A family drama set during the early part of the century that follows the Seagrave family through the good times of the swinging 20s through WWII.. A strong female lead in this thought provoking and engaging historical fiction. The beginning of the novel was a bit difficult to follow with quickly shifting POVs and some issues with pacing but the story hits its stride midway through.

Though mostly a novel filled with sadness, "The Whalebone Theatre" is also full of life. Three siblings are born to an old-moneyed family that is rapidly becoming not moneyed. Christabel is the eldest by several years, with Flossie and Digby next.

Christabel feels enormously protective of Digby; She is actually half-sister to her other sibs, as she was born to head of the Seagrave family, Jasper, and his now deceased wife. Christabel's stepmother Rosalind is mother to the other two children; Rosalind was a woman who longed to live a life of luxury and parties, and was bored by married life, and horrified by its more visceral aspects. Consequently, she had no use for the near-feral young Christabel when Rosalind joined the family, and called her first child "The Veg" (Florence), and was only fond of Digby, the product of an affair with Jasper's irresponsible and adventure-seeking brother Willoughby, a former soldier during WW1.

After Jaspar's death, Rosalind and the errant Willoughby form a family, but the children are left to their own devices, mostly neglected, though Rosalind intermittently dotes on Digby, with Christabel inventing games and amusements for the two younger, till she eventually hits on the idea of putting on plays after a whale washes up on shore.

The sibs stay close and when war returns, Digby heads off to France. Flossie turns to growing food and engaging in various other homefront activities, while Christabel joins up, and receives specialized espionage training (self-defence, parachuting, etc.) so she can follow Digby to France to ensure he's ok, since he fell off his superiors' radars.


From its off-kilter family dynamics, to the intense, imaginative games the children play together, and finally the infuriating neglect by the adults, the first part of the book was evocative of a fairy tale.

The tone changes to something more down to earth and realistic when the sibs becoming adults. They drift apart somewhat, with each becoming more involved in their own concerns, with Christabel's fervent need to protect Digby drawing her after him into training that is in some ways an extension of her childhood activities of whacking things with a wooden sword, imagined travel and storytelling.

Christabel is the focus of the novel, and much as I loved her unconventionality and fierceness, I also wished she could have had a wider focus to her life beyond just protecting Digby and making it through the war. It's telling that she sees nothing for herself post-war, and has no plans or hopes for later. Her childhood adult figures were utterly incapable of seeing past their own desires, forcing Christabel to assume the care of her young sibs. Because Digby was seen as the centre to the family, it's not surprising then that Christabel would have also focused more on him than Flossie, causing Christabel to be pleasantly surprised by Flossie's capable management of their home and involvement in the surrounding village community.

When we follow Christabel into France, the tension mounts accordingly, and we feel her desperation and frustration as she must evade German scrutiny. Chritabel's love of theatre serves her well here, and she really comes alive (not that she was passive before!)

I found myself in tears by the end, much as there was a relatively happy resolution to the siblings' trials during the war. Debut author Joanna Quinn kept me riveted to this story, and I loved the prose and the images she conjured with it. Though a big book, I never felt like it dragged, and enjoyed it from the opening to the melancholic closing.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for my review.

“‘Maudie, why are all the best characters men?’...’We haven’t read all the books yet, Miss Cristabel.’” The Whalebone Theatre is a production of young Cristabel’s life. Following the Seagrave family starting in the 1920s and continuing through World War 2. Joanna Quinn uses beautiful prose and metaphor to immerse readers in how the world changes so much in two decades, especially as a result of war. Cristabel is a young, daring, and brave MC. She is orphaned at a young age and raised by her uncle and step mother. She spends her days in imaginary adventures that she ropes her half-sister, and cousin into. A natural leader, Cristabel becomes the director of plays that she puts on in a stage built from whalebones, using her community to act, make costumes, and promote her production. Her plays become very famous, with her cousin Digby as the star of her shows. However, when the war starts the Whalebone Theatre is shut down and each Seagrave must act out a different part in the greater stage of the world.

