Lianne Dillsworth has put her MA in Victorian Studies to very good use in this 1840’s London set tale which is the first person narrative of Zillah, a mixed race twenty year old. Zillah has escaped the poor dwellings of St Giles to become the lover of a Viscount and the headline attraction of Crillick’s Variety Theatre. Cast as a “genuine” African native, The Great Amazonia, her tribal dances and staged sacrifices thrill and horrify the audience. Yet Zillah is a “gaffed freak”, not at all what the theatre is making her out to be and when the secret is blown her time will be up. An audience member, the distinguished looking Black grocer, Lucius Winter, is dismayed by this duping of the public and Zillah’s role in this and things take a sinister turn when Crillick aims to introduce more authentic exhibits as part of a new disturbing venture.
Zillah is a sparky character who begins to see the error of her ways and passing as someone you are not is a main theme here as well as the notions behind the government plans for resettlement of the London’s Black poor to Sierra Leone. But this increasingly becomes a tale of rescue and this is done very effectively due to the author’s good story-telling skills. I liked the Variety Theatre as a central location and the atmosphere of this is well conveyed. This is an easy read which contains thought-provoking issues, making it a very good Book group choice. I do feel that keeping Zillah as the narrator throughout makes it seem a little one-note, I think I might have appreciated the odd shift in narrative style as at times it feels a little “reported”. There were incidents that I would have loved to have been fleshed out, particularly with regards to Zillah’s back story. This is a strong debut which feels very commercial and should win the author many fans.
Theatre Of Marvels is published in hardback by Hutchinson Heinemann on April 28th 2022. Many thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the advance review copy.

Zillah is a young woman of mixed race. Her mother has given her the best chance in life she can, as a free person, not a slave. This is set in the Victorian era of London and the author has created a vivid picture of what life may have been like for someone like Zillah.

Working as an actress, she isn't happy that her role is to play a warrior from the Amazon, especially when she has never left London. Zillah was born in the slums of St Giles and a job is a job. She does however start to realise that maybe her painting herself up, dancing and chanting on stage may not be right.

This story is about how a young girl is discovering more about herself and the world she lives in. In some ways, she does live a sheltered life, she has a job, and a place to live and while she has worries she does have the basics. It is when she starts to see other people and listen to their opinions and what they are fighting for that sZillah herself wants to make her own contribution.

This is a time of exploitation, slavery and manipulation. The world is changing and not everyone wants to keep up or change with it. The author does such a great job with descriptions of sights sounds and smells that this did become a very immersive story. I genuinely cared about what Zillah was faced with and what decisions she had to make.

Trying to do the right thing isn't easy, but when you are still struggling to understand what is going on it makes it hard. But the thing about Zillah is her determination, it is something that grows with her and it was great to read of her finding the courage to join the campaign for better laws and freedoms.

This is a historical fiction story, I did think it had more of a Young Adult feel to it as the story does focus on Zillah, her realisation that there are things in the world that are not right, it is her journey of self-discovery and empowerment. It is a story that does have some serious themes, but the author doesn't go into too much detail which was rather nice from a reader's point of view. It is an interesting and evocative read and one that I would recommend reading.

This is a beautifully written gothic novel, featuring the dark and light sides of London, and of the human soul.

I’m always concerned about authors getting London right, and Ms Dillsworth could be as much of a Londoner as I was. She brings the poverty and the contrasting wealth into sharp focus, yet clearly shows the subtleties in the strata of the rich, too. In some ways I found this heavy-handed, in particular with Zillah’s constant references to St. Giles. It seemed to interfere with the flow, for me, at any rate. But there was much to fear from the seedy showman Crillick, and at the point of his introducing his new act to his ‘party’ of cronies I began to feel distinctly uneasy. Full marks to the author for some great tension-building.

I’m not sure I agree with the last line of the blurb. It shines a light as much on the hypocrisy and arrogance of Victorian society; black or anything else not white and male and English (English, not British!). And that Victorian hypocrisy in not dead, by a long way, however deep we thought we’d buried it.

A wonderful tale of knowing who we are and our place in the world we live in. Zillah is a brave woman, fighting for her place in a world where women and especially black women are disregarded as having no place in society. Her character as Amazonia is her journey out of the poverty, but she isn’t happy with the price she has to pay. I really enjoyed some of the secondary characters in this story, Barky and Elvira with Ethel are great additions to Zillah’s world and provide huge comfort to her in times of need. A wonderful mix of historical fiction and tale of morality.

