Joanna Quinn - The Whalebone Theatre

Written by Joanna Quinn. Themes include Fiction, Thrillers, Espionage, Historical, 20th Century.

New York Times Best Seller - A Today Show #Readwithjenna Book Club Pick - A transporting, irresistible debut novel that takes its heroine, Cristabel Seagrave, from a theatre made of whalebones to covert operations during World War Ii--a story of love, family, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation.

"Absolute aces...Quinn's imagination and adventuresome spirit are a pleasure to behold." --The New York Times

"Utterly heartbreaking and joyous." --Jo Baker, author of Longbourn

One blustery night in 1928, a whale washes up on the shores of the English Channel. By law, it belongs to the King, but twelve-year-old orphan Cristabel Seagrave has other plans. She and the rest of the household--her sister, Flossie; her brother, Digby, long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor; Maudie Kitcat, kitchen maid; Taras, visiting artist--build a theatre from the beast's skeletal rib cage. Within the Whalebone Theatre, Cristabel can escape her feckless stepparents and brisk governesses, and her imagination comes to life.

As Cristabel grows into a headstrong young woman, World War Ii rears its head. She and Digby become British secret agents on separate missions in Nazi-occupied France--a more dangerous kind of playacting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart.

Format: Paperback

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