I was really drawn in and intrigued about the intricacies of this world at the start but   the ending felt a little flat in comparison.

The Kendrick family have made dolls for generations, what makes theirs unique is their ability to endow them with a little bit of magic. Touching a Kendrick doll invokes a powerful emotion. The secret to this ability is heavily guarded and only practised by a select few male members of the family. The plot is driven by the theft of a doll important to the family and the mystery surrounding who stole it.

Apart from the Kendrick family and their touch of magic, the rest of the world feels very familiar. There’s business intrigue, difficult family dynamics and a bit of romance. 

The characters in the book are well written. In particular, the development of several of the female characters was satisfying. 

Both the setup and characters are really inventive and made the book very readable. However, very early on I could see the direction of the plot and was a bit disappointed when I turned out to be mostly right. I wanted to be surprised just a bit more, with everything else being so fantastical the plot line felt a bit ordinary.

Nether the less, I really enjoyed this book and I’m looking forward to trying the authors other book as soon as I get to it on my reading list! 

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

trigger warning 
<spoiler> emotional abuse, domestic violence, alcoholism,  dementia, misogyny </spoiler>

When a seemingly random guy enters the workshop, asking for an apprenticeship and being accepted after just a few days, Persephone, who has fought all her life to be allowed to do magic is very, very angry. 
And then the prized possession of the patriarch gets stolen.

We have a very interesting setting on a small island in Oxford. On one hand, the people feel local pride about being where the university is, on the other they're kind of living in a small village where everyone knows everybody else and inhabitans are also relatives.
Or, to be more precise: Those who share no blood ties to their common ancestors have married in. 

There are two rules:
1. Only a Kendrick can work in the doll workshop.
2. Only men can become sorcerers.

Persephone is told that women are to emotional/ fragile / yadda yadda to wield magic, it simply won't work. But as a child, she met her greatgreatgrandmother (to be honest, not sure about how many greats belong in there) who was doing magic. Not perfectly, but the woman was 108 and dement, cut her some slack.

Then there is the new guy who claims that their information is false and one person left instead of dying. But is it? 

I am not sure how far the magic in this world reaches. We have the fair folk, present in superstitions and dreams, where the source of the sorcery is said to be found. The magic the Kendricks do is guarded because nobody else can do it - but does that mean that they have the only magic to be found in this world? I'd have liked some clarification on that.

The label bi is not used, but both characters I have in mind say they "like both man and women", so I chose the label to use as tag so people can find it if they chose to.

I liked this a lot and nearly read it in one sitting, which means I'll pick up the author's other book, which has been on my want to read list for a while, in the nearer future.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

The Kendrick family own a successful doll making firm, but these are not your run of the mill dolls. Beautifully crafted from a range of materials, these dolls are magical, its creator having bestowed a particular emotion on it which is then felt by its owner. Although the company was founded by a family of sisters two hundred years ago, today, only the men are allowed to perform the sorcery needed to set these dolls apart. This does not sit well with Persephone Kendrick and she is determined to break this tradition, so when a stranger arrives claiming to be a descendant of one of the original sisters, she sees this as the opportunity she needs. One night, however, the family's most valuable doll is taken. Only someone with a knowledge of their magic could have taken it, only one of the Kendrick family...

This is not my preferred fiction genre, but having loved the author's previous book, The Psychology of Time Travel, I knew that I would enjoy this one. I was not wrong! This is very much a cross-genre book, with hints of mystery, fantasy, history and romance, but above all, it has a great story, one that kept me engrossed until the very last page.

Set in an eyot near Oxford, I loved how the inhabitants live, almost in their own world, part of modern society yet removed from it at the same time. There were times when I had to remind myself that this was set in the present day as the events could have taken place any time in the past few hundred years. I thought this was very clever as it helped to display the parochial aspect of their life whilst they were also partaking in the same activities as everyone else in the 'outside world'.

One of the main themes in the book is how we should not underestimate women. Like in her previous book, the author has created a strong female cast with Persephone, in particular, determined to show that she could perform the traditional tasks of a male, if only she were given the opportunity. As the book progressed, we saw how in this seemingly patriarchal society, it was the women who actually held things together and I willed them to get their aim of progressing in the doll-making firm.