I thought this book was well written and dealt with racism which was interesting to read in this time period.

Zillah is a performer at Crillick’s Theatre she is the Amazonian who dances and entertains the crowd. We see how Zillah was brought up in London she is half caste and feels she has never fitted in. She discovers that woman is not being treated right and feels she must do something about this.

I felt the main character was a strong woman and did think the ending was not what I expected but really enjoyed the book and certainly.gives you food for thought..

Would I recommend this book to you to read yes I would.

.I found Theatre of Marvels a great read. The story is written from Zillah’s perspective in the first person so makes for an instantly immersive read. She is a great character, a strong woman who turns her back on her duplicitous life to rescue another woman who is enslaved and used as a vile ‘scientific’ experiment. The setting of Crillicks Theatre in Victorian London is so well evoked as are the fashions and the social mores. Despite her aristocratic lover Zillah stays true to herself with a surprising ending. A great debut from Lianne Dillsworth. Thanks to NetGalley and Hutchinson Heinemann for the eARC.

I was attracted to this book, as many people said it was similar to Elizabeth Macneal's Circus of Wonders, which I loved.

The story focuses on Zillah, a young black actress, trying to find a way out of poverty in Victorian London. Zillah was abandoned by her mother, but told never to work in service. I remember by grandad saying that his grandmother, who was a single mother in Victorian London doing all manner of poorly paid jobs to avoid the workhouse or having to abandon her children to go into service, so this resonated with me.

I loved Zillah, she is a determined young woman, who faces discrimination because of her class and race, and the author developed her beautifully over the course of the book. She is also joined by a cast of characters all trying to make their way in a world that is often cruel, and I wasn't sure who could be trusted. There is also a very strong sense of place, which I really enjoyed, and I enjoyed the feeling of taking a trip through Victorian London.

This book touches on numerous issues, poverty, class, race, exploitation, misogyny, and discrimination. I read a review that said that this book had a contemporary feel to it, despite it being historical fiction. I would agree with that and I think it is partly because of to our eternal shame, not much has changed. The poor are still exploited, minorities are still discriminated against and the rich (as recent events prove) take what they want, do what they want, because the rules don't seem to apply to them in the same way.

I would highly recommend this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Really enjoyed this one, I absolutely adored the main character, Zillah, a mixed race strong female who raised herself out of poverty to become the headliner at the theatre.

She thinks what she’s doing is innocent until her eyes are opened to the real world. This is a story about race, class, and fighting for what is right despite of the outcome for herself..

An excellent read!

My thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review

This book is a little different to what I normally read however I thought it sounded interesting….and it was..

Set in Victorian London Zillah who is the main act in Crillicks Variety Theatre she puts on a performance every night.
Things are happening and Zillah becomes worried for the other acts.

I enjoyed the read and it deals with race and gender in Victorian times.

Set in Victorian London, Zillah, a black British performer, has become the headline act at Crillick's Variety Theatre, performing each night as a wild woman, playing into the stereotypes of the colour of her skin. She thinks she's doing well; she's come from the slums of St Giles into the theatre and the warm and luxurious bed of an aristocrat. But something horrible is going on. Crillick is experimenting on captured Africans and Zillah is determined to free them. Her world begins to crumble and she must confront her own part in promoting stereotypes. She realises that she can't rely on her lover and she's increasingly swayed towards another admirer, but in the end who can she trust? This book is about identity, class and colour in the underbelly of Victorian London.

This book definately got me thinking about the white male gaze. Zillah represents the 'sexualized other' when in fact she is mixed race and a Londoner. She becomes more aware of her heritage and how she is portraying herself. As a story it is interesting.

Set in Victorian London this book is completely transporting. The book follows Zillah who is the headliner at Crillick’s Variety Show. Zillah and her fellow castmates put on a spectacle of a show each evening under the watchful eye of this book’s resident baddie, Marcus Crillick. When Crillick briefly introduces a new act, “The Leopard Lady”, who then quickly disappears again, Zillah becomes increasingly concerned for her fellow act’s safety and risks it all to undertake a rescue mission.

Despite being fiction, the book manages to highlight both racial and gender inequalities of that era well, often to a point that makes the reader uncomfortable. The book is well written, with chapters able to turn my stomach, however it was maybe a little long for my liking. The love interests also fell a slightly flat for me.

