The Whalebone Theatre: The instant Sunday Times bestseller

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Rosalind had no love for her firstborn, a daughter. "... it looks like a vegetable...but at least she will have a film star name...Florence." An heir was what everyone wanted...boys could drive motors...be interested in snails, maps and warfare. Finally, a son and heir...Digby. Women take on various responsibilities in the war --- on the field and at home, and yet as Perry says of the female spies, “If we circulate the details of women agents in an effort to find them, it means admitting they were there” (536). How does this reflect the general attitude toward women throughout the timeframe of the novel? How do the main women --- Cristabel, Rosalind, Flossie --- defy being forgotten in the way that establishments might want them to be? There was another peculiar thought that niggled at Cristabel: none of them knew her. None of them knew her name. Even the guard on the train didn’t know her name, and she had rather expected he might. Destined to become a classic . . . Elegantly written and totally immersive, Quinn's debut is a wonder Daily Mail Quinn has a sublime touch: Cristabel and her troupe are unforgettable, as riotous in comedy as they are heart-breaking in tragedy.” —Frances Liardet, author of We Must Be Brave

But as the children grow to adulthood, another story has been unfolding in the wings. And when the war finally takes centre stage, they find themselves cast, unrehearsed, into roles they never expected to play. Unfortunately, the second half of the novel dragged a bit. Nothing new about WWII that we haven’t already read was offered as the children grew into adults and the Second World War erupted. I couldn’t wait for them to return to Dorset, to reintroduce the funny and quirky moments the family antics presented. Yes, there ends up being tragedy, but for me, the ending fizzled more than it wrapped up. The writing itself will enchant you and slow down your reading just to breathe in and feel the descriptive narrations. I found myself closing my eyes and envisioning the places Quinn was creating. Every single word was exactly right and the visual imagery she is able to draw with words is astounding.

This book is possibly one of the most atmospheric I've read in a long time. It is beautifully written. The prose is LYRICAL. But if you expect to read it in a weekend, you're going to find it impossible for three reasons. In what ways does war, and generally the threat of death, create the conditions for love to blossom throughout the novel? Consider the relationships between Rosalind and Jasper (and Willoughby), Cristabel and Leon, Flossie and George, and Digby and Jean-Marc. Which of those pairs do you think would have been possible in other contexts? Compared to other novels or stories about World War II you may have encountered, what was unique about this story? Why do you think this period in history has yielded so many different artistic representations? Does your family, or anyone you know personally, have a connection to WWII that you thought of while reading? Absolute aces…Quinn’s imagination and adventuresome spirit are a pleasure to behold.”— The New York Times

You know, I've never taken to the idea that books can be too white, too middle-class and too, well, sort of First World Problem-y. This is the novel to convert many like me, however, and in throwing a historical light on a certain sort of problem, it's even further removed from life as we know it. The first chunk concerns Rosalind, a second and younger wife to a landed gent down in SW England; we discover he lost his first wife, to whom he was perfectly suited, in childbirth, and now, immediately post-World War One, with suitable men low on the ground, Rosalind has had to settle for the lumpen codger. She's there (a) to present him with an heir, if not a spare as well, which she will eventually – oh, how eventually – stumble her way to doing, and (b) for us to see that upper class, society women of the time had surprisingly little autonomy, freedom and self-awareness. Tell us something we didn't know, then. This is a book that will be loved unreasonably and life-long, I believe, like I Capture The Castle. ” —Francis Spufford, author of Light Perpetual After a night of thunderstorms, the air is as fresh as clean laundry. The chilly mist...swept away, lifting like stage curtains to reveal the coastline in its spring colours...[Cristabel] discovered a dead whale washed up on the pebbles...[She ] has just turned twelve; there isn't much she doesn't know. She had read nearly all the books in the house...She admires things done in an adept manner...the feeling of being up in front on her own...high on her whale, looking down at Digby and the Veg." The Whalebone Theatre will soon be born. "Their most-loved books have been read so many times...But the worlds contained within the books do not remain between the covers, they seep out and overlay the geography of their lives." Overall, this is a good read with a fresh premise of the children’s creativity, especially around the dead whale. Playful, inventive, sharp, funny, The Whalebone Theatre offers the sort of reading experience that is remarkably rare, even for those of us whose happiest hours are spent with books: sheer, undiluted delight from start to finish . . . It breathes fresh, bracing air into the lungs of the multi-generational saga—and the very form of the novel itself . . . Most importantly of all, perhaps, Quinn gives us Cristabel, the sort of intelligent heroine that has been sorely missing from every other classic since Middlemarch . . . It’s impossible not to be charmed by this book.” —Susan Elderkin, author of VoicesThe blub on my copy led me to believe the story would be about Cristabel and her beached whale, that there would be spying adventures, and some Nazi-punching. That wasn’t really what I got. I got the story of three kids who don’t fit in, who grow up in an eccentric household and who define themselves through this and through how they will live through the war. This is very interesting, and well executed as we follow Crista, her half-sister Flossie and “cousin” Digby through those few years. As exciting as ”The Whalebone Theatre” might sound, this one doesn’t really deliver. It tells a story about a British upper-class family during the WW2. There’s love, loss, spies, war, and of course a whale.

Rosalind enters Chilcombe as a veritable outsider --- upon her arrival on the first day of 1920, we learn that “Rosalind feels pinned beneath the sheets of the marital bed.... She is fixed in place. An exhibit.... Jasper believes she will become familiar with her marital duties in time. She will become familiar with the unfamiliar” (11). How does the establishment of the Whalebone Theatre integrate her in the family in a new, even unexpected way? What do you think would have been different about how the family and estate went through the war had she not died? The second chunk is more looking at the daughter she finds in the household already, and the events of one hoity-toity, plummy summer, where the estate is riddled with the foreign and the potentially lesbian and the bohemian and the bed-swapping arty types, amidst which the girl – Cristabel – decides there are enough bohemian-minded drop-outs to help her present a play. Thus slowly – oh, how cussedly slowly – we get to the title construction finally being mentioned, a third of the way through this lumbering stodge. Oh, and then it becomes a war novel.

Just absolutely wonderful . . . It is so doggone readable, and you really care about these characters . . . The book just really keeps you reading.” The Whalebone Theatre has all the makings of a classic. And Cristabel Seagrave is the most gratifying hero. The war scenes often left me breathless: they are as good as you will ever read . . . A tour de force.” —Sarah Winman, author of Still Life What do we learn about Cristabel and Digby through their letters, sent and unsent? What’s unique about their relationship, including Cristabel’s notion that she “willed [him] into being” (524)? Why do you think the novel is broken into “Acts” as a structural device? How do the novel’s events map onto the typical five-part structure of a Shakespeare play?