The Beloved Children : Tina Jackson
"This gloriously offbeat tale has shades of Angela Carter, with its beguiling characters weaving a magical spell." - Kitty Marlow, The Mail On Sunday
"The vivid setting and beauty of Jackson’s prose is only part of the enchantment. The author has also woven an intricate and compelling plot in which revelations come as rapidly as disappearing ace cards and rabbits from the maestro’s hat. Every fresh reveal tells us something new and unexpected about each character, so the multiple layers of connections and secrets between them all are gradually – and satisfyingly – revealed. The only disappointing thing about this whole dazzling illusion is when it finally has to come to an end. This was a world I never wanted to come out of!" - Cathi Unsworth, Crimesquad
"There is some really atmospheric storytelling and joyful language at play here, with Jackson as an entertaining mistress of ceremonies." - Ben East, The Observer
What can we say about this book from Tina Jackson except that it's something very special indeed.
Three young women; Chrysanthemum, Rose & Orage are thrown together performing as The Three Graces on the stage of Fankes’ Theatre during the closing days of the Second World War.
It’s there they come under the spell of wardrobe mistresses Dolores and Janna – a chance encounter that will guide and change all of their fates forever.
Set in the dying days of vaudeville theatre and laced with mysticism, fortune tellers, ghosts, and evocative descriptions of the closing days of the War - The Beloved Children will literally make you laugh out loud and perhaps even shed the odd tear.
The Beloved Children is wise, funny, heart-breaking, joyous, poignant, and entirely entirely enthralling.
Tina Jackson has conjured characters that you will fall unapologetically in love with and placed them in a world that you won't want to leave.
If any Fahrenheit book is ever going to be nominated for The Booker Prize it'll be this one.
"Who wouldn't want to spend time around the fire in the company of these crazy, wonderful, naughty, knowing, flawed, soulful people?" - Nick Triplow
This book genuinely weaves a spell around the reader and once you make friends with Janna, Dolores, and The Three Graces you'll never want to be without them in your life again.