This is a clever book with a strong cast and an engaging plot. Kate Mascarenhas is an author whose work I will definitely be looking out for.

This book is enjoyable and quite unique as and I didn’t feel it neatly ticked any genre box but that’s ok as it is good to read something a little bit different.  It is in parts magical, and in part mystery with a little bit of romance but that doesn’t really sum it up as its more complex than that.   What it is about though is family, love, hate, and ultimately relationships.  There’s something quite old fashioned about parts of the story.  The business and people living on the Island feel like they are living in a different time when families and life was different, but Persephone Kendrick, an unlikely heroine, is about to challenge the way things have always been done and shake things up...

For me this has some similar problems as those of The Psychology of Time Travel. It has a really interesting premise, one that made me really want the book. However, the narrative fails to create the promise that was expected. I really wanted the history of doll making in this family to come alive and the magic to come off the page. Instead we got a book about people with big chips on their shoulders, a man trying to infiltrate the closed shop - who right from the star we knew was an imposter. Instead of magical narrative I felt dragged down by the mass depressing characterisation. There was no uplift to this book which managed to put me to sleep mid afternoon.

I believe the publication date for this book has been pushed back (or, at the very least, it is only coming out at the end of October in the UK). Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

This is a really odd magical realist novel. I kept forgetting that it takes place in modern day Oxford - there is something archaic not just about doll making and the strange magic, but also the way these characters behave. Then the narration would mention howa character checks their mobile phone, and I'd get jarred and had to remind myself that it's not really a medieval fantasy.

The world of this exclusive doll making family business was really interesting, how the dolls are magic because they somehow convey one particular feeling to anyone who touches them. The fae lore and stories of the Thief were fascinating.

I also liked Persephone and admired her ambition in breaking with the patriarchal rule of the business, struggling and learning the enchantment of dolls at any price. I also liked Larkin, her love interest, and found it amazing that they are both bisexual (or queer, actually it's never specified). But sadly, the whole thing is just missing something. It was rather anticlimactic, and honestly some things at the end didn't make sense... I really wish it would have ended with a bang, it had great potential.

Kate Mascarenhas, author of her popular debut novel “The Psychology of Time Travel” has written another original and creative story “The Thief on the Winged Horse” featuring a mixture of fantasy, romance, crime, magic sorcerers and a two hundred year old myth.
“The Kendrick family have been making world-famous dolls for over 200 years. But their dolls aren't coveted for the craftsmanship alone. Each one has a specific emotion laid on it by its creator. A magic that can make you feel bucolic bliss or consuming paranoia at a single touch. Though founded by sisters, now only men may know the secrets of the workshop.
Persephone Kendrick longs to break tradition and learn the family craft, and when a handsome stranger arrives claiming doll-making talent and a blood tie to the Kendricks, she sees a chance to grasp all she desires.
But then, one night, the family's most valuable doll is stolen. Only someone with knowledge of magic could have taken her. Only a Kendrick could have committed this crime…”
The author has an incredible imagination and has an excellent talent in creating diverse and unusual characters in both name and personality.
I’ve never owned or played with a doll’s house as a child but have always found them fascinating and fabulous works of art. The idea of incorporating dolls that have emotions lain upon them when made, is exceedingly creepy and this created a slight eeriness to the play of the story.
There is a lot of thought provoking issues covered, including domestic abuse, alcoholism, sexuality and feminism. The only thing that didn’t really work for me was the time setting. Set in modern day with mobile phones and the London Underground etc, I just felt this didn’t fit with the overall feel of the story - gothic, magical realism, the unusualness of the doll trade and miniaturists with its quirks and all, it just felt like it should have been set a lot longer ago for me.  But that is just how I read it to feel.
A little slow in development but it does have atmosphere, Kate has written a very inventive story, using her own experiences as a doll house maker to ensure the authenticity of the production of the miniatures. Not a story that will stay with me but certainly a worth while read and I wish the author every success with this her second novel. 

