In this “miraculous and thrilling” (Diane Setterfield, #1 New York Times bestselling author) mystery for fans of The Essex Serpent and The Book of Speculation, Victorian London comes to life as an intrepid female sleuth wades through a murky world of collectors and criminals to recover a remarkable child. Bridie Devine–flame-haired, pipe-smoking detective extraordinaire–is confronted with the … extraordinaire–is confronted with the most baffling puzzle yet: the kidnapping of Christabel Berwick, secret daughter of Sir Edmund Athelstan Berwick, and a peculiar child whose reputed supernatural powers have captured the unwanted attention of collectors in this age of discovery.
Winding her way through the sooty streets of Victorian London, Bridie won’t rest until she finds the young girl, even if it means unearthing secrets about her past that she’d rather keep buried. Luckily, her search is aided by an enchanting cast of characters, including a seven-foot-tall housemaid; a melancholic, tattoo-covered ghost; and an avuncular apothecary. But secrets abound in this foggy underworld where nothing is quite what it seems.
Blending darkness and light, Things in Jars is a stunning, “richly woven tapestry of fantasy, folklore, and history” (Booklist, starred review) that explores what it means to be human in inhumane times.
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An impossible wonder: a book for everyone, and yet somehow a book just for you… A sumptuous tour of Victorian London, resurrected here with a vigor and vibrancy to rival The Crimson Petal and the White… Utterly magical.
W O W.
I didn’t really read the blurb on this one [it just sounded good to me] and therefore was a bit surprised at the content, but WOW. What a great read. I loved this book. It is just SO Neil Gaimanish without copying him. Jess Kidd is her own voice and the creepy, crawly, ick [and I mean ick in the BEST sort of way possible] of this book was just magnificent. Her writing is just lyrical and flows and every sentence says something, No words or ideas are wasted here. I just fell in love with her writing.
Bridie is a fantastic main character. I love Cora. I REALLY love Ruby. And the evils of this book [and trust me, there is MUCH evil in this book] are exactly what you want horrible, evil, corrupt, bad guys to be. I cannot tell you how many times I grimaced when one or more of them were on the page.
It is really difficult for me to review this because I don’t want to give anything away. This is a book you need to go into actually NOT knowing too much. It just makes all that creepiness so much better. If you love Neil Gaiman [especially Neverwhere], you will love this book. I was able to listen to the audiobook for this [due to be spectacularly behind in my reading – the book was published BEFORE I could get it read] and I HIGHLY recommend that. The narrator is amazing and really, really brought this book to life. Her narration made me, at times, feel like I was right there. It was awesome.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
What a cool, weird, eerily atmospheric tale this was! I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from the description, but I was definitely intrigued. Once I started reading, I became more enthralled with each page – this is a wholly original and fascinating tale populated by a fabulous cast of characters who leapt off the page.
This is my first book by Kidd but definitely will NOT be my last. She has a marvelous ability to derive a sense of time and place from words on a page, and when you combine that stage-setting with an intricate, well-paced and slightly off-kilter (in the best possible way) plot, the result is a marvelous tale that grabs you and holds on for dear life. I can see this one as a series – there’s so much potential for future sleuthing with Bridie, she’s an excellent protagonist, full of quirks and foibles and enough personality for three heroines. The supporting cast was equally excellent, from the good to the bad to the morally indifferent.
Kidd toys with the nature of evil and of greed like a cat with a mouse; teasing readers with her revelations, misdirections, secrets, and tales-within-the-tale until it’s impossible to tell which end is up. It makes for a fantastic (literally and figuratively) tale that I couldn’t put down. Things got a little muddy near the end – not enough to change my opinion of the book but just enough to add an aura of “what the…?!” to it all. It was the only tarnish on an otherwise spotless tale, and it was mild at that. This was a great find and I’m looking forward to more from Jess Kidd!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.
A perfect mix of hilarity, the macabre, and a touch of romance, THINGS IN JARS is ridiculously entertaining, all as it sneaks up and makes you feel things. Would that more books had such daring. The language is perfection. Simply: Jess Kidd is so good it isn’t fair.