Quinn’s immersive style of writing was both beautiful and emotional. The stage is set with a Downton Abbey feel as the family struggles to determine how their large estate will survive the changing times. As the war progresses, I could not help but feel as if I was walking side-by-side with Rosalind through the dark, shellshocked streets of London. She depicts Rosalind’s casual dissociation, juxtaposed with the hallowed out, bombed buildings, existing only as a facade to remind people of the lives they once housed.

Meanwhile, Cristabel does her best to find her purpose in the male dominated world of war. She takes on another backstage role and grapples with the lack of acknowledgement due to being a woman. “She realizes that, for all she resents the unfair advantages given to the opposite sex, she does not want to be a man, she only wants it not to matter that she is a woman.” She takes on special, secret intelligence missions for the British to help end the war.

My only complaint about this book is that the first part felt a little chaotic as the POV shifts rapidly between characters as the author sets up the story. This evens out as the book progresses. The pace picks up as the story progresses, which draws readers into the plot and need to know the fate of the Seagraves and the Chilcome Mell estate.

I received The Whalebone Theatre as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this story. It was long, but don't let that scare you. Reads quickly. The story is about three siblings and family from the beginning of their lives together to the end. Their parents and elders have their own story and how it plays out with the siblings. Their love for each other, their imaginations, the theatre out of a whale's rib bone, the plays that include the whole family, the war and the ever after. You will want to turn the pages to find out what is going to happen next with everyone. Enjoy.

Completely immersive. Christobel Seagrave is a girl left to her own devices while the world is reeling from WWI. She slinks around her family's estate where the adults are distracted from her in every regard and she's able to build her own magical world of theater and art and half siblings. When WWII comes, the book transforms into a story more grounded in our reality, with all its requisite tragedies and some smal triumphs. An absolutely lovely read.

Sometimes when a book is hyped up so much, expectations are not met. I felt the first half of the book dragged, and the antics of Cristabel, Flossie and Digby quite unrealistic. To then jump into the chapters where the home front and the war’s front were well described, felt like it didn’t fit with the first half. I appreciated the emphasis on the unfairness in keeping women out of leadership yet putting them in danger as undercover operatives. I just didn’t love the book as others have. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Oof. I usually love Read with Jenna picks but this one is not it. Slow. Long. Meandering. 576 pages. I ended up DNFing.

Joanna Quinn’s novel The Whalebone Theatre is a wonderful debut from a talented writer from whom I expect a lot more delightful books in the future. It is entirely unique and different. Although it consists of more than 550 digital pages, it kept my attention and was a compelling read from beginning to end. The plot-line was different as were the characters, each imbued with individual quirks and idiosyncrasies, most but not all of them endearing. I received The Whalebone Theatre as an advanced readers copy for free, for which I would like to thank Ms. Quinn, NetGalley, and Knopf. I’m happily providing this review voluntarily, without receiving anything in return.

The story revolves around three young half-siblings on a rural British estate who rely on each other throughout their lives for love, companionship, and strength, as they have no parents on whom they can rely nor any reliable parental substitutes. As children they spend much of their time engaging in make believe, eventually creating a theater from the carcass of a whale washed up on a nearby shore. World War II erupts throwing their world into chaos, each of the siblings eventually deciding to voluntarily join in the war efforts. I found the ending quite satisfying, though I did shed some tears along the way.

What a lovely book this is! The characters are well drawn and engaging. As children, growing up in an unorthodox manor home, the main characters encounter the world through theatre and acting out the books they read. As adults living through World War II, they all three fight the war in different ways, returning to the theatre they love to keep them going.

Modern day classic literature! This book was heartbreaking and joyous, all in a well written master piece. Historical fiction is something that brings me great comfort between all my thriller reads, and this was the ticket! I loved watching Christabel grow to a head strong, independent woman from the beginning of the book to the end.

