shelfofunread's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Having never heard of a tête-bêche, or ‘head-to-tail’, book before, the premise of Gareth Rubin’s The Turnglass was an extremely intriguing one. Dating back to the nineteenth century, a tête-bêche is, as David Barnett puts it, “a curious beast where two short novels, novellas or short-story collections, generally by different authors, are printed together, but upside down and back-to-back, so you read one then flip the book over to start reading the other” (see Barnett's article on the form at https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/jul/28/tete-beche-books-speculative-return). Rubin’s tête-bêche is a little different to the the pieces mentioned by Barnett as both stories in The Turnglass are the product of a single author. More intriguingly, both stories, although distinct and complete in and of themselves, are referential to each other.
Reading The Turnglass is, therefore, a puzzle in itself. In addition to the two separate mystery plots – one following a young doctor’s efforts to track down a poisoner in 1880s England and the other focusing on an aspiring film star’s efforts to get to the truth behind his friend’s apparent suicide in 1930s California – there is the overarching mystery of how the two stories are connected. Why does Hollywood author Oliver Tooke’s contemporary Californian home appear in a painting on the landing of the isolated Turnglass House visited by Dr Simeon Lee in England? Why, for that matter, are both properties called Turnglass House? And why does Oliver’s latest novel feature the young doctor Simeon Lee?
Anyone who enjoyed the satisfyingly head-scratching The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and the ‘novel-in-a-novel’ shenanigans of Magpie Murders will enjoy untangling the web of connections between the two tales that make up The Turnglass. I certainly loved the way in which Simeon’s 1880s narrative was turned on its head by the revelations that awaited amidst the sunshine of 1930s California.
I did wonder if I would have found the book to be quite as successful had I read the 1930s narrative first. The ending of Ken Kourian’s plotline revealed several of the key twists and concepts in Simeon Lee’s story. That said, it’s hard for me to know whether, without prior knowledge of Simeon’s story, I would have spotted those reveals for what they were! Looking at Goodreads I’m clearly not the only reviewer who has puzzled over this so I’d be interested to hear from anyone who does opt to read the book the other way around (or, as some readers have done, to read alternative chapters from each)!
On the whole I did prefer Simeon’s story to Ken’s but that’s probably a matter of personal taste more than anything else. Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows that I adore a Gothic mystery and Simeon’s visit to Turnglass House is just dripping in Gothic atmosphere. All the key tropes I love are present and correct: an isolated house, a gaggle of vaguely threatening locals, a family tragedy, and some mysterious relatives with secrets to hide. Pure Shelf of Unread catnip.
That isn’t to say that Ken Kourian’s story isn’t good. Indeed, the glitzy world of 1930s Hollywood leaps off the page in whirl of casting calls and cocktail parties. But my own personal reading taste is more Jane Eyre than The Great Gatsby so it’s unsurprising that the Victorian plotline hooked me that little bit more. As a tête-bêche, however, you do of course need both tales to get the full story and I had great fun looking for all the parallels between the two seemingly different worlds that Rubin has created.
The Turnglass is, in its construction and design, an ambitious book but Rubin pulls off the difficult task of creating two stories that stand alone but, when read together, reveal new perspectives on both. As with The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, nothing is quite as it seems in The Turnglass and, for me at least, the novel (or should that be novels?!) is all the better for it. Clever, mysterious, and unique, The Turnglass was an inventive, entertaining and satisfying read.
NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
Reading The Turnglass is, therefore, a puzzle in itself. In addition to the two separate mystery plots – one following a young doctor’s efforts to track down a poisoner in 1880s England and the other focusing on an aspiring film star’s efforts to get to the truth behind his friend’s apparent suicide in 1930s California – there is the overarching mystery of how the two stories are connected. Why does Hollywood author Oliver Tooke’s contemporary Californian home appear in a painting on the landing of the isolated Turnglass House visited by Dr Simeon Lee in England? Why, for that matter, are both properties called Turnglass House? And why does Oliver’s latest novel feature the young doctor Simeon Lee?
Anyone who enjoyed the satisfyingly head-scratching The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and the ‘novel-in-a-novel’ shenanigans of Magpie Murders will enjoy untangling the web of connections between the two tales that make up The Turnglass. I certainly loved the way in which Simeon’s 1880s narrative was turned on its head by the revelations that awaited amidst the sunshine of 1930s California.
I did wonder if I would have found the book to be quite as successful had I read the 1930s narrative first. The ending of Ken Kourian’s plotline revealed several of the key twists and concepts in Simeon Lee’s story. That said, it’s hard for me to know whether, without prior knowledge of Simeon’s story, I would have spotted those reveals for what they were! Looking at Goodreads I’m clearly not the only reviewer who has puzzled over this so I’d be interested to hear from anyone who does opt to read the book the other way around (or, as some readers have done, to read alternative chapters from each)!
On the whole I did prefer Simeon’s story to Ken’s but that’s probably a matter of personal taste more than anything else. Anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows that I adore a Gothic mystery and Simeon’s visit to Turnglass House is just dripping in Gothic atmosphere. All the key tropes I love are present and correct: an isolated house, a gaggle of vaguely threatening locals, a family tragedy, and some mysterious relatives with secrets to hide. Pure Shelf of Unread catnip.
That isn’t to say that Ken Kourian’s story isn’t good. Indeed, the glitzy world of 1930s Hollywood leaps off the page in whirl of casting calls and cocktail parties. But my own personal reading taste is more Jane Eyre than The Great Gatsby so it’s unsurprising that the Victorian plotline hooked me that little bit more. As a tête-bêche, however, you do of course need both tales to get the full story and I had great fun looking for all the parallels between the two seemingly different worlds that Rubin has created.
The Turnglass is, in its construction and design, an ambitious book but Rubin pulls off the difficult task of creating two stories that stand alone but, when read together, reveal new perspectives on both. As with The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, nothing is quite as it seems in The Turnglass and, for me at least, the novel (or should that be novels?!) is all the better for it. Clever, mysterious, and unique, The Turnglass was an inventive, entertaining and satisfying read.
NB: This review also appears on my blog at https://theshelfofunreadbooks.wordpress.com as part of the blog tour for the book. My thanks go to the publisher for providing a copy of the book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcohol, Murder, Death, Sexism, Confinement, Kidnapping, and Drug use
Minor: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Racism, Police brutality, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Vomit
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