'One of the books both Her Majesty and I love ... The Whalebone Theatre stirs the imagination
and takes you to a magical place' JENNA BUSH-HAGER ***A JOINT BOOK CLUB PICK FROM THE QUEEN
CONSORT'S READING ROOM AND READ WITH JENNA*** 'An absolute treat of a book to be read and
reread' Sunday Times 'Destined to become a classic ... Elegantly written and totally immersive
Quinn's debut is a wonder' Daily Mail 'One of those big chunky stories that swallows you whole
- and it's beautifully written too' The Times -------- 'Maudie why are all the best characters
men?' Maudie closes the book with a clllump. 'We haven't read all the books yet Miss
Cristabel. I can't believe that every story is the same' Cristabel Seagrave has always wanted
her life to be a story but there are no girls in the books in her dusty family library. For an
unwanted orphan who grows into an unmarriageable young woman there is no place at all for her
in a traditional English manor. But from the day that a whale washes up on the beach at the
Chilcombe estate in Dorset and twelve-year-old Cristabel plants her flag and claims it as her
own she is determined to do things differently. With her step-parents blithely distracted by
their endless party guests Cristabel and her siblings Flossie and Digby scratch together an
education from the plays they read in their freezing attic drunken conversations eavesdropped
through oak-panelled doors and the esoteric lessons of Maudie their maid. But as the children
grow to adulthood and war approaches jolting their lives on to very different tracks it
becomes clear that the roles they are expected to play are no longer those they want. As they
find themselves drawn into the conflict they must each find a way to write their own story...
-------- 'A book that will be loved unreasonably and life-long' Francis Spufford author of
Light Perpetual'Utterly captivating ... Written with great heart humour and humanity it's the
kind of book you want to escape normal life to read at every available opportunity' Elizabeth
Day author of Magpie'The Whalebone Theatre has all the makings of a classic ... A wonderful
debut. Actually a tour de force' Sarah Winman author of Still Life