An imaginative story written in a unique style, sometimes I felt I was reading a play along with the behind the scenes narrative. Sometimes, the story is told in letter form. The letters are the most emotional and chilling part of the story, since many of the letters are truly honest and heartfelt and yet never intended to be read by the recipient. Cristabel, our plucky heroine, is an orphan living with her family (no spoilers here for the relationships between the main characters). She loves to put on productions of classic stories. The first half of the book establishes the characters and the relationships. The second half of the book places the characters into the heart of WWII and the choices they make regarding their roles in the war. This is a long story and there are times a reader might decide enough, but that would be a mistake. This is a story to be relished and to be finished.. You won't regret it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday for my copy. My review is my own.

Welcome to Chilcombe, "a many-gabled, many chimneyed, ivy-covered manor house with an elephantine air of weary grandeur...it has huddled on a wooden cliff overhanging the ocean for four hundred years." At this Dorset estate in the year 1919, Cristabel Seagrave awaited the arrival of her new mother, Rosalind, "a poised London debutante." Jasper Seagrave, widower, sought a young wife to provide an heir for Chilcombe. After the Great War and a shortage of suitable husbands, Rosalind settled for Jasper.

Rosalind had no love for her firstborn, a daughter. "... it looks like a vegetable...but at least she will have a film star name...Florence." An heir was what everyone wanted...boys could drive motors...be interested in snails, maps and warfare. Finally, a son and heir...Digby.

The Seagrave children had far from an idyllic childhood. Cristabel provided adventures for her half-sister Flossie aka "the Veg" and cousin Digby. She would tell Digby and Flossie stories. By secretly borrowing books from the study, Cristabel entered the world of Shakespeare and Homer. History, romance and adventure were now at her fingertips! The creative children entertained themselves with sock puppet shows using cardboard backdrops.

"After a night of thunderstorms, the air is as fresh as clean laundry. The chilly mist...swept away, lifting like stage curtains to reveal the coastline in its spring colours...[Cristabel] discovered a dead whale washed up on the pebbles...[She ] has just turned twelve; there isn't much she doesn't know. She had read nearly all the books in the house...She admires things done in an adept manner...the feeling of being up in front on her own...high on her whale, looking down at Digby and the Veg." The Whalebone Theatre will soon be born. "Their most-loved books have been read so many times...But the worlds contained within the books do not remain between the covers, they seep out and overlay the geography of their lives."

The Chilcombe estate had hosted many guests including a Russian painter named Taras. "If the front of Taras is the artist-entertainer, the back reveals the lifter-labourer-the graft behind the artistry." With limited resources and a bit of ingenuity, the whale's bones were crafted into an outdoor theatre. Taras volunteered to paint stage sets. Costumes needed were made from repurposed items. Actors would include children, Rosalind, household staff and visiting guests. Cristabel wanted to perform The Iliad. Taras created "a Troy and a wooden horse...". The Seagrave Estate Presents "The Iliad" under the direction of Cristabel Seagrave. The audience has been seated. Quiet please!

Lessons learned from performing, during the ten year span before WWII, were of great assistance to the Seagraves. Cristabel, an undercover agent parachuted into France, was able to easily change identities as needed while helping the Resistance Fighters. Digby, on a different secret mission, was reported missing. The Veg aka Flossie, provided evenings of low key entertainment, morale boosters for troops passing through Dorset. Interlaced within the framework of the story were wartime letters between the siblings and newspaper reviews of Whalebone Theatre presentations from 1928-1938.

The pages of "Whalebone Theatre" by debut author Joanna Quinn are arguably an ode to the lifelong, uplifting healing power of books, theatre and music. This ambitious, captivating read of historical fiction is highly recommended.

Thank you Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At almost 600 pages of description heavy writing and not really any action until over half way in this felt like a chore at times.

The author has a lovely way of writing but so much is described in detail (writing on toilet doors, necklaces, everything) it could easily lose half of the book without affecting anything.

