The Curator – King Owen (2024)

Half fairy tale and half historical account of a revolution that never was, Owen King's The Curator is full of sly humor, sensuality and strangeness. It is a Dickensian fantasy of illusion and charm where cats are revered as religious figures, thieves are noble, scholars are revolutionaries and conjurers are the most wonderful criminals. At first glance, the world has not changed: trams run along the boulevards, grand hotels and cafés bustle with conversation, street children play on the two great bridges dividing the city, and fashionable society visits the Morgue Ship for evening entertainment. Yet it takes only a spark to ignite a revolution. For Dora, a young maid at the university, this moment brings liberation. She leaves with Robert, one of the student radicals, and begins investigating what her brother Ambrose may have seen at the Institute for Psykical Research before his death. Dora is also given responsibility for the Museum of the Worker, a strange, forgotten building filled with waxwork tableaux of miners, nurses, shopkeepers and other disturbingly lifelike figures. As revolution and counter-revolution unleash love, betrayal, magic and terrifying darkness, Dora's search for the truth behind a mystery she has long concealed uncovers a monstrous conspiracy and brings her to the very edge of worlds. Owen King creates an extraordinary setting that is historical, fantastical and compellingly real, with a courageous, curious and unforgettable heroine.