The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

by Natasha Pulley

Overview

1883. Thaniel Steepleton returns home to his tiny London apartment to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow. Six months later, the mysterious timepiece saves his life, drawing him away from a blast that destroys Scotland Yard. At last, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori, a kind, lonely immigrant from Japan. Although Mori seems harmless, a chain of unexplainable events soon suggests he must be hiding something. When Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist, unwittingly interferes, Thaniel is torn between opposing loyalties.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a sweeping, atmospheric narrative that takes the reader on an unexpected journey through Victorian London, Japan as its civil war crumbles long-standing traditions, and beyond. Blending historical events with dazzling flights of fancy, it opens doors to a strange and magical past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620408339
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	07/14/2015
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	368,209
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Natasha Pulley studied English Literature at Oxford University and earned a creative writing MA at the University of East Anglia. Pulley lives near Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. This is her first novel.

Editorial Reviews

In nearly all respects, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street makes immensely pleasurable reading. Pulley's prose is strong and energetic, with a wry edge, and even the most minor characters are drawn precisely. They're anchored in an 1880s London that's solid and complex, with nods to the political and social issues of the day. The chapters set in Japan give a well-researched glimpse of a country recovering from civil war, caught between fealty to tradition and a growing infatuation with the West…The Watchmaker of Filigree Street might be compared to one of Mori's clockwork birds: intricate, charming and altogether surprising.

The New York Times Book Review - Helene Wecker

★ 02/23/2015
Pulley’s electrifying debut is a triumph of speculative fiction. It captures the frenetic energy of a world undergoing extraordinary changes: London in the time of new electrical devices, Gilbert and Sullivan’s theater, and the terror of Irish nationalist bombings. Nathaniel Steepleton is a telegraph clerk in the Home Office, trapped in a life as regular as clockwork. Grace Carrow is a scientist seeking out the mysteries of ether. Their lives are brought together and into peril by association with Keita Mori, a genius watchmaker who can “remember” the future. When Steepleton receives word of a clockwork bombing and an anonymous gift of a pocket watch on the same day, he begins investigating Mori, who has been accused of building the explosive device—but those accusations are rooted in English xenophobia and exploitation of Japanese immigrants. Carrow is determined to prove Mori’s guilt, and driven to make a scientific discovery that will free her from the limits society has placed on women. Pulley expertly employs the tools of mystery and fantasy to examine the social pressures faced by the marginalized. The plot revolves around finding the bomber, but the heart of the story is the universal human quest for acceptance, understanding, and love. Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates (U.K.). (July)

Publishers Weekly

Humor, wit, mystery and danger are threaded through the book in musical measure. It dances between genres and makes partners of several: one could call it steampunk for its Victoriana and etheric experimentation, science fiction for its musings on determinism, historical fantasy for the ways in which those elements are seamlessly blended with late 19th century London . . . A delightful, relentlessly charming and deeply moving book . . . Remarkable.” —Los Angeles Times

"Assured and absorbing . . . immensely pleasurable reading. Pulley’s prose is strong and energetic, with a wry edge, and even the most minor characters are drawn precisely . . . The Watchmaker of Filigree Street might be compared to one of Mori’s clockwork birds: intricate, charming and altogether surprising." —The New York Times Book Review

"Enchanting . . . Amid this thriller-like plot, Pulley raises thought-provoking questions about free will, fate and identity—making for a rich brew of historical fantasy, philosophy and emotion." —Washington Post

“Winsome, atmospheric . . . transportive . . . [Mori causes] the reader to ponder fate vs. self-determination and duty vs. self-fulfillment in this diverting and original first novel.” —Dallas Morning News

“Elegant plotting, lashings of invention and jump-off-the-page characterization . . . How their stories combine, and how Pulley juggles the complex plot and throws in multiple surprises, are but two of the many delights of a first novel that has been garnering a lot of attention. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is a charming and quietly profound disquisition on predestination, chance and fate.” —The Guardian

“Electrifying . . . a triumph of speculative fiction. It captures the frenetic energy of a world undergoing extraordinary changes . . . Pulley expertly employs the tools of mystery and fantasy to examine the social pressures faced by the marginalized . . . The heart of the story is the universal human quest for acceptance, understanding, and love.” —starred review, Publishers Weekly

