Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Curbside pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
The Whalebone Theatre

The Whalebone Theatre

Quinn, Joanna

Hardcover

General FictionHistorical FictionLiterary Fiction

Publisher Price: $29.00

ISBN10: 0593321707
ISBN13: 9780593321706
Publisher: Knopf
Published: Oct 4 2022
Pages: 576
Weight: 1.93
Height: 1.37 Width: 6.55 Depth: 9.49
Language: English

"The Whalebone Theatre pulls you immediately into the unconventional childhood of Cristabel Segrave. She and her siblings run wild on their country estate with the strong-willed Cristabel leading the way while all the adults drink and suffer post WWI ennui. As WWII approaches and the children grow up, everything changes in their life as they all set out to serve their country. The Whalebone Theatre is both a distressing story of a child neglected and heartening story of the same child determined to succeed in her life. Cristabel is a character unwavering in her belief that she can and will succeed in her desires. She sees herself as the director of her life just as she directed the plays in her childhood. Readers of The Gentleman of Moscow and All the Light We Cannot See will enjoy this story set in history, filled with dynamic characters, and engrossing you in the life of Cristabel Seagrave. It is about strong familial love between siblings forged by an unbreakable bond formed by raising each other through their bohemian childhood." --Beth R.

 

 

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK - A transporting, irresistible debut novel that takes its heroine, Cristabel Seagrave, from a theatre made of whalebones to covert operations during World War II--a story of love, family, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation.

The Whalebone Theatre is absolute aces...Quinn's imagination and adventuresome spirit are a pleasure to behold. --The New York Times

Utterly heartbreaking and joyous...I just disappeared into The Whalebone Theatre and didn't want to leave. --Jo Baker, author of Longbourn

One blustery night in 1928, a whale washes up on the shores of the English Channel. By law, it belongs to the King, but twelve-year-old orphan Cristabel Seagrave has other plans. She and the rest of the household--her sister, Flossie; her brother, Digby, long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor; Maudie Kitcat, kitchen maid; Taras, visiting artist--build a theatre from the beast's skeletal rib cage. Within the Whalebone Theatre, Cristabel can escape her feckless stepparents and brisk governesses, and her imagination comes to life.

As Cristabel grows into a headstrong young woman, World War II rears its head. She and Digby become British secret agents on separate missions in Nazi-occupied France--a more dangerous kind of playacting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart.

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