Shrines of Gaiety is an absolute pleasure to read, you’d expect nothing less from Kate Atkinson. A trip back to the 1920’s where Nellie Coker nightclub owner extraordinaire and her family are taking full advantage of the wealthy patrons of her various nightclubs. Nellie rules her empire with a rod of iron and people underestimate her at their peril. So when people try to overthrow her empire nothing good can come of it. Add some murders and runaways. So when Detective Inspector Frobisher decides enough is enough he enlists former librarian Gwendolin Keeling to help him catch Nellie up to no good. An enthralling read that had me hooked from the first chapter

Kate Atkinson's latest novel is set in 1920s London. The country is still recovering from the impacts of the war, and there are no shortage of people seeking fun in the city's nightclubs, many of which are run by crime matriarch Nellie Coker. Nellie is assisted (or not) by her many children - four daughters ranging from Edith (chip off the old block) to Kitty (almost as silly as her Austen namesake), and sons - dreamy Ramsay and enigmatic Niven. Into this seedy world comes Gwendolen, a sensible wartime nurse and peacetime librarian, newly arrived from York in search of teenage runaways Florence and Freda. Gwendolen's search brings her into contact with Frobisher, a police inspector charged with tackling the corruption in the force that enables the Coker family to operate with impunity. All of the characters' stories intertwine in this clever novel as the Cokers try to hold on to their empire and everyone else tries to rid them of it - and others simply try to survive.

This novel is a reminder of what a brilliant author Kate Atkinson is - I am less keen on her Jackson Brodie books, but for standalones like this she really is hard to better. The characters are all fascinating, the writing is compelling but also fun, the plot twisty and unexpected. The 1920s setting is evoked brilliantly and is always a rich tapestry for the backdrop to a novel - they were such extreme times. As I read I noticed some parallels with our current situation - industrial unrest, a country reeling from an unprecedented upheaval, the rich enjoying hedonistic times whilst the poor struggle in bad conditions.

It's a novel that transports you to another world - one that is inexplicably alluring. There's nothing attractive about organised crime - but transport it back a century and suddenly it becomes strangely glamorous. I've never watched 'Peaky Blinders' but I imagine it's a similar sort of appeal. Despite her being a hardnosed criminal, you can't help wanting Nellie to retain the empire she's built up. In fact, as is often the case with novels like this, the real villains are the corrupt policeman rather than the 'honest crooks'. It's not necessarily a very realistic view of the world, but it's one that works well in fiction.

Gwendolen is a particularly sympathetic character and a great heroine - intelligent, capable and interesting. Young Freda is also a well drawn and sympathetic character, and I found myself drawn to Niven without being able to quite understand why (exactly as the author intends). Plot wise there was only one loose end that was never fully explained, although it wasn't a major thing.

Anyone who enjoys literary fiction and reading novels should like this I think - it is so well done and has all the elements necessary to make a strong book. Great plot, characters and writing.

Kate's prose transports you to 1920's London. The seedy back streets, the gangsters and nightclubs, and the moneyed and poor. Part historical fiction, part detective drama we are handheld through Soho by an array of characters, my favourite being Gwendolen! Portraying the relief and 'gaiety' that Londoners were feeling after the first world war and the crime that was rife within the streets. I devoured this book and it will stay with me for some time.

I have always found Kate Atkinson books hard to review, they are so rich, deeply layered with detailed events, backdrops and characters that to do it any form of justice would take someone much more literary than me.

Shrines of Gaiety is no exception – set after the First World War, the Bright Young Things of the Twenties is all anyone is focusing on. In this book in the depths of Soho nightclubs, we are subjected to women, dance, song, drugs, debts, criminals, gangsters, money, corruption, gambling and sex.

Nellie Coker is the matriarch, released from Holloway back into her family, to her six children. Her stay in prison clearly an oversight by the policeman in her pay to keep this sort of thing happening. It seems Nellie Coker has other plans for the future. And the world and her family need to look out.

DCI John Frobisher, is brought in to clean the streets up and has a special interest in the vast amount of young girls going missing. He believes they are being somehow sucked into Nellie Coker’s world and her nightclubs. When Gwendoline Kelling arrives in his life, herself looking for two teenage girls from York who have come to seek their fortune in London, he thinks he may have a plan to finally clear up these streets.

When these worlds collide, it seems that all is not what it should be and actually are they all simply pieces in a very elaborate game.

Very rich in character, with many people to learn about in the first few chapters to see how they all interact the book then gets going through twists and turns. I couldn’t think of one character who wasn’t well thought out or well rounded., each of them playing a part, no matter how small or big. From Nellie Coker herself to the maid in her own house. Everyone is important to show London and the underbelly of life there in the Twenties. It works and I was enthralled to see where it was all going to take me and I wasn’t disappointed. Neither will you be.

