Katie B's Reviews > The Whalebone Theatre

It didn't take me long to fall in love with the story and the main character. Heartbreaking moments but also ones that warm your heart. At the core I'd call it a family drama but there are so many elements that make it a unique read. A bit of an enchanting reading experience.

The story kicks starts off with a young girl, Cristabel in 1919 Dorset, England. Her father, Jasper Seagrave, has remarried after the death of Cristabel's mother and his new bride, Rosalind, will now be living with them at Chilcombe, the family's estate. As Cristabel grows up a whalebone theatre is constructed where she puts on productions and later on she helps with the war effort in a daring manner.

For me the heart of the story is when Cristabel is younger however there are some good moments in the last half of the book. Because I read so much WW2 historical fiction and quite frankly am a little bit burned out on that genre and era, my interest level wasn't as high when it came to the war portions of the story. Still though, the writing is good throughout and because the story covers so many years and follows different characters it remarkably does not feel like such a long read even though the book is over 500 pages.

Thank you to Knopf for sending me a copy of this book! All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.