To be fair, I haven't read book 1, but I picked up The Shadow in the North earlier this year at a Bookworld closing down sale and loved it, so I was thrilled to find this at the Edinburgh October BookCrossing Meetup.

Synopsis

Sally Lockhart is an unconventional Victorian woman. She has her own financial consultancy, a business partnership with Webster Garland, and is mother to a child born out of wedlock (gasp!). Her life is happy, then one day she receives a legal document, a petition for divorce and bid for custody of her child, Harriet. The catch is she's never even heard of, let alone married, the petitioner, Arthur Parrish. She soon finds herself homeless and penniless as she sets out to discover the reasons why Parrish is trying to destroy her life.

My review

What can I say? I love Philip Pullman. I didn't have to read His Dark Materials to love him (although I did). His storytelling style is perfect for me. I found the tale riveting. Since I wasn't born during Victorian times, I have no idea how authentic his setting of the scene is, but given he talks about outhouses and nasty sewage and slums and staggering poverty in London, I think he's done his research. My heart skipped a beat when he takes Sally to Whitechapel in the East End, I thought he might introduce a new character into the tale, but thank goodness he didn't!