This book is full of romance, history, murder and mystery to name a few genres that it could possible fit into. It doesn’t need to, it fits in as a Kate Atkinson genre.

Think P.G. Wodehouse meets Peaky Blinders.

Think this is the book you must read this year.

Kate Atkinson always writes good stories; this historical fiction is no exception. It's 1926, 8 years after WW1, when we meet Nellie Croker straight out of prison. Nellie and her family own night clubs and the story revolves around them, London's underbelly of gangsters, police corruption, drugs, and poverty. There are a lot of characters, a few different plots and also sub-plots but stay with it and watch how the stories intertwine leading to a satisfying conclusion. An enjoyable read and well recommended. Thanks for an arc of this book go to NetGalley, the author and publisher.

I love, love loved it!
Such a beautifully written book, the characters and the setting of the scenes, just brilliant. There are lots of different characters but their lives intertwine and connects it all together nicely, it’s very well written.
Set in 1920’s London, full of corruption, deceit and debauchery, What’s not to love.. I particularly liked the librarian Gwendolyn Kelling.
I couldn’t put this one down. Highly recommend.
Thanks to #NetGallery #RandomHouseUK #KateAtkinson for an arc of #ShrinesOfGaiety in exchange for an honest review.

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson is an intricately crafted work of historical fiction filled with charismatic characters and set in the London of the "Roaring Twenties". After the Great War London is recovering and the queen of the new nightclub scene is Nellie Coker, who has built up her empire on somewhat shaky foundations, She is determined to build a better future for her six children , but it will not be easy because she faces threats from all sides. Rival criminal gangs are determined to wrest her empire from her and she is under the watchful eye of the police, most notably DCI Frobisher, recently brought in to root out corruption in the force.
The book is told from multiple points of view including Nellie's and DCI Frobisher's , but also Gwendolyn, a former librarian who seems like an unlikely candidate to work undercover and infiltrate the nightclub scene, and Florence a young girl determined to become a star who runs away to London but soon discovers that the streets are certainly not paved with gold, and the city can be a very dangerous place indeed.
The real skill and charm of this book is how Atkinson weaves these stories together incredibly cleverly , the story is wonderfully layered and it takes a lot of skill to handle such a large cast of characters so deftly, making sure they each have a distinctive voice
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

Kate Atkinson is a wonderful novelist and this new title continues the tradition of excellence and originality. This is a tale of London clubland in the 1920s over seen by the indomitable Nellie Coker- undisputed Queen of London nightlife. The book is part historical in that the reader explores the incredible world of the era with focus on the dramas and reality of social aspirations, cultural differences and events of the period- factual and fictional.; but above all this is an excellent novel about the lives of those surrounding and working within the empire of Nellie Coker- her children , her staff , the gangs and the young who desire to be part of the “glamour” of the time. It is also a detective story as the search for and understanding the deaths of a group of young women is explored through the endeavours of Inspector Frobisher. The attention to period details and the emotional trials and tribulations of all the characters is subtle yet deep- a less is more approach -as a reader there is a sense that Nellie Coker needs to succeed and ‘ beat ‘ the system. The BBC dramatisation is already visible in the mind’s eye ( Dickensian in detail )and this novel will delight readers familiar to Kate Atkinson’s work whilst bring a new group into her world . This is a book that needs to be enjoyed and savoured through the autumn evenings.

Thank you for the opportunity to review this new novel.

I really don't want to write this review because I was sooooo excited when I got approved for the arc and it feels awful to give a not positive review.

"Life After Life" is a favorite book of mine and "Gods in Ruins" was really good so my hopes where high. They fell flat to the ground. It was way too many characters and so many side stories that I started to skim rather early in. Not a good sign.

Kate Atkinson is a terrific author that certainly knows how to write but this one was a miss for me. I'll definitly read her next one.

Having read and loved previous novels by Kate Atkinson, such as ‘Behind the Scenes at the Museum’ and ‘Life After Life’, I was extremely excited to have the opportunity to read an advance copy of her latest novel, ‘Shrines of Gaiety’. Set in the 1920s, the novel explores London’s effervescent nightlife following the Great War and follows not only the characters at the centre of it, but those who are enthralled by it, and those who are trying to police it.

I thought that the premise of the novel had the potential to be both exciting and interesting but sadly I found myself not enjoying it as much as I had hoped I would. The novel follows quite a few individuals, many of which I thought to be a bit pedestrian or irritating. In fact, at one point in the novel I found that I cared more about the fate of a dog than many of the human characters. That being said, all of the characters were well drawn and had fulsome backstories, which I think I often enjoyed more than the main plot! Where the plot itself is concerned, I recall noticing that I had read 80% of the book and was still wondering where it was going and how it might conclude in the remaining 20%. I still had the same feeling at 90%.

