recommended by AP English listserv

This book is written in a very fun and engaging way and you will most likely have a rollicking good time while reading it. Having said that, I could not escape a feeling at the end that there was no there there. Entertaining but ultimately (I suspect) forgettable. But the ride is thoroughly enjoyable for as long as it lasts. ( )

In Victorian England the Epsom Derby was the race that the entire country looked forward to each year. Assiduously following the form and reports about the horses and their owners, fortunes were won or lost on the result and the the best horse didn't always win the race. One of the favourites for the race is Tiberius, owned by an impoverished Lincolnshire gentleman called Davenant. However Mr Davenant's debts mean that Tiberius falls into the hands of Mr Happerton, recently married to the only daughter of an eminent barrister but both he and his wife have their own plans.

This is a wonderful book populated by a cast of expertly drawn characters from all walks of society. The plot links an audacious burglary at a jewellers, a police inspector, a governess and her charge, an aged but honest jockey, fraudsters and con men, their wives and mistresses. It is complex but incredibly readable and very cleverly put together. The race itself barely features but the colour and atmosphere of the Epsom Downs is vividly realised and the machinations of finance in the Victorian era are explored. In a world without credit cards, people borrowed money by way of promissory notes ('paper') and these debts could be bought and sold at will. Vulnerable individuals were prey to hangers-on and every had their own plans and schemes. Taylor has used the best of Victorian literature to draw on but has produced a modern take on the genre which more than holds its own. ( )

This book is written in a very fun and engaging way and you will most likely have a rollicking good time while reading it. Having said that, I could not escape a feeling at the end that there was no there there. Entertaining but ultimately (I suspect) forgettable. But the ride is thoroughly enjoyable for as long as it lasts. ( )

Rather well-written, with well-developped, intriguing characters. However, the plot seems over-extended : I got the feeling it could have been a short story rather than a 400-odd novel. None of the characters are really endearing, but they are well fleshed-out, albeit in a subtle way. ( )