The Candlelit Menagerie by Caraline Brown is a beautiful and touching novel.

The novel is set in 18th century London and is about Lillian, a woman who is too tall as per society’s norm.

Lillian is a maid in a home close to a menagerie. She hears the roar of a lion and decides to pay a visit. That decision changes her life. The owner of the menagerie identifies that Lilian has a special way with the animals and hires her to take care of the animals. Under Lilian’s care, the menagerie thrives. Lillian gets married but realizes that married life has its own restrictions. She also loses a child and becomes a mother to a chimp, which was frowned upon and ridiculed by society.

This novel is all about relationships. Relationship between Lilian and the animals in the menagerie. Animals worth mentioning are the Lion, Hippo, and chimp. The relationship between Lilian and the owner of the menagerie is both explosive and gentle. The relationship between Lilian and her husband brings to the light the beauty and hardship of marriage.

Thank you to @netgalley and @skyhorsepub for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. If you are interested in historical fiction with a strong female lead then this is the book for you.

Category: Adult historical fiction
Published: Oct 2020
Age: 16+

This is a refreshing and ultimately uplifting tale about Lilian, a very tall, mannish woman who discovers a relationship with a lion from a menagerie on the Strand in London. Not fitting well into 18th century London society, she finds herself a place among the wild animals in this unusual menagerie. Recommended reading.

Picture it – the hustle and bustle of 18th century London an the buzz is punctuated by… the roar of a lion. Lady’s maid Lillian longs to meet this created, and once she visits the menageries, it is love at first sight.
After many visits as a guest, Lillian becomes the new caretake of the exotic animals. She is more suited to this new position, and she becomes something of an animal whisperer. The story follows Lillian’s life and career, from the good (seeing cute baby animals) and the gross (mucking out stalls).

Lillian experiences the usual trials and tribulations of life, but always with heavy ties to the menagerie. She finds love, but with the menagerie’s vet. She has heartbreak, the menagerie both harming and healing her. To see a woman’s success in a time period where a woman is limited in her prospects is both satisfying and nail biting. She endured so much gossip and ridicule, with people accusing her of being part animal and a spectacle to be viewed with the rest of the animals. But she thrives, caring for the animals she so loves. Until one day, she is met with tragedy. But I won’t spoil it!

Lillian is a very tall, smart, and curious woman who feels constantly out of place in the role women have in the eighteenth century. Every day she hears a lion's roar that intrigues her, so she decides to look for its source. When she visits the menagerie for the first time, she immediately discovers that she has a strong connection with animals, especially Leonidas, the lion. She starts working there, which leads her to several adventures including helping a rhino with stomach pains and befriending a man condemned to death. As she learns more about the animals that live in Mr. Grady's emporium of exotic creatures, she finds love, defies prejudice, goes through loss, blooms in maternity, and develops strength and resilience.

What I liked: This book was so enjoyable! I really liked Lillian because she is a strong and determined woman. Her relationship with the animals was amazing because she was compassionate, but she was also trying to learn more and more about them and their needs in order to give them the best life they could have in captivity. I loved that Lillian was more unapologetically herself after every adventure she had. Also, every part of the book was exciting in its own way, so I really enjoyed her dates with John, her short time with Babyface, and the development of her situation with Samson.

What I didn't like: Lillian's relationship with John was hard for me to understand at some points of the book because he changed a lot. I can see that this situation worked for the story as the challenges of their relationship showed important aspects of Lillian, but it was frustrating because I couldn't connect with his behavior.

(I want to thank NetGalley, Skyhorse Publishing, Arcade, and the author for this ARC, which I received in exchange for an honest review.)

A whirlwind of emotions and experiences. An incredibly unique novel of which the likes I’ve never encountered. Stepping foot into Grady’s menagerie you become entwined with the complex emotions and experiences of both characters and animals. This books perfectly captures the essence of old London whilst tackling the society then in place. A wonderful story ending in an unexpected twist. A must read book!

London, late 18th century. The roar of a lion calls to her, so Lillian follows the sound to a menagerie full of exquisite animals. When she’s offered a job, Lillian does everything possible to make the animals’ lives better. As an abnormally tall woman who prefers short hair and breeches, Lillian believes she’s found the place where she fits in. She meets a young veterinarian apprentice and soon starts a family. But as she plunges into danger attempting to save an animal from death, the price she pays is the life of her unborn child. To rouse Lillian from her mourning bed, the menagerie owner gives her a baby chimpanzee. Lillian finds a new purpose in raising the chimp despite her husband’s misgivings and the risk of social disgrace. This is a story about lost souls and the healing power of love.