“A fresh and surprising philosophical adventure . . . This is more than just a well-paced, atmospheric mystery with elements of fantasy . . . Clever and engaging, this impressive first novel will reward both casual readers looking for a fun period adventure and those fascinated by the tension between free will and fate.” —starred review, Kirkus

“Natasha Pulley's novel borrows from steam-punk in its fetishizing of unlikely Victorian technology. This polished debut has gothic overtones, too.” —The Times

“Pulley's imaginative first novel transports readers to a Victorian London teeming with danger and magic . . . [She] mixes steampunk and intrigue with paranormal elements in this wholly original debut.” —Booklist

“A unique blend of historical fiction and magical realism about the inextricable relationships between three people, a watch with magical powers and a clockwork octopus. This is ideal escapist holiday reading, your imagination will run riot.” —Irish Tatler

“A remarkably assured first novel . . . Natasha Pulley turns this wild mix into a tale as elegant as one of the master watchmaker's creations, for a debut that's fast-paced, suspenseful, and curiously convincing.” —LOCUS

“[A] masterful steampunk/mystery/historical fiction debut . . . A thrilling tale that sweeps readers into a dark and magical past . . . Pulley's novel grounds itself in historical accuracy and exquisite prose, and even genre-adverse readers will be hooked.” —Bustle

“A clever detective story, a thrilling steampunk adventure and a poignant examination of the consequences of class warefare and English, Irish and Japanese nationalism in the 19th century.” —Bookpage

“Part steampunk . . . part Sherlock, and part alternate history, historical fantasy, and/or speculative fiction . . . Clever and original.” —Historical Novel Society

“Historical fiction, magic realism and elements of gothic fiction combine in this ambitious debut . . . This is accomplished writing from Natasha Pulley, whose imagination shines through in the myriad plot strains and the way they are brought together.” —Irish Times

“Ten out of ten.” —The Spectator

"A story as intricately plotted and as beautifully crafted as the most accurate timepiece." —The Independent on Sunday

From the Publisher

★ 05/15/2015
As a telegraph operator in 1880s London, Nathaniel Steepleton works in the Home Office, lives in a small, spare apartment, and has a quiet life. The anonymous gift of a beautifully intricate watch changes everything. Soon after, terrorists set off a bomb using elaborate clockworks and Steepleton's device narrowly saves him from injury. He tracks down the watchmaker, Keita Mori, despite his policeman friend's suspicions that Mori might be behind the bombing. Mori is a genius craftsman with an unusual talent: he remembers the future. Mori and Steepleton's friendship is complicated by the introduction of Grace Carrow, an unconventional scientist who seeks to live unhindered by her family and society's strictures. VERDICT This delightful first novel is as impressive as a work of historical fiction, with its evocative details of 19th-century England on the cusp of technological and cultural revolutions, as it is a delicate fantasy with enough gadgetry to pull in the steampunk fans, and a mystery to boot. The climax is so well plotted that readers will immediately want to read it again.

Library Journal

★ 2015-04-26
Set mostly in 1880s London, Pulley's debut novel twists typical steampunk elements—telegraphs, gaslight, clockwork automata—into a fresh and surprising philosophical adventure. Nathaniel Steepleton is a telegraph clerk at the Home Office in London. Grace Carrow is studying physics at one of Oxford's new women's colleges. Her friend Akira Matsumoto is the emperor of Japan's second cousin. What connects them, although they don't yet know it, is the eponymous watchmaker, one Baron Mori, a brilliant and mysterious figure who appears able to predict the future. Mori made Grace's watch, whose filigree rearranges itself into a swallow when the lid is lifted: "Clever tracks of clockwork let it fly and swoop along the inside of the lid, silver wings clinking." He also made the pocket watch whose ear-piercing alarm startles Thaniel out of the path of a terrorist time bomb. But did Mori make the bomb's clockwork control as well? As the characters' stories mesh and spin, they rearrange themselves like that filigree into intricate and surprising patterns. But this is more than just a well-paced, atmospheric mystery with elements of fantasy. Pulley is concerned with deeper questions of fate, chance, and trust. How dangerous is a man who knows in advance the likelihood of every possible event? When does probability crystallize into inevitability, and how could the future affect the present? The story thwarts expectations; whenever an outcome looks as predetermined as clockwork, it might well go another way. Clever and engaging, this impressive first novel will reward both casual readers looking for a fun period adventure and those fascinated by the tension between free will and fate.

Kirkus Reviews