Thank you to netgalley for the chance to read an ARC of this novel.
At first it felt like a huge array of characters, that did make me feel a tad overwhelmed. After a good chunk of reading I soon worked out who was who (and who I thought was the villain). So much is written about Victorian England and not much it seems on the 20;s. Folks are hungry for anything 20's at the minute, it's like we need the excesses after the pandemic. I was eager to visit this era. It is everything you imagine, The Green Fairy rubbing noses with the dancers, the socialites, the endless partying...
Nellie is the queen of soho, she is the owner of multiple nightclubs (it does have an Eastenders feel about it) and the head of the family, she is hard, ruthless and will stop at noting to protect her own. For me a good story is all about the characters and a place which feels like a character in itself. This book didn't disappoint on these fronts. Infact grab yourself a glass of champers in a martini glass (of course), sit back and revel in the Roaring Twenties

In Kate Atkinson's latest novel, set in Jazz Age London on the eve of the General Strike, death comes frequently and often with little sense and little meaning. The Great War may be over but that sense of life being chancy and cheap lingers.

The bodies of young women, apparently drowned, are trawled form the Thames. They receive scant respect - a policeman trying to investigate has to hunt round several sites where a corpse may or not be kept before he finds what he is looking for.

Other young women (girls, really) are trafficked into the back rooms of nightclubs; some fall victim to drug overdoses.

The roads are dangerous, with no training needed before one can drive, and they claim their victim too.

There is ever present street crime, sometimes spilling over into murder.

And, of course, poverty, hunger and disease consume so many that the victims - whether dead or on their way - are taken for granted, with those sleeping in churchyards or under bridges simply ignored.

I found this plethora of deaths a little reminiscent of Atkinson's Life After Life, largely set in the same period, in which the same character lived (and died) again and again, gradually outwitting Fate as though playing a game and able to respawn aware of future dangers and difficulties. The difference is of course that in Shrines of Gaiety there are no second chances though many would wish there were. The weight of the War hangs over everyone here, whether they took part (Gwendolen, the no-nonsense librarian from York, served as a nurse, Niven, eldest son of shady nightclub owner Nellie Coker, served in the ranks), avoided the war, were too young, or stood and waited, as fathers, husbands, sons, friends and brothers fell to the mud and the wire. (Yes, and lovers too).

That may be the reason for the frenzied pleasure-seeking taking place in the book as the Bright Young Things celebrate their survival, try to bury dark memories, or simply look forward not back - all accompanied by a great deal of moral tutting from the older, Victorian generation. If that gives the impression of the book as being rather loud, don't worry, it's not. The partying is mainly offstage, the story mostly taking place during hungover mornings and on dark nights after the clubs have closed. All the decadence does though make for a vibrant nightlife in Soho, with many lucrative opportunities for those who provide the pleasure, or at least, facilitate it: the book features hostesses in the clubs, sex workers, drug dealers, thieves, and police on the make. And of course young innocents who've come to London to make their fortune.

Gwendolen Kelling is not one of these. A former librarian who lost most of her family in the war, she may be seeking meaning, or she may be missing the emotional pitch of the war, or she may just be good-hearted, practical and eager to help. Or perhaps all of these things. In any case, she's trekked down to London in search of Freda Murgatroyd and Florence Ingram, two young women who ran away seeking careers dancing on the stage. We see (some of) what happens to them, their trials standing in somewhat for all the poor unfortunates dragged out of the river, reduced to selling themselves or dancing in the clubs for hours night after night, or ruined by drugs.

DCI Frobisher, on the other hand, may still be something of an innocent. Sent in to clean up the notoriously corrupt Bow Street station, despite his seniority and service in the police he's still upright and still seems to believe in the redemption of a corrupt Force. He also however believes in the threat posed to morality by such as Nellie Coker and he soon employs Gwendolen to infiltrate the shadier clubs, despite misgivings that he may be putting her in harm's way.

Others are less innocent. Nellie and her brood (not just Niven, but also Edith, Betty, Shirley, Ramsay, and Kitty) and their rivals (the profitable clubs are rich prizes) and a host of others are out to squeeze all they can (pleasure, money, power) from the good times, or are simply ready to do what they must to survive. Atkinson is very good at showing how narrow the margin is between survival and destruction, and how simple acts of care (like Gwendolen saving the life of a gangster in a club or Frobisher giving a half crown to a starving girl) can make a difference. As can little bits of meanness - the theft of a handbag or just looking the other way or not thinking about the plight a young woman may be in.