Because of the times, there’s animal indifference and cruelty. While this is most likely period-accurate, it may sit uncomfortably with readers. The atmosphere is engrossing. That said, most setting observations are smells, which aren’t appealing and illustrate the unsanitary menagerie conditions. There are some random chapters that seem merely fluff rather than actual plot development, shifting the focus away from animals to unnecessary background characters. It took me almost half the novel to figure out what the plot was actually moving toward. I enjoyed the second half as Lillian comes into her own, fighting for better treatment of animals as well as acceptance as she mothers the orphan chimp. The first section could have used a tighter focus with a bit more time spent on the wonder the menagerie gives Lillian instead of its fetid conditions. Overall, while well-researched and full of unconventional characters, I don’t think the book quite reached its potential.

Lillian was a misfit for 18th century England. Freakishly tall, only wanting to wear breeches, cut her hair short like a boy Lillian was not transgender but just different.

Finding her way to a a owner of a menagerie of animals (all exotic at the time) she found her niche and was for the first time happy. The animals loved her and it seemed almost as if she was a whisperer to them. She kept an eye out for their welfare and knew that the owner could not mistreat his animals with her in charge.

Love also found its way into Lillians life and when subsequently she conceives and bears a child who dies Lillian is heartbroken. When given a baby chimp to mother and care for, Lillian finds a substitute in the baby whom she looks after, nurses and cares for as her own. The story finds its way to the Prince of Wales own menagerie owner who is curious about this strange woman.

The story winds its way from London to Brighton to the Prince of Wales own zoo he wants to set up but over riding it all is Lillian's deep love for the animals in her care, irrespective of their being exotic or expensive. The story is not just about the exotic animals that were so attractive to the British, but also about the history at the time in London including the executions at the Tower. The story of Lillian finding love and contentment in her marriage was another dimension to the story.

What a fantastic story! The story of a menagerie in the Strand in the late 18th century. Lilian has a special gift working with animals and is taken on to care for the animals by Grady. We travel from London to Brighton and the setting up of a menagerie for the Prince Regent. There is a wonderful cast of animals too. A very refreshing look at a period of history very saturated in the historical fiction market. It would have been better with some historical footnotes as I would like to know the fact from the fiction and am definitely going to look into it myself.. Many thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book.

Charming and carefully written, The Candlelit Menagerie exhibits how the personal anxieties of society's alienated, human and otherwise, often have the particular property of magnetizing these outcasts into each other's orbit and that this can result in both solace and suffering.

I adored this book. Animal lovers should know, in advance, that there are some difficult passages so steel yourself. On the immensely positive side, Lillian, a woman who has never felt at home in herself, lies in bed at night listening to a lion and then one day seeks it out, starting a relationship that becomes her life. It's 18th century London so the animals of Grady's Emporium are a sight to be sold and Grady does just that. Button, a young man with an affinity for birds, is an apprentice vet who falls in love, much to both of their surprise, with Lillian but they struggle with one another and, especially, Lillian's commitment to the animals (including especially a chimp named Samson). There's tragedy here, real tragedy, but also hope. Brown made me hear the sounds, smell the smells (not so good btw) and feel the different parts of the animals- the rhino's skin, the lion's breath. She also wrapped me up in the story to the extent that I was grief stricken several times. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A wonderful read, a terrific debut, and I look forward to more from Brown.

The Candlelit Menagerie by Caraline Brown
Publication Date: October 20, 2020
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Description from NetGalley...
“Set in late eighteenth-century London, this haunting debut novel features Lillian, a freakishly tall woman who struggles to fit into society because of her size and desire to wear trousers. Each morning, she wakes in her tiny maid's room in a too-small bed to the sound of a lion roaring nearby, on the Strand. One day, she investigates the sound and discovers a candlelit exotic animal emporium. When she meets the lion, there is an instant bond.

The British empire had become the dominate colonial power, plundering resources across the ocean, including humans and animals, and bringing them to England's shores for the first time to the amusement of the public. The menagerie, under Lillian's management, becomes a successful attraction. It is her life's mission.“
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Thank you to @NetGalley @skyhorsepub for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
The story, as per the title, is about a menagerie: its’ animals and the people that worked in and around it. As you read, one may feel conflicted about a sexist, prejudiced and racist society. The historical environment and the zoo environment were told and described well. The story was told in a simple yet intriguing themes. Though, I didn’t connect with any of the characters. There were parts that made me squirm, but there were also tender moments. It was a quick read and I still enjoyed the story. 🚨 Trigger Warning

*Many thanks to Caraline Brown, Skyhorse Publishing, and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
London at the end of the 18th century expressed curiosity in animals which were brought from newly discovered lands. Edward Grady owns a menagerie and employs an unusual woman, Lilian, who, herself perceived as an oddity, finds ways with the wild animals.
The book reads well, and the atmosphere of the period is meticulously depicted. One can actually visualise the visitors, the animals, the conditions in which they were kept, and the places. Regarding the characters, they are interesting but I did not warm up to any of them and therefore did not enage in the plot as much as I had wished to. Still, an easy weekend read for fans of historical fiction.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"The menagerie, under Lillian's management, becomes a successful attraction. It is her life's mission."

