The Peculiarities by David Liss

​        1899. London is about to turn a new century leaf and life has never been stranger. In fact, it’s downright peculiar. There are irregularities with the world, women are birthing rabbits, people are changing appearances, magic seems to be on the rise but there are few who can understand it and fewer still to control it.
       A challenging time to come of age and for a young Mr. Thresher, a scion to a prosperous banking family, it is a belated in many ways ascendance. All he has known until now was a life of leisure, funded by his older brother, the bank’s director. Now he has been brought into the family business and the most unreasonable of demands have been laid upon him, mainly he is to marry a wealthy Jewish young woman…a woman he finds as unattractive of a prospect as the marriage itself. There is also a not insignificant matter of him slowly but surely turning into a tree.
    So why is this marriage so important? Why has the bank been giving out strange loans and acquiring seemingly random properties all over London? What’s the deal with the Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn? Time to step it up, roll up one’s sleeves (if only to find leaves sprouting there) and solve a few mysteries.
     And there you have it. A very entertaining historical fantasy or alternate historical reimagining of a fascinating magic soaked London. Plenty of mysteries to solve, plenty of action, suspense, romance, etc. It’s a story about magic that actually manages to be magical. And a pleasure to spend time with. Slightly longer than ideal, but read well. The narrative unfolded itself in an exciting and imaginative manner. It did remind me of something so much the entire time and I can’t quite put a finger to it still, so it was like a two day déjà vu for no reason. And I found some of the plot twists (especially those of personal nature) to be quite predictable. But overall it was well worth a read. London, as many places, has been reimagined as magical before, but it’s always nice when it’s done as proper literature. So yes, charmed, I’m sure. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.