unable to train to be a doctor as he'd hoped, Theo finds employment in Dr Summerwell's Museum of Anatomy in London, and here he meets Captain and his theatrical 'family' of performers, freaks and outcasts.

But it is Theo's fascination with Tilly and Keziah that will lead all of them into a web of dark deceits, exposing the darkest secrets and threatening everything they know...

"Some freaks are born, and some are made."

Dizzying and dazzling, this dark and suspenseful tale is set against a glamourise gothic backdrop of 17th century show business, drawing back the stage curtains to show us the disturbing underbelly of of the fairgrounds, theatres and circuses that entertained and delighted the masses.

Full of secrets, lies and deception — this was a twisty, — reflecting the true horrific histories of showmen in the Victorian era, not the Disney remakes full of hope and kindness and the growing morbid curiosity of the occult sweeping through the wealthy and elite of London and beyond. 

The setting was engrossing and vivid - a flurry of colours and lights in painstaking detail that transported me to another time. Every little detail painting a picture of a macabrely beautiful world, of glamour and glitz juxtaposed harshly against hurt and heartbreak. We move easily between character, each with their own beautifully poetic ways of narration that fit the era but read easily— full of youthful curiosity and intrigue. their stories moved at a steady but leisurely pace, the intrigue building slowly and silently but with every word adding to the deep atmosphere and weaving all the little strands of this epic tale together.

Haunting and otherworldly, this is an intoxicating mystery that had me hypnotised.


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐




I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. Thank you to Anne at Random Things and Karen at Orenda Book for inviting me to take part in this tour.
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