Vendor
	Fritz Agency Christian Dittus
Original language
English

CURIOUS TOYS

Elizabeth Hand

A richly detailed historical mystery set in turn-of-the-century Chicago featuring the intrepid daughter of a boardwalk family who disguises her gender to unmask a sadistic killer who preys on young girls.
The year is 1915, and Pin, the twelve-year-old daughter of a carnival fortune teller, disguises herself as a man to run with the teenage boys who thrive in the dregs of Chicago's street scene.

Unbeknownst to the well-heeled city-dwellers and visitors who come to enjoy the attractions, the boardwalk is also host to a brutal serial killer who uses the secrecy of a dark amusement park ride to conduct his crimes. When Pin sees a man enter the Hell Gate ride with a young girl, and leave without, she knows that something foul is afoot - and vows to bring the killer to justice.

Her sleuthing will lead her to the iconic outsider artist Henry Darger, a brilliant but seemingly mad man obsessed with his story of a group of young girls who triumph over adult oppression. Together, the two navigate the seedy underbelly of a changing city to uncover a murderer few even know to look for.

Available products
Book Published 2019-07-01 by Mulholland Books

Comments

[...] Hand - whose masterly oeuvre ranges from the eerie to the horrific, postpunk to magicdelivers another brilliant mystery set in Chicago's louche Riverview Amusement Park in 1915. [...] -- Ivy Pochoda for The New York Times

Pin is an engaging, courageous heroine, and her musings on gender identity are both poignant and relevant. Richly imaginative and psychologically complex. -- Kirkus Reviews

[...] Hand is a mage of the page. - Library Journal, starred review

[...] a phantasmagoric time trip. -- Publisher's Weekly

This book contains a rare kind of perfection: Elizabeth Hand's rough, observant magic draws into its circle great historical accuracy, a cross-dressing central protagonist, a wonderfully tender portrait of the great Outsider Artist Henry Darger, a vibrant thriller plot, reflections on gender and its place in civic order, a helpful Ben Hecht, and one of the greatest climactic drop-the-mic moments I've ever read - and does all this while patiently setting into place the warm emotional armatures that make Curious Toys so moving. ?Peter Straub, Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Award-winning author

Curious Toys is wonderful! I stayed up late two nights in a row, transported. It will be catnip for readers who love Chicago, circuses, cross-dressers, and early cinema. --?Audrey Niffenegger, bestselling author of The Time-Traveler's Wife