It’s quite a unique story that takes place in 1750 Paris where we follow Madeleine who grew up in a brothel. One day she is sold out by her mother to a policeman who wants her to gather intelligence on a mysterious Swiss clockmaker whose creations next to his clocks seem a bit too uncanny and out of the ordinary.
If she can feed the police information on Reinhart (the clockmaker), she’ll get enough money to get herself and her nephew out of her mother’s clutch.
Even though she can’t seem to find any incriminating things about him, there’s the issue with children quietly vanishing from the Parisian streets, and Reinhart’s creations get more lively with each new one he makes. Might he have something to do with it?
I really enjoy historical fiction and this book wasn’t an exception. And as it combined this genre with mystery, it was bound to catch me - and it did.
The author really understands how to describe places, situations and circumstances, so it’s easy for me as a reader to get sucked into the story and most of all the mystery of the plot.
One thing that was missing for a fraction was the connection to the characters. I did connect with Madeleine, but I didn’t connect with Veronique (Reinhart’s daughter) as much, which was a bummer because her life and her role in the story was very interesting too.
Still, I always wanted to know what happened and I was very much entertained.
If you like historical fiction with mystery in it then this book might be one for you too.
