The Great Stink
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Product Description
Literary Review
‘Reminiscent of late Dickens at his most brooding. One of the best British novels of 2005’
Time Out
‘Gripping... to read The Great Stink is to experience that most exquisite of bookish pleasures: total immersion'
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Where the channel snaked to the right it was no longer possible to stand upright, despite the abrupt drop in the gradient. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Where the channel snaked to the right it was no longer possible to stand upright, despite the abrupt drop in the gradient. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The under-belly of London's Victorian life may not be for the fainthearted but its huge range of unforgettable characters makes great raw material for the novelist. Clare Clark has seized this opportunity with both hands and written a story which plunges the reader from the first page into a wonderfully colourful world. She describes the interwoven lives of a disturbed survivor of the Crimean War, working on the rebuilding of London's sewers, and a resourceful scavenger and rat-catcher who scrapes his living from beneath the streets. It is an exciting story, written in a style both rich and elegant and with a real feeling for the period. Strongly recommended.
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Clare Clark's The Great Stink is set during a pivotal point in the history of Victorian London, as plans are being finalised for a complete overhaul of the city's sewage system. It is this that forms the backdrop to the action. The plot works brilliantly on several levels - above ground, the machinery of this vast scheme of public works is vividly conveyed, with all its optimism and corruption. Below ground are the sewers themselves, dark foetid remnants of the city's medieval past, which are evoked in marvellously descriptive passages. Straddling the two is the hero of the book, William May, who works as an engineer under Joseph Bazalgette, and whose compulsive relationship with the dark, labyrinthine sewers will have disastrous consequences.
This is an intelligent and gripping historical murder mystery with some fantastic twists and a truly page-turning denoument. The story is moving and involving, and manages brilliantly to transport the reader back in time to the Victorian age, and down beneath the foggy streets of London. Highly recommended.
This is an intelligent and gripping historical murder mystery with some fantastic twists and a truly page-turning denoument. The story is moving and involving, and manages brilliantly to transport the reader back in time to the Victorian age, and down beneath the foggy streets of London. Highly recommended.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Written in the style of a Victorian novel, and arranged in alternating chapters dealing with the two main characters as their two very different worlds collide with each other, this is a remarkable book. It grips you from the first page and won't let you go, grabbing you with wonderful descriptions of Victorian London that really make you feel the mud beneath your boots and smell the stench of the crumbling sewers that form the backdrop to much of the drama.
This is a really intelligent historical novel with a strong plot, sympathetic and believable characters, and an atmosphere that will stay in your head long after you put the book down. I strongly recommend it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Welder
What a wonderful style of writing, concise and imaginative yet descriptive in every way. Whoever gave any thought to life beneath the paths of Victorian London. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Roy E Stolworthy
Good service
Have not read all the book yet, but so far it is very interesting. I was delivered in a couple days of ordering, and the condition
is excellent. I am very pleased with it.
is excellent. I am very pleased with it.
Published 7 months ago by Mr. A. J. Torrens
Didn't live up to my expectations
As this book had been recommended to me, when I actually read it I found some of it "hard going"(ie. boring!). Certainly not(!) for the squeamish....... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Allysev
A lot "stinks" about this book
This was my book group read otherwise I would not have thought of reading it. Once I started (on the train) I felt quite queasy! Thank goodness I had already eaten my breakfast! Read more
Published 13 months ago by Skaty Katie
A great read, I loved it
This book was my book club, book of the month. I would not normally have chosen it and was dubious about it from the start. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Cheeky Chimp
Not a book to be read while eating your lunch!
William May is suffering from post-traumatic stress following the Crimean War. He is working for Joseph Bazalgette on the upgrading of London's sewer system. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Wynne Kelly
The Great Stink
I really enjoyed this book set in the sewers of Victorian England. William May is a damaged man, wounded in the Crimean war and suffering from Shell Shock he is driven to the... Read more
Published 20 months ago by P. A. Cunningham
Not one for the faint-hearted
William May returns to England after having served in the Crimea and starts to work as a surveyor for the Metropolitan Board of Works, charged with the construction of a modern... Read more
Published on 30 April 2010 by Petra Bryce
Slow burner
I found the first 70 pages or so really hard going and nearly gave up on it. The language seemed laboured, the characters one-dimensional, the whole thing seemed a bit amateurish. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2010 by Charlie Badger
Blood red and excrement brown
A compelling story told with passion and panache, some wonderful descriptive language and a nicely representative set of characters. Read more
Published on 18 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
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