The story captivated me and I had a hard time putting the book down. I enjoyed the details and descriptions of London and it's people during this time period.

Good adventure!

4 stars

I instantly loved the unusual Lillian and the exotic animals and flawed but appealing people around her.

An absorbing and captivating story that transports the reader deep into the gritty, seedier side of 18th Century London. A tale likely to appeal to fans of the Sara Gruen’s "Water for Elephants" or Erin Morgenstern’s "The Night Circus", as well as historical fiction enthusiasts.

Thank you to Caraline Brown, Skyhorse Publishing, and NetGalley for providing an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Candlelit Menagerie is the strange and beautiful tale of Lillian, an oddly tall and deeply misunderstood young woman (“I see a woman trapped, caged if you like . . .”) who is irresistibly drawn to Grady’s Menagerie after many nights of hearing the lion’s roaring carry to her on the wind as she lay each evening in her too-short bed.

Plucking up the courage to visit Grady’s, she meets Grady himself, who is quite proud of his namesake menagerie, and who can’t help but notice the natural way Lillian has with the animals. An excellent reader of people, Grady offers Lillian everything she could want in a job (had she been able to ask first): A place to live and a bed that’s perfectly long enough for her frame, a job at the menagerie taking care of the animals, as well as an offer to cut her hair short and to wear trousers if she likes.

Lilllian soon meets John Button, the veterinarian’s apprentice, when he’s called to treat Leonidas (the lion), who has an infected tooth. The two are keen on each other from the start, as Lillian rarely meets men as tall as she, and Button loves that he can look straight into her eyes, without the awkward hovering that normally results when he bends to speak to smaller woman.

A magical and spell-binding yarn from a debuting author that I couldn’t put down, even though at times the storylines made me a bit uncomfortable. It is for this reason I am awarding four stars instead of five, however I simply cannot question that Ms. Brown excellently portrays the tough yet spirited essence of London in the late 1700’s. Brown’s writing style is magnetic and doesn’t strive to sweep the untidy bits of history under the table. To quote Lillian, “I believe it is important that ordinary people can see with their own eyes that we share the earth with extraordinary creatures that live and breathe.” History, like animals trapped in cages, isn’t always pretty, yet it’s important that we listen – and oh what a fantastic way to “listen” this novel is!

#TheCandlelit Menagerie
#CaralineBrown
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In Caraline Brown’s The Candlelit Menagerie, the presence of a viewing gaze pervades: there is of course, the titular menagerie, belonging to Edward Grady and showcasing zoological marvels to its late 18th century London audience; and there is the societal gaze that lands with particular weight on the novel’s protagonist, the uncommonly tall, trouser-wearing, short-haired Lillian. As a protagonist, Lillian is an appealing misfit. Because of her height, her clothing, and her eventual profession as the caretaker for Grady’s menagerie—all oddities in the novel’s historical milieu—Lillian herself is subject to judgment and is made the object of spectacle. The tension between Lillian’s own ambitions and skills as the most fit person to care for the creatures in the menagerie and the expectations others have for her (as an employee, as a woman, as a wife) is the chief driver of the novel’s plot.

As plots go, especially in historical fiction, this plot is both expected and satisfying in its concept. Someone chafing against an era’s received givens offers up a classic kind of underdog story, and in this particular circumstance, given the narrow path most women are forced to tread and the horrific conditions of most early zoos and menageries, of course one wants to see a character push back against those literal confines. Lillian’s kindness, humane intuition, and quiet resistance make her a character to root for. Additionally, The Candlelit Menagerie features several especially compelling set pieces—Lillian’s encounter with a notorious highwayman, some tender and engaging portraits of the animals in her care.

The novel, though, also falls prey to some of the pitfalls of historical fiction. One of these is an epistolary section that flattens Lillian’s central interactions with characters outside of her world at the menagerie—an opportunity met to showcase the mode of communication, but an opportunity missed to dramatize moments of crucial change. On occasion, the historical vocabulary is itself trotted out like a spectacle; Edward Grady’s favorite insult is flogged throughout the text. Most significant for this reader, however, is that while the world of the novel made itself clearly understood, it did not make itself fully felt. A certain flatness in the language—sometimes self-conscious, perhaps—and a flatness in Lillian’s eventual romantic entanglement lessened the stakes and the novel’s climax.

