Michael Faber
2002
ISBN 1 84195 324 5
This is a whopping book - 835 pages. It starts with the book addressing you and introducing you to the lowliest of 19th century London prostitues, and bouncing from her to someone else to someone else, before settling on the two people at the centre of the story - William Rackham, heir to the Rackham Perfume empire, and Sugar, famous prostitute.
Much of this book I found to be stilted, confined by the formal writing and etiquette of the period, and even setting this aside I found the characters hard to identify with, albeit interesting. Agnes is a walking tragedy, once you know the reason why, and Henry is a walking contradiction. His relationship with Mrs Fox irritates more than entertains, and the resolution there is ironic, if not satisfactory.
The story itself eclipses the various issues I had with the characters, and the climax builds up into a real page-turner, which made the ending all the more infuriating. In fact, the ending to this book sucked, considering how many pages there were to get through before it. That said, actually having finished it is an achievement in itself, and good enough for me.
Date Finished: 06/10/07
Year Total: 32
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