Publisher: Solaris
SYNOPSIS:
Flamboyant Matthew Cannonbridge was touched by genius, the most influential mind of the 19th century, a novelist, playwright, the poet of his generation. The only problem is, he should never have existed, and recently-divorced 21st-century don Toby Judd is the only person to realise something is wrong with history. Cannonbridge was everywhere: he was by Lake Geneva when talk between Byron, Shelley and Mary Godwin turned to the supernatural; he was friend to the young Dickens as he laboured in the blacking factory; he was the only man of note to visit Wilde in prison. His extraordinary life spanned a century. But as the world prepares to toast the bicentenary of Cannonbridge's most celebrated work, Judd's discovery leads him on a breakneck chase across the English canon and countryside, to the realisation that the spectre of Matthew Cannonbridge, planted so seamlessly into the heart of the 19th-century, might not be so dead and buried after all...
REVIEW:
There are times when the world queries things that goes on around it and with so many films about certain time periods, its easy to see how some people can confuse fiction with fact and visa versa (such as the Western genre.) Here Jonathan Barnes takes it a step further and asks the reader to imagine what would happen if belief in a character were strong enough to allow them to exist, to see how events would change the world and asks the question of what if much to the readers delight in this title.
Its definitely something unique, has a Supernatural flavour (Season One Episode 17 Hellhouse) and all round gave me a story that whilst at times hard to get through, was very rewarding upon its conclusion. I loved the way that Jonathan has taken a different route and created a memorable character in Matthew Cannonbridge and when added to his “effects” on Victorian literature, all round gives readers a tale that will not only stick with them but really will leave you querying reality.
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