I’ve been a big fan of Kate Atkinson (particularly the Jackson Brodie series), so I was happy to receive a copy of Shrines of Gaiety from Doubleday and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. If you are a fan of  family sagas and historical fiction, grab this one!  It’s set in the roaring 20s, where London’s “gritty underworld and glitzy nightclub scene” provides a vivid setting for Ms. Atkinson’s beautiful writing.  It is told from multiple POVs and jumps around in time (both of which tend to annoy me if it is too choppy), the pacing can be a tiny bit slow at times (usually annoying unless the writing is as beautiful as this one is), and the many characters might be difficult to follow if you are like me and tend to read multiple books at once.   

The story unfolds over several days in 1926 London, and follows the adventures of four main characters. Nellie Coker, queen of the nightclub scene, has just been released from prison and is more than ready to get back to overseeing her nightclub empire and her six children. Freda Murgatroid has come to London as a runaway along with her friend Florence, and they are both set on becoming stars. Gwendolen Kelling is a friend of Florence’s family, and has come to London to find  Florence and return her to her family. Finally,  inspector John Frobisher is on a mission to clean up police corruption and put Nellie Coker back in prison, where he thinks she belongs. The  lives of these people intertwine as they each pursue their own goals, Ms. Atkinson is known for her meticulous research, and she has based Nellie Coker on a real life female nightclub owner in post WWI London, which added to the realism of the story. A tough business woman, Nellie is very protective of her children and has ambitions for them as well as for her various business ventures.

Here’s the thing: the stereotype of librarians is generally way off. (Ask any bartender or cocktail waitress working at a library convention, and they will express shock at how much library people drink and how much fun they are – but I digress). Gwendolyn is an “assistant librarian” and is described a “librarian habit of lisle stockings, tweed skirt, woollen cardigan and one of her increasingly worn-out lawn blouses.” For her, “The Library had not been a career choice (after all, who would choose to be a librarian?”). And that just annoyed the hell out of me.So I took off one star. Petty? Maybe. But I do still love reading Kate Atkinson.