SECRETS OF THE SNAKESTONE

by Piu Dasgupta;  

                                                                                       

An Adventure Book Review by Erin the Literary Cat©, International Book Reviewer.

Hello, and welcome to my weekend Book Review featuring Adventures in Middle-Grade Fiction.

This week's book review really doesn't need any witty preamble from me. It stands tall and proud and captured our hearts from the very first intriguing page of the prologue. Mrs H was taken back (decades/centuries) to her youth and let out a big sigh of satisfaction and appreciation for a work well written when we finished the epilogue. This is one author we will be keeping a close eye on for future releases, for sure.

So, all that said and done, join us now as we head to Paris in the 1890s. . . 

 

AUTHOR:  Piu Dasgupta

 

Cover art by:  Helen Crawford-White

 

Published by: Nosy Crow

 

Publication date Paperback:  14 March 2024

 

Paperback ISBN:   978-183 994 6318  

UK Cover price for Paperback:  £7.99

Kindle UK price:  £6.98

 

Pages:  272

 

Age range:  9-12 and upwards

Any dogs or cats? No, but a sloth and a pigeon play exciting roles. 

 

 

SPOILER ALERT

YES, some as to plot direction and characters.

 

 

Thank you to... 

 

We are exceedingly grateful to Hannah Prutton at Nosy Crow Publishers and NetGalley for the delight of getting to Read & Review this much-anticipated book before publication.

As ever, our views are our own, and we only share reviews of books we have bought, been given as gifts, or received in exchange for an impartial review.

First and foremost, the books we review are those we select to read, like, and feel our global readers deserve to know about and that we hope they, their family, friends and students will enjoy.

The plot

The prologue sees a rat run deep under the city of Paris, into the sewers, ending near where a man and boy work clearing a blockage. The rat sees a small gold object winking bright in the mucky water but is driven away by the sense of something "deep and slow and older than the city or the earth upon which it was built." Evil. The boy, Jules, spots the item; it's like two haves of a walnut held together with a clasp. A locket engraved with indecipherable symbols. It twitched in his hand like a living thing and gave off a sickly yellow-green glow. Pocketing it, he notes under which street, and possibly which house, the effluent has come from. There may be a reward for him if he returns it to the owner . . . .

Zélie Dutta has been sent by her father away from their home in the jungle south of Calcutta to live and work in Paris as a maid for Madame Malaise. She lives in an attic room shared with another maid called Blanche. The house was once the home of Doctor Malaise, discoverer of the cure for Blisterpox. The discovery had got the Doctor much fame and wealth, but he died a year later. He had been a member of a dark and decidedly dubious society called the Brotherhood of Blood. Readers will find out more about their dodgy dealings and wicked works later. Needless to say, it is not good. 

Being a foreigner does not help Zélie, and the other staff are weary of her, more so as she has heterochromia – different coloured eyes. They attribute any accident in the grand house they live and work in on Rue Morgue to Zélie and call her a witch. Items being lost and stolen get blamed on her.

Of course, that is all rot, bigotry and covering up their own mistakes and shortcomings. Our protagonist doesn't understand why she had to travel abroad and come to this house to work. It could have something to do with her father having to borrow money and thus using her to repay the debt.

Whatever the reason, she wants to get home. But as the lady of the house reads her letters to her father, she can not write about the dire conditions. When her father does not respond to her letters after a few months, Zélie becomes very worried, heightening her desire to escape the house and France. 

One day, on the way out to get some mercury-based powder for Madame's make-up, she bumps into the same sewer boy, Jules. He is holding the locket and is intent on finding an owner.

Zélie immediately recognises the locket as the one that her father used to wear around his neck. He would never speak of what it was or how he came by it, but he would never have given it up.

What I can and will say is that the locket used to house the Snakestone. The stone is cursed, like so many famous stones are reputed to be. And even though the stone brings long life, health and fortune to the possessor, it demands and exacts a terrible price – the loved ones of whoever holds the stone will die a horrible and unexplainable painful death. So why does Zélie's father have it, or at least have the locket? Could her mother have been killed by the curse?

Persuading Jules to take her to where he found it, she begins a search to understand why it is in Paris and what has happened to her Baba - her father. 

Now, dear reader, the book escalates by many notches. In the search for the truth, Zélie and Jules find new allies, are betrayed, and get entangled with the 'Brotherhood of Blood'. They, too, and their sinister leader, are interested in the stone and, it seems, have a connection to Mr Dutta. What of Madame Malaise? Is she just a grieving widow? Then there are the circus folk Zélie visits. Could they be possible friends? With lives other than their own lives at risk, the story enters one captivating grand finale, which — did you really think I'd give that away? 

Ultimately, everything in this adventure is intertwined, but not everything or everyone is as they seem. You now have the great fun, as we did, of finding out for yourselves. 

What did we think? 

A beautiful literary jewel, filled with adventure and a plot worthy of grander, classical novels. Steeped in the very essence of 1890's Parisian life, above and below ground, that leaps from the pages. Captivating and compelling from the first enigmatic page through until the very last. Sheer genius and not to be missed.

I haven't been hooked on a book so quickly or compelled to read on more than I was with this. That, indeed, is an excellent sign. What I found within was a delightful plot that entertained and provided oodles of character, adventure, suspense, heroines and villains, dark and sinister, spangly and exotic, all sewn deftly together with lyrical expertise and a hint of magic. 

It is very much of the same sort of magic Wilkie Collins infused into the classic, The Moonstone, which was written in the same era and has enthralled children and adults alike ever since. 

Finally, we loved the quote from Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo, about the sewers under Paris. That sets a flavour, a tone, at the beginning of the book that lasts throughout.

Want to buy a copy?

To get a copy, please take the main roads, rather than rooftops or sewers, down to your local independent bookshop. A sloth around the shoulders is definitely not recommended. 

Piu Dasgupta's agent's page can be found HERE or type this:    https://www.theshawagency.co.uk/piu-dasgupta 

Nosy Crow's web page can be found HERE or type this:   https://nosycrow.com/ 

Helen Crawford-White's web page can be found HERE or type this:   https://studiohelen.co.uk/ 

We are joining the Sunday Selfies, hosted by the wonderful Kitties Blue and their mum, Janet Blue, in America.

 

I shall leave you with a selfie entitled: Black and White on Grey 🙂 🙂

Till laters!

ERin