This week, we finally managed to install our new (not new ) item of furniture - a mid-18th Century grandfather clock. It's not bright and shiny like more modern ones, but a dark oak with a warm patina which the beeswax polish is drawing out. In order to set it up, we had to do a certain amount of research - how to hang the pendulum, where the weight went on the endless chain - and it got me thinking... where and when did certain divisions of time come from? The time periods which I have written either had household clocks or didn't, I have not written novels from the time of their invention. Clocks have been around for a long time, and the obsession with measuring time in an ordered fashion dates back to at least the ancient Sumerians. It was they who established a circular reading of time and, I imagine, the sixty seconds/minutes came about as much because it was an easy way to divide a circle as anything else. But it wasn't until much later that the precision of seconds ...
Night of the Victorian Dead by Amber Michelle Cook
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| "Night of the Victorian Dead" Book Cover |
"Inspired by beloved works of literature from Charlotte Bronte, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, and in tribute to the delightful terror of first encountering classic undead creatures comes Night of the Victorian Dead, in which a rich collection of characters - with the endearing manners, gentility and sensibilities of that era - meet the unthinkable horror of an outbreak of the supernatural in the form of Re-risen Dead."
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| 3 Stars |
When I got the review request for this novel, the first thing I thought was "Oh no. I hate zombies!" It's not that I have anything against zombies (I'm sure some of them are very decent) but ever since my sister used to chase me around the room in a Hallowe'en mask pretending to be a zombie, I have been really scared of them.
I'm pleased I agreed to review this book, however. It is a really interesting mix between historical fiction and zombie novels, with some spine-chillingly yet amusing encounters with the living dead.
I didn't realise, when I started reading, there was a connection between the book's characters and those in "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Bronte so I was slightly confused at first. After the initial confusion, however, I began to appreciate how well the parallel works. The author looks at the Jane Eyre story through the eyes of other characters, for example the ward, which is an ingenious look at the secondary characters in the classic book.
It is also greatly amusing to see how the much-loved characters deal with the unknown threat of zombies, in their perfectly English way. How they remain so prim and proper beats me, but it works!
Because there were a few different groups of characters in different spaces, the author jumped from one group to another which added to the suspense. At the start of the novel, however, this was slightly confusing as I was just getting used to the characters.
Because there were a few different groups of characters in different spaces, the author jumped from one group to another which added to the suspense. At the start of the novel, however, this was slightly confusing as I was just getting used to the characters.
The book would be a great read for someone who is looking for a humourous zombie novel with a bit of a twist.
Find the book here.
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