The Whalebone Theatre: A Read with Jenna Pick

This book is a treasure. Beautifully written. I found myself rereading paragraphs or sentences just for the incredible insight they held. I would read those same words out loud to whomever was near me. Treasure!

I adored The Whalebone Theater. Like Uncle Willoughby, you could say it vacillates between being “romantic, Shakespearean, or a farce.” But genre only describes the barest set dressing of its drama. It is electric. It is the magic of childhood & the horrors of war. Its characters rise and fall like the tide, like Leviathan surfacing from the deep. I cried, and laughed out loud. I highlighted entire chapters. The prose rings like whale song echoing beneath the waves, hauntingly beautiful and eerily divine.

A wonderful historical novel is set on the coast of England, spanning the times before, during, and after the Second World War, on an old estate that has slipped into near poverty between the wars. The children are left entirely to raise themselves and become adept at dramatic productions that bring people from far and wide to watch them perform. WWII violently interrupts their wild lives, but they go on to perform in new ways in defense of their country. A wonderfully intricate plot filled with eccentric characters I couldn't help but love.

Not at all what I had expected but so beautiful I could not stop reading. So many passages were so profoundly human and universal and so full of love. Great reminders that love is not always where you expect to find it but often where you need it.

I loved the depth of feelings she gives each character. I know them now. And I love them. An unforgettable read.