The candlelit menagerie: a novel

For fans of The Greatest Showmanand Water for Elephants, TheCandlelit Menagerie grabs hold and pulls readers into the dim halls of the exotic animal emporiums of London, over two centuries ago.

Set in late eighteenth-century London, this haunting debut novel features Lillian, a freakishly tall woman who struggles to fit into society because of her size and desire to wear trousers.

Each morning, she wakes in her tiny maids room in a too-small bed to the sound of a lion roaring nearby, on the Strand.

One day, she investigates the sound and discovers a candlelit exotic animal emporium.

When she meets the lion, there is an instant bond. At first, Lillian is repulsed by the stench and squalor, but there, in themenagerie, Lillian finds her natural home taking care of and befriending wild animals brought from around the world, stolen from their habitats, misfits like her.

The British empire had become the dominate colonial power, plundering resources across the ocean, including humans and animals, and bringing them to Englands shores for the first time to the amusement of the public.

The menagerie, under Lillians management, becomes a successful attraction.

It is her lifes mission. She even marries the veterinarians single-minded apprentice.

But when her unborn baby dies in an accident, she is given a chimpanzee to raise as her own child, upending the order of even Lillians unusual existence.Told in a simple, mesmerizing voice, TheCandlelitMenagerie is intensely atmospheric and transporting.

This stunning debut will put Caraline Brown at the forefront of the list of new novelists to watch.