By Lynn Shepherd
Inspired by Charles Dickens' masterpiece Bleak House, to mark his bicentenary.
A gripping new Victorian murder mystery set in a grim London underworld Dickens could only hint at.
Reviews and quotes
A brilliant and sinister re-make of Bleak House, exposing the vicious underworld of Victorian London. Totally gripping.
John Carey
...an imaginative spin-off. Tom-All-Alones is a novel rooted in Bleak House, although you don't need to have read Bleak House to enjoy it. It's a highly compelling, immaculately written 19th-century murder mystery with a lot of Dickensian references in the language... There's a slightly post-modern sense of looking back at a less enlightened age from a 20th-century perspective, and Shepherd can be franker about the evils of prostitution and the disposal of unwanted babies than Dickens could. It's an engaging read.
Susan Elkin, Independent on Sunday
A necessary eye for squalor, meticulous research and deft plotting, as well as the ability to handle the difficult God's-eye-view narration with aplomb make this a book ... you'll be guaranteed to enjoy.
Laura Wilson, The Guardian
There is a wealth of detail in this book. Expertly, Shepherd has recreated Dickensian London but made it anew so that I never felt ‘why would you re-do Dickens’ but did feel, ‘why has no one done this before?’ I think groups will get a great deal of fun with it, especially if they also combine a reading of Tom-All-Alone’s with Bleak House. As a personal read, it’s a cracking good story, well told. Personal read: 5 stars, group read: 4 stars
NewBooks magazine
Compellingly written and with an engaging story, Tom- All-Alone’s is a must for fans of historic mysteries
The Bookseller's We Love This Book website
Elements of Bleak House are glimpsed throughout but it’s clear from the outset that this is very much Shepherd’s own story and should be read as such... This is a well-researched, well-crafted book that shows a deep understanding not just of the original work but also the social issues the great author championed. If you enjoyed Murder at Mansfield Park, you won’t be disappointed by Tom-All-Alone’s and I’m sure that Dickens fans would most definitely approve. This is one book you really should add to your reading list. 5 stars
The Crime Fiction Lover website
