Picked up in a charity shop today - York.

Although this was a good book, I never really got hooked on it in the way I do with a lot of other books - I devoured Girl with a Pearl Earring for example - and it's taken a while to get this read. This might also have something to do with the fact that I've been a bit stressed out this last week and my concentration has been all over the place. But I don't know so much about Blake's work, so maybe I just missed a lot in this book; but it didn't seem to be so much about Blake as a rather standard story about these three young teenagers in London in the late 1700s.

I remember reading an article when this book first came out about the research she'd done. I think she'd really gone into the geography of London then - so all the details of what street they are walking up etc are actually properly researched. Which is some feat of work, but you need a bit more than that to make a story. And I felt like this one took a while to get going. I've got to say, that I did like the way she ended it - realistic and a bit open-ended rather than everything neatly tied up.

For some reason this book made me think of Joanne Harris' work, and Holy Fools in particular - I think because of the historical circus reason.

Anyway, I think I will lend this to my mum before deciding what to do with it long term.

My mum has read this one now. She liked it although was disappointed that William Blake featured in it as little as he did. Think I will be releasing this at some point in the future.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I am taking this to the monthly York bookcrossing meet up. For the animal themed meet up... well, there is a horse on the front cover, and wasn´t it a tyger that was burning bright? I am not that into poetry...