Once the characters reach WW2 the story does get going a bit about 60% in but it's still very slow and predictable.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

... for it is exactly the thinning of the ordinary that allows the unordinary through."
-----------------------------

Honestly the first half of this book was uniquely magical, unlike anything I had read before. Christabel is a plucky, imaginative child with a broken home life who infuses the world around her with joy. She and her siblings come upon the carcass of a whale beached on the shore and she claims it, not realizing anything that washes ashore is the King's. They transform this experience into one that benefits everyone around them, creating a theater out of the whale's body. That half of the novel was lovely and I was well entranced.

The second half of the novel is more a WWII spy novel and I don't generally gravitate towards that for reading. There was a little bit of balance showing a few other characters lives during the war but for me it was a little too heavy on morse code, clandestine chats and changing identities. It was definitely well written and I think would appeal well to folks loving that genre but it was a bit too much for me. Cristabel's abilities as a spy coming from her love of the theater was a lovely connection but I would have liked 100 pages less of the spy bits. Overall a new take on historical fiction which I really enjoyed.

Thanks to Knopf Doubleday for access via Netgalley. All opinions above are my own.

I loved this book right from the start. I have recommended it as one of my favorite books of the year and urged all my friends to read it. The story takes place from after WWI to post-WWII in the lives of 3 children born to an aristocratic British family. I cheered for the children and wanted the best for them.

Loved everything about this book. The best I have read this year. Can’t wait for the author’s next effort!

They tell me that this magnificent work of literary fiction is a debut novel. I find this hard to comprehend as the expressive language and seamless flow of the story appear to be that of an accomplished experienced author. I came to know the characters well as their journey took us from their birth to adulthood and beyond, in some cases. Although this saga falls into the genre of World War II fiction, it is unique in its scope and telling. I adored this book and have my fingers crossed that the author is already well into her next one. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy and for giving me another author to fall in love with.

Stunning and superior. This books gave me chills.

Not since the “All the Light we Cannot See” have I been so moved, so haunted by a novel. I became a fan of Joanna Quinn almost from the first chapter. Her storytelling abilities transcend the great, and give her a place at the table with the legendary.

This novel is a tale of triumph, defeat, regret, coming of age, losing oneself, and finding again your place in the world. It is a tale of three children, two siblings and a steadfast cousin, who navigate their unique family and its dysfunction in pre-WW2 England. But it’s more than that.

It’s a story of three young people trying to make an impact during WW2, in a series of dangerous and desperate maneuvers, but it’s even more than that.

To me, it’s the desperate need for the reclaiming of lost youth, of the surety of the young, the delightful ignorance of the cruelty of the world. It’s about being human. And being yourself. And how that’s exactly what you should be.

Quinn is an artist, not only with her writing, but her use of words on the page as art, as sound, as song.

This is a rare book that I will miss as I would a departing friend, one that has left an everlasting impression on my heart.

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn is the story of a neglected little girl who grew up with self-indulgent parents, eventually went on stage, and became a spy. She was born of an older father and a selfish younger mother and pretty much raised herself. When her father died, her mother married her brother-in-law, but didn’t really change her stripes. They did, however, give her a brother and a sister so she was no longer lonely. They lived in a manor house by the sea and had many adventures, all led by the eldest, Cristabel. The most notable of all was when a dead whale washed up on the shore and she claimed it for her family. The children got many years of play and enjoyment out of the carcass of this dead whale.

I had a lot of trouble getting involved with this book. I can’t really name the reason but it was a struggle to read it. The story was decent, if a little disjointed. There were too many unrelated storylines and subplots as well as uninteresting and extraneous characters. It was too long, needed editing. In short, it was a slog.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of The Whalebone Theatre by Knopf Doubleday, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions wee my own. #Netgalley #KnopfDoubleday #JoannaQuinn #TheWhaleboneTheatre

What a magical, immersive WWII novel! You would never think that the author, Joanna Quinn, is a debut author. The Whalebone Theatre is a deep, beautiful story of sibling love and strong, female characters. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an outstanding work of historical fiction.