As she allows the paths of all these people to cross and re-cross in the West End and Soho, Atkinson's abilities to layer an intricate narrative and bring her characters alive really serves the reader here as meetings (chance, planned, and missed) and depictions of characters, places and events knit together to produce a tight and fascinating story. She both creates a powerful sense of a particular time and place and also happily accommodates flashbacks from that time to show earlier years in York, the days of the War or even further back when Nellie was founding her empire.

Indeed, the book is so well-written and observed that events and plot taking place now are almost immaterial. There isn't a sense in this book of needing to get to the next thing that happens or of waiting to understand why the last thing that happened did. Rather, I wanted to see what these fascinating, alive people would do next, how they would react to things, what their next moves would be. And also, of course, to understand that marvellous picture of a place, a time and an atmosphere.

There is so much in Shrines of Gaiety. A glorious central character in the redoubtable (yet so nice) Gwendolen. A portrait of a place and time a hundred years back, close to ours (the same streets one can walk today, the thrill of seeing celebrities and prominent people behaving badly) but also so strange and different (the overhang of war, foreknowledge of a further war to come). A matter of fact portrayal of human trafficking and abuse (there are some similar themes to Atkinson's Big Sky in that respect). A sense of... I don't quite know how to put this. Of possibility? Of indeterminacy? Some things that happen here may not happen, or may be open to question, as though - for all the gritty reality - what's being described is a time spent slightly aside from the real world, in which consequences may not follow. Some references to A Midsummer Night's Dream perhaps support that, those radiant, dazzling clubs perhaps a portal to a fairyland where nothing is quite real.

But at the same time, fairyland is a perilous place and "we pay a tithe to Hell". For many in Shrines of Gaiety, consequences do follow. We see the clubs, tawdry and harshly lit, the next morning, we see those bodies in the river and we see the hangovers and the desperate attempts by some to ride themselves of consequences. A shrine is a place for worship and sacrifice and there is plenty of blood in this book.

It's a book I adored, Atkinson at her very best, engaging with themes that, behind the tinsel and glitter, are weighty and important - and entertaining the reader at every turn.

Once I started this book, I was wholly unable to stop, or to read anything else. Kate Atkinson's writing is so wonderfully vivid. I was instantly transported to London in the Roaring 20s. The cast of characters is diverse and I will miss every one of them. I'm obsessed with this book and will be buying it in all formats on release. I can't wait to hear the audiobook! Simply wonderful, in every way.

"Shrines of Gaiety" by Kate Atkinson has a real colourful cast. Nellie Coker is the Matriarch in this book and manages to run several nightclubs and juggles all that is associated with it: rival gangs, dancing girls, spies, betrayal and family. It is all packed in. At times it was a little bit too much to take in, with so many characters, but on balance it was done like this deliberately. I had a soft spot for Freda.

Kate Atkinson is a genius writer, and I've been waiting to read her latest offering, 'Shrines of Gaiety', with barely supressed excitement. And oh my goodness, it is phenomenal. To try and sum it up in a review will not do justice to the rich, vivid, funny, poignant story of Nellie Coker, matriarch of the Coker clan, a woman who rules over London's nightlife in the decadent 1920's. Atkinson's cast of characters is vast, and yet I was invested in every single one of their journeys. The picture she paints of life in Britain between the wars is both eye opening and deeply thought provoking. A hundred years may have passed, but nothing really changes, especially when it comes to the likes of Nellie and her ambitions! I couldn't put this book down, and felt genuinely bereft when I got to the final page. Nellie Coker and her brood will live on in my heart for a very long time. All the stars, and more!

