The Palace of Curiosities

by Rosie Garland

HarperCollins Publishers, 2013 [Uncorrected Proof Copy], ISBN 9780007492770,  paperback

Very Good Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, minor soiling to front cover, minor rubbing to edges and corners, spine uncreased, no inscriptions (see photographs)

"Before Eve is born, her mother goes to the circus.  The star attraction is a raging lion, straight from the heart of Africa.  Mama swears she hears the lion sigh, just before it leaps ... and when Eve is born, the story goes, she doesn't cry - she meows and licks her paws.
When Abel is pulled from the stinking Thames, the mudlarks are sure he is long dead.  But as they search his pockets, his eyes crack open.  A lucky escape or an act of black magic?
Cast out by Victorian society, Eve and Abel become the Lion Faced Girl and The Flayed Man, star performers in the Palace of Curiosities.  And there begins a journey that will entwine their fates forever ..."