3 stars

DNF at 33%
Set on an island in Oxfordshire, a family business of making enchanted dolls is thrown into chaos when an important heirloom is stolen
I really struggled to get into this. At first it felt like it was set in Victorian times, and I was hoping it would be similar to the wonderful ‘The Doll Factory’ by Elizabeth Macneal, but then suddenly one of the characters had a mobile phone, which really threw me. There was very little else in the third of the book that I managed to suggest the characters were living in the modern age except for the odd appearances of the same characters phone. After that I wasn’t really sure what the story was trying to be and it was really hard to get invested in the characters - particularly the female characters who seems to just do as they were told (another reason I thought it was set so long ago!). 
Perhaps if I had persevered all would have become clear but life is too short to force yourself through books you aren’t enjoying.

This book was unexpected, but not in a pleasant way, sadly.
The premise of this story sounded so good - I mean, dolls that can change someone's emotions? Right up my alley. It's spooky and intriguing but to me, the idea was better than the execution.
This is told in alternating PoVs and I think my main issue was that I connected to neither of the three main characters and had a hard time distinguishing between them because their "voices" all sounded incredibly similar.
The pacing of the story was also glacial, I kept wondering when something would actually happen but when it then did, it was over within two pages and we'd go back to a long stretch of nothing really happening.
Not my least favorite read of the month but there is definitely room for improvement in distinguishing the voices and raising the stakes.

This is not the book I expected to read. That is not always a bad thing. In this case, it is.

The Thief on the Winged Horse (you had me at the title alone) had "potential" written all over it. The story is about a family of dollmakers, renowned for the enchantments they place on their dolls. It literally made my eyes pop when I read the premise on NetGalley. I knew I had to read it and I was so happy when I was approved. Unfortunatelly, this amazing idea is left completely unexplored. Not much information is given about how it started, where it came from or the effects it has on people's lives. I kept waiting and waiting for the magic to begin, but it never did.

OK. Not Fantasy.

When the Paid Mourner, the most famous enchanted doll, gets stolen, I thought it would take a "Dan Brown" spin and I would be up for a treasure hunt, with clue after clue, leading to her. Nope. one seems to actually look for the doll. Their most famous and priced doll! Another opportunity missed to spark some interesst in the story.

Not Mystery either.

So, Maybe a love story? A handsome and mysterious stranger arriving at a small town is almost always a certainty for romance. Persephony and Larkin's romace though, felt completely flat. There was no spark between them, no passion, not even enough wron reasons for them to be together.

Not a love story.

Larkin in particular was a very confusing character for me. I am sure Mascarenhas intented to make him a mysterious character, but mysterious and confusing are two very different things. The work done on the rest of the characters' building was equally poor. There was close to no backstory for all of them. Only some flashbacks on Persephony's past and few for the rest of the characters, that made it hard for me to connect with any of them.

Finishing the book, I have the feeling that the real reason Mascarenhas wrote the book, the story she actually wanted to tell, was a feminist one, about everything that is wrong and anfair in the way society dectates to women their place, silences their voice and belittles their talents. 

Ultimatelly, I think there were too many elements involved, each pulling the story to a different direction, none being strong enough to take over. There were many things left unexplored or underdeveloped (like the Thief of the title or Briar's affair), giving me the feeling of a movie based on a book.There were gaps. I needed them feeled.

Not a book I would recommend.

What a curious and lovely book! It seems to take place outside of time - even though we see a character lament the lack of phone signal upon entering the eyot, it feels like time falls away and the people and the little island are a kingdom of its own.
The lives of the doll makers, the magic of the hexes that lie upon the dolls, the subtle fairytale fae weaving throughout - this is an exquisite novel and thoroughly sucks the reader in. I highly recommend for readers that enjoy British rural settings, fae and magic realism, and a tight plot.

Firstly I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book, it was a very enjoyable read not like anything I have read before. I would definitely recommend it.

"you don't have to be special to do what they do, You just have to have their privileges."

This story sounded enchanting when I first read the premise and I was excited to start reading.  The book is set in modern day, although it reads almost like a historical fantasy, with a patriarchy in charge of old-fashioned dollmaking.  Persephone Kendrick longs to craft and hex the dolls that her family are so renowned for making, however, only men have that honour.  When the shop's most prized doll is stolen, the community is in disbelief. Could the local legend be true: Is this the work of the thief on the winged horse?

