The Black Book of Secrets (Tales From The Sinister City)

by F E Higgins

'Wonderful. Anyone looking for the next big thing has come to the right place. Higgins has created a uniquely grim fantasy world that more than holds its own with Dickens or Peake. Her characters are brilliantly realised and the story grabs at the reader with hooked talons' Eoin Colfer.

When Ludlow Fitch’s parents cruelly betray him, he steals away on the back of a carriage and leaves behind the stinking City. He arrives in the dead of night at a remote village, where he crosses paths with the tall and limping figure of Joe Zabbidou - a pawnbroker with a difference. For Joe trades secrets, not goods, for cash.

Employed as Joe’s assistant, Ludlow records the villagers’ fiendish confessions in an ancient leather-bound volume: The Black Book of Secrets. There's the gravedigger who has been resurrecting bodies; the butcher who made a mouse-meat pie for his bullying father, with fatal consequences; the wizened bookseller who went to murderous lengths to get her hands on a priceless tome.

Ludlow longs to trust his mysterious master, but he senses Joe has much to hide. But then Ludlow Fitch has his own, very dark, secrets . . .

• ISBN10: 1405089792
• ISBN13: 9781405089791
• Publish Date: 5 January 2007
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 4 July 2008
• Publish Country: GB
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Imprint: Macmillan Children's Books
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

When his parents try to sell his teeth (fresh from his mouth) to get money for drink, Ludlow Fitch runs away from home. He finds himself in a town and comes into contact with Joe Zabbidou, a pawnbroker, not only of items but of secrets and the secrets he collects changes Pagus Parvus.

It's a fun, quick read. While there were parts that seemed a bit rushed and unexplained the story kept me reading.