PRE-ORDER THE ENGLISH MONSTER BY LLOYD SHEPHERD RARE SIGNED AND DOODLED FIRST EDITION BOOK
Doodled Books is proud to present a brilliant debut called The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd. Murders, detectives, pirates, London history. What more could you look for in a collectable book? What's that you say? A touch of magical realism? Well, you're in luck. It has that too.
Lloyd Shepherd has exclusively signed, lined, dated, doodled and numbered first edition first printings at his home in the UK. Lloyd Shepherd is a former journalist and digital producer who has worked for the Guardian, Channel 4, the BBC and Yahoo. He lives in South London with his family. The English Monster is his first novel.
And it’s true to say that the reviews for this debut have been outstanding. Infact prices for first editions are already rising and on AbeBooks they are fetching over £70 and they only have a signature!
Review
`A brilliantly imagined historical crime novel that evokes such creations as Shardlake and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' --Sun
The former journalist Lloyd Shepherd has researched the 1811 Ratcliffe Highway murders in Wapping for his The English Monster, a visceral debut which Simon & Schuster compares to Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell --Independent on Sunday
`There is a dark twist - a spot of black-magical realism, if you like - about half way through Lloyd Shepherd's first novel that this reviewer has no desire to ruin for readers. In fact, so delicious and unexpected is this turn of events that it moves a book that is already part detective fiction, part historical novel and part pirate adventure into entirely new territory, adding themes of national philosophy and moral turpitude to a story as rich in ideas as it is in intrigue ... If all this sounds ambitious to the point of audacious for a debut novel, then suffice to say that Shepherd pulls it off ... The English Monster becomes as vivid an education as it is an entertainment. None of which is to mention that devilish twist in this tale' --Independent on Sunday
`The English Monster has a terrific idea at its core ... The book becomes a joyously, flamboyantly melodramatic scamper' --Guardian
`The English Monster is a riveting police procedural, a thrilling tale of life at sea, and an evocative piece of historical re-creation - all with an intriguing element of the fantastic that makes it irresistible. This is a novel that surprised and astounded me time and again' --Felix Palma, New York Times bestselling author of The Map of Time
`Lloyd Shepherd's novel, The English Monster, dramatizes one of the most shocking of all real life crimes, the Ratcliffe Highway Murders of 1811, in which two families were brutally slaughtered ... Shepherd really gets under the skin of Regency London ... An ambitious novel' --Daily Telegraph
`Marvellous; what a concept and what a feel he has for both eras - I can smell old Wapping when I read it. First-class stuff'
--Robert Low, Author of The Oathsworn Series and The Kingdom Series
'This gripping novel puts a fantastical spin on the old tale of terror ... his yarn is rich in atmosphere, taking us into smoky riverside inns, candle-lit panelled parlours and out into the rough streets around London s docks ... the power of the novel lies in its symbolism' --Financial Times
'As much as it is detective novel, historical tract, and magical tale, The English Monster is also a polemic ... A truly superb book, succeeding on every level. As a crime novel, it is unorthodox but rewarding. As a work of historical fiction, it serves up an evocative dose of swashbuckling, crime fighting and social commentary. As polemic, it mercilessly slices open the British soul, and deserves to provoke not just thought but debate. This is a five-star triumph from a writer with skills that belie his debutant status; buy it, and buy it now' --bookgeeks.co.uk
Product Description
London, 1811. The twisting streets of riverside Wapping hold many an untold sin. Bounded by the Ratcliffe Highway to the north and the modern wonders of the Dock to the south, shameful secrets are largely hidden by the noise and glory of Trade. But two families have fallen victim to foul murder, and a terrified populace calls for justice. John Harriott, magistrate of the new Thames River Police Office, must deliver revenge up to them and his only hope of doing so is Charles Horton, Harriot's senior officer. Harriott only recently came up with a word to describe what it is that Horton does. It is detection. Plymouth, 1564. Young Billy Ablass arrives from Oxford armed only with a Letter of Introduction to Captain John Hawkyns, and the burning desire of all young men; the getting and keeping of money. For Hawkyns is about to set sail in a ship owned by Queen Elizabeth herself, and Billy sees the promise of a better life with a crew intent on gain and glory. The kidnap and sale of hundreds of human beings is not the only cursed event to occur on England's first officially-sanctioned slaving voyage. On a sun-blasted islet in the Florida Cays, Billy too is to be enslaved for the rest of his accursed days. Based on the real-life story of the gruesome Ratcliffe Highway murders, The English Monster takes us on a voyage across centuries, through the Age of Discovery, and throws us up, part of the human jetsam, onto the streets of Regency Wapping, policed only by Officer Horton.
About the Author
Lloyd Shepherd is a former journalist and digital producer who has worked for the Guardian, Channel 4, the BBC and Yahoo. He lives in South London with his family. The English Monster is his first novel.
Product details
- Hardcover: 416 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK; First Edition edition (1 Mar 2012)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0857205358
- ISBN-13: 978-0857205353
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 3 cm
