'The Ruby in the Smoke' (‘The Sally Lockhart Mysteries’ #1) by Phillp Pullman

My 12-year-old and I read this together, a chapter a night, and enjoyed it very much: deliciously Dickensian characters, a grimy setting, a plot that is both emotionally and intellectually engaging and keeps you guessing until the end (and beyond), plenty of good information about various kinds of misfortune prevalent in Victorian London, incandescent similes and other turns of phrase, the irrepressible verve both of Pullman’s writing and of 16-year-old Sally Lockhart, determined to find out the truth behind her father’s death. What more could you want? 

Sept '15