Theatre of Marvels by Lianne Dillsworth

About the Book

Behind the spectacle there are always secrets.
Unruly crowds descend on Crillick’s Variety Theatre. A black, British actress, Zillah, is headlining tonight. An orphan from the slums of St Giles, her rise to stardom is her ticket out – to be gawped and gazed at is a price she’s willing to pay.
Rising up the echelons of society is everything Zillah has ever dreamed of. But when a new stage act disappears, Zillah is haunted by a feeling that something is amiss. Is the woman in danger?
Her pursuit of the truth takes her into the underbelly of the city – from gas-lit streets to the sumptuous parlours of Mayfair – as she seeks the help of notorious criminals from her past and finds herself torn between two powerful admirers.
Caught in a labyrinth of dangerous truths, will Zillah face ruin – or will she be the maker of her fate?
A deliciously immersive tale, Theatre of Marvels whisks you on an unforgettable journey across Victorian London in this bold exploration of race, class and gothic spectacle.

What I thought

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the main character Zillah. She’s a young actress (though with no official training in acting) from the slums of St Giles, trying to make a name for herself and wanting more than anything to work her way out of a life of poverty and struggle. Her mother left her with a ‘friend’ when Zillah was a young girl and she hasn’t seen her since but she always remembers the one piece of advice her mum gave her the last time she saw her “never work in service” (as a servant).

All the supporting characters were as interesting as Zillah. Ellen, a co-worker at the theatre and a woman who Zillah thought of as a friend, but was really someone who blew hot and cold and couldn’t always be trusted. As a singer at the theatre, she often reminded me of Nancy in Oliver Twist. She has a romantic interest with the owner of the theatre, Marcus Crillick, who much like Bill Sikes is something of a rogue with his fingers in many pies, no matter how dark and sinister, as long as they make him money he doesn’t care. Much as it was set during the Victorian era, I felt it had a contemporary feel to it which I liked, and for me made it stand out from other historical fiction. Zillah was strong willed and grew a strong sense of self as the book moves on and this made it feel just that little bit different.

As mentioned in the book’s description, it is a story of race and class. A story of survival for the poor at one end, and a story of exploitation and callousness in the name of making money at the other end of the spectrum. What struck me most, was nothing has changed. In over 150 years, nothing has essentially changed. To this day, we still have the poorest in London, indeed every city, living in relative poverty, in poor housing and with little hope of moving upwards. While the rich and the powerful take what they want and treat those less well off, the vulnerable with contempt. For these reasons I found it quite a thought provoking story and enjoyed it very much.