Its 1926 and, while London recovers from WW1, there are cracks in the Coker family empire – a string of glamorous but illicit nightclubs in Soho – built by the wily and resourceful Nellie Coker, a character inspired by the obituary of real-life club maven Kate Meyrick.

Shrewd and ruthless, Nellie is ambitious with a flair for business. She wants the best education for her six children, funded by her extremely lucrative trading activities. But the world Nellie exists in is a dangerous one, and nothing is quite what it seems.

Capturing the bohemian atmosphere of London’s Jazz age, this is a clever, deftly written and well plotted novel with an astonishing large cast of unforgettable characters including the artful Nellie and the Coker brood; naïve runaways Florence and Freda; resourceful Gwendolyn, former librarian and war nurse turned spy; and Detective Chief Inspector Frobisher, policeman, unhappy husband, and moral crusader.

Written in a Dickensian style about a society reeling from the devastating effects of war, at the same time both introspective and hedonistic, Shrines of Gaiety captures the energy, opportunity, and money that fashioned the roaring 20’s, and delves into a criminal underworld that takes advantage of starry-eyed girls and the world-weary. It is a world of dance halls, drug dens, abortionists, and pickpockets; a world of power and corruption where dark forces are at work.

This is a novel filled with mystery, suspense, betrayals, wit and humour. It was a real treat to be beckoned into the guileful, cunning world of Kate Atkinson’s newest community of glittering characters, all in their own way larger than life and yet somehow striving to make sense of the world they find themselves in. Through a combination of sweeping plot twists and tiny, intimate interactions, Atkinson weaves her characters into a beguiling, teasing, scheming, triumph of a novel.

(Review by Dee)