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The Great Stink (Hardcover)

by Clare Clark (Author) "Where the channel snaked to the right it was no longer possible to stand upright, despite the abrupt drop in the gradient ..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 358 pages
  • Publisher: Viking (24 Feb 2005)
  • ISBN-10: 0670915300
  • ISBN-13: 978-0670915309
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 3.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 435,257 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Review

Crisp, assured, and relentlessly pungent. One does not so much read "The Great Stink" as smell, hear and taste it.


Margaret Forster

'Staggeringly evocative...a fine new novelist'
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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
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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18 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (18 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The Great Stink is a winner., 25 Feb 2005
By A Customer
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.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Completely gripping - holds on and won't let you go!, 24 Feb 2005
By Luke Nunneley (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, gripping historical thriller, 13 Jun 2005
By C. Shaw (London) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars 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 1 month ago by E. Shaw

5.0 out of 5 stars the great stink
An excellent book which keeps the reader on the edge all of the way through.It starts very graphically with all of the horrors of war and begins to explain the results that these... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mr. Andrew P. Kirkham

5.0 out of 5 stars the reality of history
Sir Joseph Bazalgette has long been one of my greatest historical heroes. Indeed, he always will be, and his achievement regarding the sewers of London must rank as one of the... Read more
Published on 7 Oct 2007 by B. K. M. Ac

4.0 out of 5 stars Cracking little novel this!
Very readable work with appealingly well drawn characters and an interesting plot built around the construction of London's sewer system during the 19th century. Read more
Published on 11 Dec 2006 by L. A. Atkinson

3.0 out of 5 stars The Great Stink
The Great Stink is an extremely well-written and highly unusual novel, based in Victorian London. It brilliantly evokes the living conditions of the London slums and gives an... Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2006 by Esther

2.0 out of 5 stars It stinks almost as much as Victorian London did
This novel's strength lies in its depiction of Victorian London, with its seething mass of people, of dirt and poverty, of the social divide that kept not just the means of life... Read more
Published on 26 Aug 2006 by Rivercassini

3.0 out of 5 stars The Great Stink??? Just slightly wiffy...
The Great Stink starts off well as we follow William May's spiral into madness whilst surveying the sewers of London. Read more
Published on 30 Jul 2006 by Elouise Bradley

4.0 out of 5 stars If only all debut novels were as good as this one
The story itself contains little reason for laughter and mirth, but what a pleasure it is to read!

William May has (literally) taken refuge in London's sewers to... Read more
Published on 21 Jul 2006 by Didier

2.0 out of 5 stars A boring slog
I am amazed by all the rave reviews for this book. It isn't that it's bad, just largely unreadable. The author had so much description to get in that she left precious little room... Read more
Published on 23 May 2006 by Polly

5.0 out of 5 stars Not one to turn your nose up at ....
Fantastic but Foul read, full of sights, sounds and poooi smells emanating from Victorian London.
seethe like the city itself in the pages this debut novel that picks an... Read more
Published on 17 May 2006 by Dee

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