I’d recommend this book to fans of The Greatest Showman and historical fiction lovers!

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed this historical fiction about Zillah, a young black woman who works in a rather seedy theatre in Victorian London where she appears regularly in a headlining dance act. She never quite feels as though she fits in despite being courted by a member of the aristocracy.
When she discovers a terrible scandal going on practically under her nose, she is appalled and determined to stop it continuing, but this puts her own life under scrutiny and brigs her into contact with undesirable and criminal characters from the life in the slums of her childhood she has worked hard to escape from.
This unusual and twisty and thought provoking novel, entertained me and tugged at my heart. Zillah is a great heroine and her story makes for fascinating reading.

An enjoyable story with atmosphere and passion but I felt a little disappointed in the last third of the book, as the writing seemed a little rushed and simplistic.

Zilllah plays the role of the 'Great Amazonian' at Crillick's Variety Theatre. But meeting Lucien makes her question the morality of her role, and he is to open her eyes to another way of life.

Set in 1840's England, there is a fascination for the exotic, the 'freaks'. But Zillah becomes determined to stop their exploitation and free them, whilst at the same time, freeing herself.

Some enjoyable parts but I just felt a little disconnected from the characters and didn't become as absorbed as I'd like to have been by the story.

When Zillah steps on stage at Crillick’s Variety Theatre, she steps into the persona of The Great Amazonia, an exotic wonder who certainly draws in the crowds. But Zillah must hide herself, and outside the theatre, she has to hide Amazonia, the penalty for the lie being too high for her to pay. She has a good job, earning decent money, and even has the attentions of a wealthy, influential man, and as a mixed-race woman, Zillah feels she can’t risk that.

Until she realises how fragile her life is, her lack of control, and how there are always things worth risking everything for. For Zillah, it’s Crillick’s new act who quickly goes missing, and she desperately sets out to find the woman.

This is such a good book! It’s got a strong Mystery vibe to it, as Zillah uncovers more of what’s really going on. There’s an element of Romance, as she finds herself caught between a white Viscount, slightly down on his luck due to a falling out with his father, and an African shop owner, who helps Zillah embark on her emotional journey.

The setting is detail rich, bringing to life seedy elements of Victorian London, when ‘gentlemen’ were anything but. The novel doesn’t shy away from the way Zillah is treated, and her struggles, caught between different worlds where she doesn’t really feel like she belongs in either. Her journey starts with her in a fairly comfortable position, and it’s only when she looks at herself through someone else’s eyes she takes steps to change things.

Through her journey, Zillah’s eyes are further opened and she fights back against it, alongside the shopkeeper Lucien, and Zillah learns about the new initiative to relocate to Sierra Leone, though it takes her – a London girl through and through – a while to see this in a good light. She learns to truly embrace all parts of herself and become empowered through it.

I don’t want to go into the plot too much more, but I absolutely loved Zillah and following her journey. She’s a character with a lot of empathy, yet who is closed off from parts of herself, and it takes a big step for her to come to terms with it. When she does, however, she grows and changes, and becomes determined to do the right thing.

Thank you to Random House for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley – views remain my own.

This is a great read. Zillah is an interesting character and her journey from actress to activist is well described. The book describes the few chances that women had in Victorian times but some of the language and behaviours were a bit too out of line with reality for me to give five stars. Ending sentences with "....is all." is a 21st century affectation. But a good read nonetheless and one I would recommend. With thanks to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the opportunity to read and review an e-ARC of this title.

Loved the rollercoaster of emotions this YA novel took the reader on.
YA isn't normally something I pick up that often but this one did not disappoint.

An interesting exploration of 19th century England and racism.

I enjoyed how Zillah explored her culture and those of other countries and ethnicities within the restrictions of the Victorian era.

(3.5*/5)

I think the target demographic is younger than I and due to this the way things were addressed felt dumbed down for my reading, however, for a younger audience I think this will pull a much higher rating.

The amount of emotion and feeling portrayed through Lianne's writing is exceptional and powerful and this reflects in the qualities of the main heroine Zillah.

I’m afraid this didn’t do it for me so I didn’t finish it.
It was described and a gothic spectacle, but I didn’t get that at all.
The characters weren’t convincing and when Vincent and Zillah jumped into bed together without question, I definitely didn’t believe it was meant to be a Victorian setting.
It is a shame because Victorian fiction and theatrical settings are right up my street, but it felt poorly written.