This is the first book I have read by this author and I really liked her lyrical writing style.  The setting was beautifully depicted and easy to imagine.  Persephone was a well-developed character, with plenty of flaws to make her incredibly relatable.  I found her grumpiness and apathy towards customers to be amusing and her social-awkwardness made her endearing.  

While I liked the writing, I felt that the plot slowed considerably after the doll was stolen.  I expected more of a mystery element and was hoping some dark secrets would come to light.  I thought there would be some red herrings but the theft was mainly sidelined and the plot focused more on the intricacies of dollmaking and romance, There were also a few unanswered questions, but perhaps there will be a sequel. 

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. I will post the review online nearer to the publication date.

Thank you to Netgalley and Head of Zeus for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review 

The Thief on the Winged Horse had me hooked and I could not put it down, I literally flew through the book! 

Kate Mascarenhas does an superb job at world-building, character development and the relationships between characters. I felt like I was part of the Kendricks community by the end of the book. 

The mix of the romance, the mystery, the patriachal society is so engrossing that it sometimes reads like a fantasy set in the 1800's but Mascarenhas will subtly remind the reader that the book is set on an eyot near Oxford in 2020.

While I feel like the ending could have been considered a "closed" ending, I would still absolutely love to see more of the lore and characters from The Thief on the Winged Horse, especially Persephone and Larkin, I kinda love those two the most 🥰

I loved this book. I find dolls a bit spooky ever since I saw the dolls with metal teeth in the film ‘Barbarella’.  The characters were rounded and the story hooked me in. The ending was not as I expected which was great.

I loved Mascarenhas' book "The Psychology of Time Travel" because she had the knack to create women characters that were complex and intelligent. So I had expectations for this book, big expectations for this book and by and large, they were met in this book. The author is just excellent at creating characters, I felt instantly interested in all of the characters introduced and wanted to keep reading to learn more about them. In this book, there are more male characters and I am pleased to say that especially Larkin and Briar were really fascinating. The secrecy of the eyot and the Kendricks business were intriguing from the first page and it was an absolutely entertaining read throughout, even if the ending fell short for me (too hasty, too rushed) and I have to admit to me there were some gaping plotholes at the end. Still, Mascarenhas has won me over and she has now become an "instant read" author for me.

I should point out that I hate dolls – horrible creepy things. So a fantasy story about imbuing dolls with magic that makes people holding them feel an emotion is not going to go down easily. This was interesting and beautifully written with a few good twists. Through no fault of the author I found myself thinking of the Seanan McGuire short story ‘There is no place for sorrow in the Kingdom of the Cold’ and making unfair comparisons because they are completely different tales. The whimsy raised the bar on this one, but it didn’t blow me out of the water.

At one point near the start of this book I thought that it was going to read like a children's book. Thankfully the bit that made me think that (Larkin skipped up the central steps) was a one off and the story continued on a better footing.

Larkin has crossed to the eyot on which the Kendricks Workshop is placed and where its magical dolls are made; his intention is to become a sorcerer and make such dolls himself. However, Larkin is not the only one with such a desire.

In order to gain employment at the Workshop, Larkin must either be a family member or marry into the family. He believes his claim that he is a family member will gain him his employment.

There is a rare doll in the home of the current owner of Kendricks, made by Lucy Kendrick, one of the founders of the doll Workshop, "The Paid Mourner”. It is extremely valuable and, during an annual celebration, it is stolen. This theft is an unlikely event due to the protections surrounding the doll, but nonetheless it is gone.

As the only people who live on the eyot are family or married into the family, suspicions are spread thin. The twin of the owner is suspected and all family members have police searches to endure.

Plots twist and people turn about as they worm their way to the top. Dolls are made and hexes writ on mannequins to change the fortune of sorcerers. Kendrick's, Jackson's and Botham's wait to discover the whereabouts of 'The Paid Mourner'.

Larkin dances through it all, but Persephone is by his side. 

I like the way that the characters were tetchy and behaved as a normal person would. 

But, the thing that did annoy me was the way that bits were left out in certain areas, bits that will lead to another follow-up book I expect.

An unexpected ending as I just couldn’t guess which normally I’m very good at! Perfect amounts of mystery and fantasy! A very enjoyable reading experience!

i loved it. it was one of my mystery fav reads of 2020 i’m very excited for everyone else to read this glamorous book.