Investigator Bridie Devine is hired to find Cristabel Berwick the missing – and secret – daughter of Sir Edmund Berwick. While desperate to get his daughter back, Edmund is loathe to reveal too much information about his daughter. No matter because Bridie is excellent at putting the pieces together, and when she finds out the girl has fantastical, possibly mystical characteristics about her, Bridie has to connect the dots to those who collect curiosities. Doing so will dig up Bridie’s own past which she wishes would remain buried. But she is not alone in her endeavors, aided by her seven-foot tall house maid and a tatoo-covered boxer who just so happens to be a ghost, Bridie will not give up until the child is safe even at the cost of hunting down her own demons.
It didn’t take long in reading Things in Jars that I felt like I should be in maybe the 3rd book of a series. Bridie just jumps off the page this fully formed character and many of the issues readers deal with throughout the story in regards to Bridie’s past are things that I feel are typically built up over the course of other books. This is not the case with Things in Jars it is (as of now) a standalone story. Jess Kidd navigates this really well in making readers feel such a personal connection to this character that we’re just meeting for the first time. I will say there are some instances in which you have to suspend your disbelief and no I’m not talking, specifically, about that mermaid on the cover of the book. You go into Things in Jars acknowledging that there are mythical/fantastical elements at play for certain. What I mean when I say you have to suspend your disbelief is that there are circumstances that arise in which coincidence plays a big part. I think in order to really enjoy the book you have to put aside the fact that somehow Bridie’s past just so happens to become entangled with her present case.
Once you make that commitment, I will tell you, I didn’t want to put down the book, even when it would start moving into darker territory. But that’s what Jess Kidd did so well in that the balance between lightness and dark is perfectly thought out. Much of this rests on Bridie’s shoulders. She grew up in some horrendous circumstances yet she persevered and she moved forward with her life. She wants to help people and, for the most part, she has a positive outlook even acknowledging the seedier aspects of those she oftentimes investigates. Also, the interactions between Bridie and the mysterious ghost that’s following her around were some of my favorite moments in the book. They are bittersweet moments and offer yet a separate mystery which is tied intrinsically to Bridie alone – well Bridie and the ghost of course. The narrative doesn’t suffer for the multiple angles Jess Kidd works in for Bridie to solve.
It’s not often that I read standalones anymore. Series, I feel, are a huge part of the reading experience nowadays so when I do get a book that is just one I like the reprieve that’s offered by not having to get too entangled in a huge whole new literary world. I like that the story is contained in one volume. But in this case, I would love to read more books with Bridie as our protagonist. I certainly think with her investigative line of work that door could be open. One can always hope. In the meantime, I’m off to check out Kidd’s previous work Himself which promises more of the same fantastical elements as this one.
This was probably my favorite read of 2020. It defies classification on all fronts and will not fail to entertain. Richly written, evocative, and moving, this novel is part horror story, part historical fiction, part romance, and written in the most beautiful language. A gryphon of a novel.
Publishers market books by genre like science fiction, literary, mystery, etc. I have no idea how Jess Kidd made it past all of the gatekeepers with her astonishing genre-bending book, THINGS IN JARS, but I’m so glad she did. The story itself is plot-driven enough to keep you turning pages late into the night—a woman detective in 19th century London sets out to recover a kidnapped child regarded as having “special” powers—but, even without that, this book is loaded with such fantastic characters and written with such attention to original, gorgeous language that it’s well worth the read. Some of Kidd’s sentences are so beautiful they brought me to my knees, and she manages to balance dark comedy and profoundly sweet emotions. Every page of this book is astonishing on every level.
I have never heard of this author, and after reading this book I wonder why I haven’t! This book has an interesting title and that is not the only thing that is interesting thing about it. It starts out in the 1800s in London and then switched back and forth in time. It is done so well that it is not a bother to read. Thank you Jess for such a great book!
I was really surprised how much I enjoyed this book and author. Then I had to read another book by Jess Kidd. I could not it down I think it is called ” the hoarder” or something with Mr. Flood in the title.