The social history side of the book was interesting; the rise of the nightclubs, the changing roles of women (or not, as the case may be) and the contrast of the ‘Bright Young Things’ with those directly affected by the war. I also enjoyed the epilogue that gave a brief summary of the main characters lives after the main novel ends. I often finish a book and want to know what happened to the characters, and ‘Shrines of Gaiety’ delivered that, which was great.

Overall, a diverting enough read that kept me turning the pages, but doesn’t quite reach the same heights as some of her previous work.

I am grateful to the publishers, and to NetGalley, for the advance copy on which this review is based.

Thoroughly enjoyable, and readable, this novel is set in the glittering world of 1920s nightclubs and involving corrupt policemen and missing girls. This is well-written and engaging to all readers.

With thanks to NetGalley and Transworld Digital for an ARC.

In Shrines of Gaiety, Kate Atkinson plunges us into 1920s London, from the police in Bow Street to the nightclubs of Soho and seedy boarding houses. I found it a light read but mean that as a compliment. It’s bright and light-filled, with a lightness of spirit and enthusiasm. But the writing is not without sophistication: a knife is likened to Chekhov’s gun and there are plenty of classical and literary references.
The story could easily have felt overcrowded with the detective Frobisher, the Croker family, Gwendolen and the runaway girls, but it doesn’t as the vibrant and realistic characters all fit together so well. Frobisher is an ostensibly dour detective with a rich intellect, Gwendolen a librarian (with a monstrous mother who wore her bereavement as a weapon) whom he finds quietly magnificent. And would that we all had a measure of Freda's gumption.
Elder Croker son Niven is particularly intriguing, lying coming easy to him as he thinks of it as a means of protecting the truth. The efforts of his younger brother Ramsay to write a novel gently mock the writer’s process (‘Did people really do this for a living? Every day?’). The characters’ internal monologues are spot on, Freda’s especially reflecting her youth and attitude.
I loved some of the conclusions and others were a slap in the face but to care about the fate of a character is to have been carried away by good writing.

I have read and loved most of the author's previous books, including the wonderful Jackson Brodie series, so I was very much looking forward to this one.
I felt it was a mixed bag though. It has a lot going for it - interesting characters, clever plot twists and sparks of humour throughout. However it just didn't really gel for me. I found myself getting muddled up about what was going on, as it skipped back and forth in time, and there were so many characters and interweaving plots that overall I struggled to make sense of it as a whole book and ended up not feeling I had fully grasped it.
Kate Atkinson is a fantastic writer, of that there is no doubt. In my opinion though, this book is not her best work.
With grateful thanks to NetGalley, Random House UK and Transworld for my advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Hummm, what can I say? I loved Life after Life and the sequel.But, this just didn’t really interest me in the end so I didn’t finish it. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

I’m a fan of Kate Atkinson and have read nearly all her previous works; the first was Behind the Scenes at the Museum, which I absolutely loved & I felt the same vibes when reading Shrines of Gaiety. Her writing is beautiful, and her witticisms are always a bonus – being a Yorkshire Lass myself, her colloquialisms are easily identifiable.

In her latest book, Kate draws you into London’s criminal underworld based around Nellie Coker, a nightclub owner and matriarch, who has just completed a 6 month stretch in prison. Kate’s writing is so descriptive that you could immediately visualise the glitz & glamour of the time, amongst a backdrop of the dangerous back alleys of London. Nellie not only manages her clubs but keeps a tight grip on her 6 children, all with their different quirks. Nellie is loosely based on the life of Kate Meyrick who was dubbed The Queen of SoHo, & another formidable matriarch, who also elevated her two daughters by sending them to Cambridge.

Shrines of Gaiety is also the story of Gwendolen Kelling, a librarian, who sets on an expedition to London from York in search of her friend Cissy’s half-sister, Freda Murgatroyd who has gone missing with her best friend Florence. As girls begin to wash up in the Thames, Gwendolen becomes detective with the help of DCI John Frobisher.

A brilliant story, one that I will definitely read again & one that is currently in my top 5 of the year. If you like quirky captivating characters within stunning writing, then this dark humour riddled return to the 1920s will be right up your street.

Thank you to @Netgalley & Doubleday Books for the opportunity to read this before its publication in exchange for my non-biased review.

It’s 1926, and eight years after the end of the Great War, England is still recovering. However, in London, the dazzling nightlife has become a magnet for a diverse range of people, from peers of the realm to gangsters, to corrupt cops, and everything in between.

