January is the ward of the powerful Mr. Locke and remains largely his responsibility as her father travels around the world collecting (by whatever means necessary) exclusive items for their benefactor’s collection of artefacts and curiosities. She remains the well behaved, crown jewel of his collection until she discovers something that turns her world on its head.

This is a beautifully written, languidly paced story within a story. It is a slow burn, it isn’t a rapid page turner but it is a story that I sank into like a warm bath (with less sweat, dizzy spells, boredom and wet-book-anxiety). The characters are well realised, the magic and adventure feeds on that enduring, childlike desire to unearth some secret magic that’s all too common among us bookworms, there’s strong POC representation and it doesn’t shy away from the topics of race and colonialism (all too familiar in turn-of-the-century settings of this kind). There’s also a dog which earns any book immediate bonus points.

I loved it and if you, like me, still quietly (or not so quietly) long to receive that letter from Hogwarts, to slip unintentionally into another world or discover some secret magic to the universe... I think you might just love it too.