I’ve been on a bit of a rollercoaster with Jess Kidd – I have really loved some of her books, and been a bit disappointed with others. This one, for me, falls somewhere in the middle.
It’s a period piece, set in (I don’t know, maybe) Dickensian times, about a girl (Bodkin) adopted at a young age by a travelling showman. Bodkin is unusual – her heart doesn’t beat so much as tick, and she has an electricity to her, like an extreme static charge then can shock people she touches at moments of high stress.
She is arrested and charged when a man attempting to forcefully kiss her without consent is fatally shocked.
She is taken from prison and given into the care of a rich woman in a remote stately home with a family history of ‘mad science’ and the production of automata. She senses a connection with this house and family and her early backstory is teased out.
I guessed some of the twists before they were revealed (at least partially) but others surprised me, which is good and on the whole I enjoyed the book.