Pretty much everything about this book is a puzzle to me of things that do not fit together. If that was the point, well, it worked, but not to my enjoyment. The characters are all very Dickensian sort of caricatures that do not quite work in any form but to be caricatures. Bridie is handsome and stout, yet somehow attractive and appealing even when her teeth are knocked out and she is dressed in her horrible purple cloak and widow’s hat. She is tough and brave, but easily manhandled by every bad guy who comes along. Her relationship with the ghost of a boxer, Ruby, seems to be going somewhere and then nowhere and then she finds out who he is, and he disappears with no fanfare. The book has clever moments but is often more silly than clever. It has spots of action, but the action is often more silly than scary. Bridie is supposedly a great sleuth, but if not for dumb coincidence, she would not have solved much of anything. She does not believe in the supernatural, yet this case cannot be explained (or is not) explained as anything other than supernatural. Oh yeah, and there this whole unrequited love affair with a ghost. Through the whole book, I was reminded of being a young man watching Murder, She Wrote. I could watch a whole episode because enough interesting things were happening that I was entertained, but I never purposely said, “Oh, Murder, She Wrote is on. I must go watch it.” I only ever watched it by accident because my mother was watching it. This book will not go on my bookshelf. Though it is a quick read that is mildly entertaining, I will not be compelled to read it again.
I learned more new words from this book than I have from reading any other, especially words that you don’t hear much anymore. The story is interesting even if it is farfetched. It took me a few pages to get into it, but after that, I wanted to know how it ended. Good read for a rainy day.
When I started Things in Jars I was put off by the author’s overly-descriptive writing. But I stuck with it and ended up really liking this book. It’s completely original and the characters are one of a kind. Some you will love, some you will hate. It has everything. Horror, romance, crime and some very subtle humor.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Jess Kidd’s previous book, Himself, was a delight! Kidd has a unique writing style, very conversational while poetic at the same time, painting a picture for your mind. Himself was an unusual tale and this one was even stranger because, well, because there are things in jars and that infers strange things. Indeed, this book is strange, but in a weirdly good way. There are some squeamish parts to it because, well, because there are things in jars. The storyline has a dark undertone of gruesome strange things, fantasy, folklore and violence, yet it is a perfect blend of light and dark as there are also curious strange things, sleuthing, humor and love.
The setting is Victorian England, and female sleuth Bridie Devine is investigating the kidnapping of Christabel Berwick, a very peculiar child. So peculiar, in fact, that people seek to collect her. Bridie is on the hunt, along with her 7-foot tall maid and friend, a helpful pharmacist and a ghost from her past. Bridie is determined to find Christabel not only because it is what she does, but because she needs to reestablish her reputation after her last case ended badly. The timeline alternates between past and present, with a little more of Bridie’s past revealed each time. Kidd is adept at character development, both major and minor characters come to life. You may not like them, but you certainly get to know them well.
Jess Kidd is a gifted storyteller, and you will savor the story unfolding before you.
Things in Jars is very well-written. Maybe too well-written for me. I found myself often lost in the language. Although I did highlight many beautiful lines. I read this novel-that demands the reader’s full attention-at a time when I should have been reading something lighter. I also had a hard time keeping the myriad of characters straight, especially with the two timelines. I did enjoy the characters of Bridie, Ruby, and Cora. But I wanted more of them.
Things in Jars is about the mysterious disappearance of a little girl named Christabel and Bridie’s search for her. Bridie definitely brings to mind a female Sherlock Holmes, especially with the setting of Victorian London, but the bits of romance were my favorite parts. I found myself not so interested in the mystery of Christabel, only continuing to read for the resolution to Bridie’s love life.
Most reviewers are loving this one, so I know I’m in the minority. I’m thrilled it’s getting such well-deserved reviews. I expected to love this one, and I’m disappointed that I didn’t.
Thank you to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me an advance copy through Netgalley.
Odd, compelling, dark, beautiful, and haunting. Ms. Kidd’s use of language is masterful.
4.5 stars
Miraculous and thrilling… A few pages in and I was determined to read every word Jess Kidd has ever written.
Things in Jars is an extraordinary tale full of dark magic, wicked humour, and hugely entertaining characters all of whom are beautifully drawn. An absolute treat!
Jess Kidd’s stories are so magical, she should be a genre all to herself… Things in Jars is exquisite. Perfect storytelling.
Thrilling, mysterious, twisted but more than anything, beautifully written and filled to bursting point with heart.
A masterclass in storytelling. One of those books that truly does make you laugh out loud, that shakes and remakes what you think a story can be. It’s rare to find a book so satisfying.