In Soho, London, Nellie Coker is queen of all she surveys - successful owner of a string of nightclubs, she’s a ruthless character - knows what she wants, and also gets what she wants! She’s extremely shrewd, has a good business head, and is determined and ambitious enough to want the best education that money can buy for her six children - her nightclubs provide the means for those ambitions.

Of course, the world in which Nellie Coker exists is a very dangerous one, there’s always someone wanting to take the very lucrative crown, and so it is, that Nellie’s empire comes under threat from various sources, including enemies at the gates and also within the walls!

Well written, well researched ‘The Shrines of Gaiety’ is simply outstanding. A huge cast of characters (which I’m not always fond of), but in this case they were all so wonderfully drawn, each of them compelling and memorable in their own right. The storyline is completely absorbing, very difficult to put down, so much so, that it was with great sadness that I turned the last page!

The book begins in the late spring of 1926 when the notorious Nellie Coker is released from Holloway prison, having served six months for a liquor licencing offence. From the very beginning I fell in love with the character of Nellie, the matriarch of the Coker family who has scrambled her way up from a life of poverty to supporting herself and her children through her series of indulgent and notorious nightclubs in London. She was dry and strong willed, and unflappable in the face of pretty much every challenge set in her way. Her eldest son, Niven, is also a favourite, taking after his mother, with his world-weary approach to life and love, but proving himself to be a gentleman, while Freda proves herself to be a mini Nellie Coker, with her fierce ambition but her excellent morals.

However, I found the rest of the characters fairly unlikeable, which considering there is approximately 15 main characters is something of a feat. I think because there were so many characters it took a while to get going, and it felt like it jumped from one place to another trying to keep up with them all. Gwendolyn felt too perfect, with her constant chirpiness and can do attitude; Edith felt sulky and Nellie's other children barely featured to the extent that I forgot their names as soon as I finished reading; Maddox was too stereotypical as the corrupt copper, and I had real issues with Frobisher and his relationship with his wife, to the extent that it was completely unbelievable and I felt had an awful representation of mental health, grief and drug addiction; and what on earth was the point of Florence??.

A lot happens within the book, which does keep it fast paced, and on the whole engaging. However, it almost feels as though Kate Atkinson gets to the end of the book and doesn't know how to deal with all those characters and their stories and it feels rushed with tidy endings given for many of the minor characters but some fairly big holes still remaining and unexplained (Quinn and Florence come to mind).

It's still worth a read, and fairly enjoyable, but not what I have come to expect from this author.

This book is set in 1926, one of my favourite periods to read about, Kate Atkinson does a great job of creating a compelling cast of characters and a realistic background of thr seemier side of London life.

She takes us deep into London nightlife, into the clubs of Soho where you can find earls and dukes alongside gangsters and prostitutes. The Coker family are behind some of the leading clubs, and matriarch Nellie Coker is the head of the family. But Nellie can see things starting to unravel, and Detective John Frobisher has recently been brought in to make sure they do.

The unlikely figure of a librarian from York, in search of a missing girl who has run away to London, gives this book a fresh take on the classic crime novel. Gwendoline is one of the generation of superfluous women, left alone after the deaths of her brothers in the war, and finally released from a tedious life looking after her demanding elderly mother. With a suprising boost to her finances, she is a wild card both in the world of the police and in that of the clubs. Her common sense approach wins her friends, while at the same time dragging her deep into a dangerous world.

Fantastic book - highliy recommended.

There's perhaps no name that sets my expectations quite as high as Kate Atkinson's, to the extent that I almost find it a bit daunting to pick up her latest work. I needn't have worried - as ever, Shrines of Gaiety surpassed all my expectations. It might even be her best yet.

Atkinson writes with effortless wit and an astute eye for character. Her take on the Peaky Blinders-esque glitz and grime of interwar Soho is a real gift. At first the world she creates seems a little sprawling, with a huge cast of characters, but Atkinson has mastered that final sleight of hand that pulls all the threads together.

For a novel about drink, drugs and dancing, awash with missing girls and murder, Shrines of Gaiety is aptly named and a real joy to read. I'm already looking forward to reading it again.

This book has numerous larger than life characters and is set in 1920s London.
First up we have Nellie Coker, matriarch of the Coker family who is fresh out of prison and running her own nightclubs and we learn that she profited from ill gotten gains but underneath has a heart of gold.

Along with the Cokers there's librarian Gwendolen Kelling, who is in London searching for two missing girls and she's possibly the star character of the book.

Freda is one of the missing girls who has come to London with her friend Florence, looking to make a name for herself on the stage, but life in the big smoke isn't as easy as they'd hoped.

This is a story about strong women, and the battles they face. Beautifully written, as ever.