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Join UK Bookcrossers at the BCUK Sheffield Unconvention from 4-6 July 2025

I read this back in 2022, this isn't my copy, but here are my thoughts at the time:

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson - OK, maybe Good

Oh dear! I think this is going to be the first time I give a less than stellar review for Kate Atkinson. I usually love her books, I've read everything except the short story collection which is on my TBR. Maybe that's why I'm vacillating on whether it was good or just OK - I have such high expectations and standards for her work that maybe I'm not being totally fair here.

Anyway.... I found this one too 'busy'. Too many characters, too many threads to follow. Ostensibly it's the story of Nellie Coker and her nightclubs in 1920s London but there's the policeman that's fighting corruption in the force and also trying to bring her down, there's the two young girls from York that have run away from home to the bright lights of London, there's the librarian that has followed them down to try and find them, there's Nellie's six adult children and there's also bodies washing up in the Thames.

We actually follow the stories of Nellie, Inspector Frobisher, one of the girls (Freda), the librarian (Gwendolen) and at least three of the children. They get chapters each, sometimes backtracking the story as their paths have intersected and we see the same events played out from all their viewpoints. Of course, there's a variety of incidental characters to keep a track of too.

If I think about the story itself it was entertaining enough once it got going. It took me a few days to get the first 150ish pages read where everyone was introduced. Then the story and pace picked up and so did my reading. I liked some of the characters more than others and I liked the way the story developed....but didn't like all of the endings. I felt some of the characters deserved better.

One para I noted where one character is writing a book and has asked his sister to read an early draft:
"Should you really be trying to portmanteau everything into it darling Ramsay? Wouldn't it be easier just to stick with the idea of the body on the pavement?"

I have a feeling the author should have taken her own advice and not included quite so many storylines and lead characters.

So I wrote all that immediately on finishing the book. I've now had time to reflect and while I stand by everything I've already written, I'm starting to feel more positive. The writing, as always, is excellent and evocative of the times - she brought the era and London alive with WW1 still casting its shadow and the General Strike and Depression looming. I felt I knew all the characters and was happy/disappointed for each of them as events transpired. I'd even quite like to see a few of them return and pick up their story....just not in quite so complicated a story.


#review

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Join UK Bookcrossers at the BCUK Sheffield Unconvention from 4-6 July 2025

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