An absorbing read, with a multitude of characters. This is London in the hedonistic 1920s, post-war, fizzing with energy, opportunity, money and lots and lots of crime. Actually it’s pretty sobering that a hundred years on many of the situations woman faced then are still all too familiar.
Kate Atkinson’s writing is so gripping, I enjoy it so much that I read slowly, every single word and sentence is savoured, so as to make the book last.
I loved the structure of the book; it basically loops around introducing an event or character and then revisits it, or them, more fully, often from another point of view.
It is a relief that I could read this on my Kindle. There are characters fleetingly mentioned, when they reappear I feel compelled to look up where they first came into the story. If I was continually flicking back and forth through a paperback it would have taken me weeks to finish!
There’s a little mystery at the end, a will they-won’t-they and a generally satisfying rounding up.
Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an ARC of this enjoyable book.

Kate Atkinson should be somebody I should enjoy according to critics and reviewers. I am struggling here! I love crime novels so I should enjoy the Jackson Brodie stories but I don’t. Life After Life enjoyed critical success but I hated it.

So I approached “Shrines of Gaiety” with a feeling of mixed emotions: I wanted to enjoy it but had struggled with earlier books. I read about 40% of the book but gave up yet again. So disappointing!

The plot started off encouraging enough with Nellie Coker, Queen of the Soho clubs, being released from jail just after the Great War. Her family seems a mixed bag of personalities with tensions between the siblings. It is soon apparent that rivalries between clubs overflow into violence and revenge.

It is an interesting start but Atkinson has a talent for developing the personalities in preference to moving the plot along at pace, and the action is pedestrian. Location descriptions are descriptive and atmospheric. Yes, the characters are more believable with all their backstories. There are just too many backstories in Shrines of Gaiety!

What a shame but yet again I did not enjoy a Kate Atkinson book. Atkinson has a legion of fans and admirers so I am sure the novel will appeal to them.

Kate Atkinson assembles a jumble of characters in this book set in the 1920s and 30s, capturing the essence of the time. Criminal families meet with the constabulary, aristocrats with aspiring actresses, and all come together in the clubs run by the notorious Nellie and her family. How they pursue their goals and protect their interests is captured in the elegant prose of the author, who concludes with a very tidy description of the outcome of every main character. A joy to read.

Very entertaining. An atmospheric romp through Soho's roaring 20's nightlife and low-life. Rather odd and uninformative ending. It just sort of stops. More loose ends than tidy knots but much enjoyed nonetheless. Grateful to publishers Random House for an advance review coy. Highly recommended.

A hugely entertaining saga placed in 1920s London, an immoral highly dangerous metropolis housing a population of thieves, vagabonds, and prostitutes, all frequenting clubs of disrepute frantic to grab pleasure as the horrors of the first world war recede. Thrown into the mix, innocents seeking their fortune and fame, a police force often inhabited by corrupt villains and a self made matriarch struggling to hold onto her fortune whilst managing a difficult brood of adult children and even more complex number of businesses.. The frantic pace of the story line includes a search for missing girls, a dedicated police chief, struggling with work and home issues and a streetwise gutsy heroine. To avoid spoilers, readers must strap themselves in for a rollercoaster like no other. A fast moving story of events, three dimensional characters, blurred lines between right and wrong, the good and the wicked . This all combines to present a story like no other, wrapped in descriptions of the London of a hundred years ago in exquisite detail as if the reader is invited into an exciting adventure placed in the history of times and places from the past. A captivating story inhabited by extraordinary characters following a trajectory of danger, excitement, tragedy and misadventure. This writer continues to surprise, amaze and entertain to a level that cannot be surpassed and yet with every book she continues to do so. . Many thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this superb book.

Shrines of Gaiety takes the reader through the Soho underworld of the 1920s, run by close-mouthed businesswoman / criminal Nellie Coker and her brood of children (Niven, the WWI veteran; two Oxbridge-educated divas; Ramsay, an about-to-fail novelist with queer leanings and rampant addictions; and Kitty, the afterthought).

Wound in with their story is policeman Frobisher, who has a bit of Jackson Brodie about him, crime lord Azzopardi, librarian-turned-spy Gwendolen Kelling who isn't sure whether she prefers Frobisher or Niven's charms, and ingenue Freda Murgatroyd (aka Fay le Mont) who started off as a knitwear model and is trying to make it on the West End stage, dodging casting couches and mysterious men in cars. A thrilling alternative, fictionalised history of London from one of our finest living authors.

