The Incredible Talking Machine by Jenni Spangler

It’s 1848 and the cotton mills of Manchester clatter and cough. A new show has come to the Theatre Royale - Faber’s fabulous talking machine.

Roll up! Roll up! Spangler’s literary spectacle chills and delights!

Up in the flies of the theatre, stagehand Tig Rabbit glimpses a ghost while lighting the lamps and accidentally drops her light-stick - damaging the fabulous talking machine. As fast as the light-stick drops, Tig falls into trouble . . .

There are lots of marvellous cogs and keys here: a ghost, clockwork machines, inventions, illusions, predictions, greed and betrayal, and the great question: can you change your fate? Should you even try?

Jenni Spangler does a terrific job setting up the suspense and I was gripped from the moment we saw the ‘ugly spiderweb’ ruining the talking machine’s blue eye. And what an exciting finale!

At the centre of it all is Tig Rabbit. Heart-on-her sleeve, hair in a mess, spanner in hand. Tig is curious, brave, and selfless - and that’s saying something for a meddling mite who sleeps on the floor, downtrodden by those supposed to care for her. Can she change her destiny?

Many thanks to Jenni Spangler, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for my advanced reading copy. I loved it!

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