This was such a good book. I love historical fiction, especially when it is about eras/ situations that I previously knew nothing about and this was definitely one of those books. It was so well researched and so compelling in its narrative that not only did I love reading it but I felt that I learned too. A really enjoyable read and perfect for any fans of historical fiction. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Oh this novel! Most of us have at some time or another come across a pile of yarn, rope or embroidery thread all knotted together various colours and thicknesses presenting to many of us a wonderful challenge and something which begs to be undone and each end pulled out and wound up neatly in triumph. Shrines of Gaiety is one of those enticing piles of tangles shiny threads, black police issue ones, slightly frayed and slimy looking ones that you aren’t sure you really want to touch. All of London’s between war life is here and while it is initially overwhelming with characters and settings all coming at you at once you soon learn which thread which character belongs to and are able to start following where they lead.
The characters are so rich and beautiful they come alive on the page and almost all have at least one redeeming feature that made me root for them. Gewndolen I fell in love with though! A librarian and battlefield nurse with a sharp wit, analytical mind and a charm that no one, man or woman seems able to resist. I’ve seen Atkinson described as Dickensian and it’s a perfect comparison with this novel. The broad scope, historical context and humour amongst the pathos is very much like a Dickens novel though less wordy and with more pace for a 21st century reader.
This whodunnit which changes to a whydunnit and then a howwilltheycatchem is perfectly constructed with the ending almost exactly as I’d have wanted with one sad exception and the extended epilogue was perfect for someone like me who will otherwise spend days obsessing over what might have happened to all of the characters.
I was also really pleased to read Atkinson’s author’s note with her listing off any historical inaccuracies preempting complaints from those pedantic enough to care. I am that pedantic but luckily know too little of this time period to spot any liberties the author has taken!
This is a glorious piece of historical fiction and is a must read.

This was my 3rd Kate Atkinson & by far my favourite.
Utterly transported to the underbelly of 1920's London.
It reminded me of Peaky Blinders and I mean that as a compliment. Very well written & researched.
Corruption, deceit, debauchery & a librarian! What's not to love?
Grateful for the proof copy & wish Kate Atkinson every success with the release in September.

In this eminently readable novel, Kate Atkinson goes back to the mid-1920s, uses London’s Soho as a decadent backdrop, and plays with a Dickensian range of characters. It’s a fascinating mix.

The book starts with a female gang leader and club owner, Nellie Coker being released from prison but this isn’t as good as it sounds since she seems to be facing problems on every front with the clubs she owns and the family. It rolls on from there with some familiar Atkinson figures: a policeman who does his best in a corrupt world; runaways; murdered girls; a capable woman with unexpected strengths and a plot where nothing is quite what it seems or what you might expect.

Frobisher is the policeman fighting corruption and it is an uphill battle. Gwendolen is the female lead; a nurse in the Great War and subsequently a librarian, she is transformed into a sleuth working for the police!

The setting is an excellent choice. The Great War, the flu epidemics and tuberculosis have decimated the older male population and those who are left wonder why, as well as struggling with their traumatic memories. The next generation are simply confused and partying. Drink drugs and prostitution are controlled and mostly illegal unless you know the right people in the right venues. It’s a hard world with upsidedown values.

Kate Atkinson has used contemporary sources to locate the story but has embroidered on events and, cleverly, shifted some others around just to make the point that this is a novel. And, unsurprisingly, the ending is not what you might have expected as well! I nursed a faint hope that Frobisher would turn out eventually to be Brodie’s father but it wasn’t to be!

A superb novel. From the moment it opens outside Holloway Prison in 1926, we are in the world of the early twentieth century, superbly evoked through the characters and descriptions.

Nellie Coker is a true matriarch and she bestrides the novel. Her portrayal is Dickensian in many ways but she also echoes the gangsters of a later age.

Then there is Freda, a young girl trying to make her way in the world of dance where dreams rub shoulders with reality. And Gwendolen Kelling, librarian and spy. Both Freda and Gwendolen are natives of York, discovering London for the first time.

But the novel is very much about men as well as women. There is Frobisher of Bow Street and Nellie’s eldest child, Niven. Niven is introduced in a beautiful set piece description and remains a completely original take on a soldier returning from the front with no sense of triumph or victory. His pragmatism defines him, but he finds that pragmatism is not enough as the events of the novel unfold.

Yet the genius of the book is not in the portrayal of Nellie Coker or her children, remarkable as they are. It is in the evocation of a world caught on the cusp of change. The post First World War period fascinates because we know what is to come next. Kate Atkinson captures it as a hall of mirrors: a world of opportunities and disguises, its many uncertainties drawing us in.

This is the world of men who cannot cope with the peace and women who are no longer prepared to be defined by men. Money and drama are the tools of the trade. Hedonism is the spirit. Emerging from the war has been like emerging from a dream into a dystopian world that lacks the substance of the pre-war past.

There is humour and nostalgia in equal measure - and an increasing sense of menace as the plot develops. There is also romance as events awaken feelings in characters who turn out to have needs beyond their conscious desires.

One of Kate Atkinson’s great talents is writing dialogue and she undercuts the action with some glorious quick dialogue that shifts the mood. Dialogue between Nellie’s children is hilarious in places. It is occasionally reminiscent of Angela Carter’s Wise Children. At the same time, there is more than a hint of slapstick to the violence: as if characters are playing parts, waiting for the world to return to its axis, where they can once again take it seriously.

The writing is so good it barely needs a storyline, but it has a compelling one. Women are turning up dead all over London. Frobisher, a strange man himself, is tasked with solving the mystery. But the moral perspective of the novel is rather skewed by the after effects of war and villainy is not confined to a particular class or livelihood. In this inverted world, cleverness wears many guises and there are different truths rather than a single moral truth.

The ending is in the spirit of the novel. The central characters are on the cusp of a new beginning - and the age is turning. To inhabit this world with these characters is a privilege. The novel is a gift.

What an absolutely brilliant venture into the glamorous, yet shady world of 1920s London nightlife. A glittering cast awaits, full of incredible women who each add a different layer and dimension to the story. From the infamous Nellie Coker, doyenne of an empire of thrilling nightclubs; her four daughters, each with their own personal stories; ex-librarian Gwendolyn who yearns for excitement and thrill and happily turns her hand to spying and investigating; and Freda and Florence who come to London looking for fame and fortune. Every character is superbly drawn, as are the settings. Their stories intermingle and we move seamlessly from one perspective to another as you find yourself completely engrossed in their world.
It’s one of those wonderful books that you don’t want to put down, let alone end. You lose yourself in its pages and feel swept back in time. An absolute 5 star read!
I can’t say how delighted I was to have my wish granted by the publisher and NetGalley, and to have the opportunity to read this book early. Thanks are not enough!

Having recently re looked at Kate Atkinson’s Life after Life after the fabulous BBC dramatisation ,I was delighted when my wish to read this book on NetGalley was granted
Kate is an author I am very familiar with ,I always find that her books are enjoyable and relatively straightforward reads .I find that she uses words I’m not always sure of their definitions and I was glad that I was reading on Kindle as I was so able to look any words up easily .Any author who expands my vocabulary gets my vote
The book was for me like reading an episode of Peaky Blinders set as it was at a similar stage on history and having at its heart a family of east end crooks in place of the Blinders Birmingham river gypsies .
The novel contrasts the experiences of a formally very law abiding right laced librarian with the complex more exotic family of crooks .
Kate writes believable characters who are so well described that you feel you could visualise them and setting much in the book in night clubs and at night adds an exotic steamy element to the book .
I didn’t love this book there is something prickly about it that I couldn’t explain fully but I appreciated a well crafted novel and I’m sure this book will sell well to her many fans
The book is published by Random house Uk Transworld Publishers on 27th September 2022 I was fortunate to read an early copy on NetGalley Uk

This was Kate Atkinson at her best. A wonderful tale well told. Brimming with authenticity and packed full of period drama and characters who were brilliantly depicted and drawn.

Somehow all the strands of the story came together at the end of an intoxicating journey that entertained me immensely.

She is such a wonderful writer and this was a book to cherish.

Huge thanks to Random House for granting my wish to read Shrines of Gaiety. It was just so enjoyable! I loved the different characters,how their lives twist together, and it really felt that Kate Atkinson had done her research about Soho in the first half of the 20th century. It lost a little in the ending, for me, but it didn't spoil the overall pleasure of the story. Recommended.