Some curious choices in the book’s third act dilute the drama to an extent, but The Candlelit Menagerie will take readers into the difficult—often cruel—world of exotic animal collection in the age of empire-building with effective detail and a protagonist one cannot help but want to root for.

I loved this story! It's beautiful cover, vivid descriptions and unique characters. It was so engrossing and I can think of many people I know that it would appeal to.

A lot of this review comes down to personal preference. I'm a big animal lover. I probably prefer animals to people. This love of animals made this book even more heart breaking. The story takes place in the late 1700s when keeping animals of all sizes in tiny cages (from "nicer" to terrible conditions) was all the rage. This was a time when people and animals were being treated as objects of fascination.

We meet a young woman and watch her transform from a servant to an animal keeper at a local menagerie. She has a way with animals and the animals in turn love her.

There are some fascinating characters in this book. The animals and people had equally engaging in personality. However, I feel the emphasis was placed more on the human interactions and their perspective than in the animals.

The main character did her best to give the animals the best care possible, but adding a few feet to a cage and fresh air or straw still makes a cage a cage. [ I also hate zoos. I feel that all animals should be protected in reserves (if necessary for their safety or to prevent extinction) or be free with strict rules for their protection.]

The things that happened to beloved animals in this book made it really, really hard to read. At times I felt like the death toll was callously passed over because the humans were mostly okay. There was not much emphasis or perspective from the animals during these horrible times. Though that may have been too much to bear and a be different book entirely.

The book was immersed in the time period where animals were objects of fascination. It took on this characteristic in storytelling as well. Unfortunately, it left more "humanity" to be desired in regards to the treatment or outrage of the treatment of these animals. This was a different time and place. My vegetarian heart may be too empathetic for this story.

My thanks to Caraline Brown, Skyhorse Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC of THE CANDLELIT MENAGERIE. I have read some wonderful novels this year and this is one of them. So very unusual, and well researched, this story is unique in it's premise and characterisation. Brilliant!

Set in late 18th century London. This story brings a time when the British Empire was a dominating colonial power, bringing exotic animals from around the world for the first time to the amusement of the public. The animals are out of place as much as its protagonist, a six-feet tall woman, who prefers short hair and wearing pants. So much out of place that they create a special bond.

Lillian has been working as a maid for almost twenty years and feels her life dull and her being so out of place. When she sees an advertisement for Grady’s Menagerie, something inside her stirs. The world gains colors all of a sudden.

Grady, the owner of the menagerie, needs help. When he sees a very tall woman visiting his menagerie every Sunday afternoon, he sees the right person to help him out. She says yes and becomes his help. He also suggests for her to cut her hair and wear pants.

Henry Featherstone, the animal doctor, holds a fascination for the cockfight. At one such event, he notices a new man named John Button, who shows unexpected emotions. He sees the right person and offers him an apprenticeship.

When they are called to tend a lion at the menagerie, Lillian meets John. He is as tall as she is. They look at each other’s eyes and there is a spark.

When Lillian loses her own baby, she is given a baby chimp to help her heal. The bond and the skills they develop in communicating is very lovable. And I couldn’t help but mention that it reminds me of the great Jane Goodall, who has dedicated her life to studying wild chimpanzees.

Lillian’s heart is as big as she is. She cares for the animals deeply. Even with the owner being driven by profits, she finds ways to sway him to better treat the animals. The bond between Lillian and animals is so special, creating a very warm story. I love this kind of character, who is very caring and recognizes what makes her happy. She grabs for those happy stars and changes her life for better. She is also open-minded. She listens and discusses new ideas.

I enjoyed the historical background, capturing the excitement of the public by seeing exotic animals for the first time. And the passion of two people sharing conversations about books and articles involving great thinkers of the time. You can feel it, it’s contagious. You want to be part of it.

Descriptions are so real and interesting, including Brighton city by the sea. So much that I wanted to be there and experience it myself.

At first I hesitated to pick this book as I thought the storyline would be overwhelmed by animals. But it’s not. And the bond between Lillian and the animals is so endearing that I couldn’t get enough of that. When a highwayman enters the story for a moment, I missed that bond and wanted him out of the story. At the same time, I understand if the intention of his presence was to reinforce the time period.

Fully enjoyed this beautifully written, heart-warming story, and atmospheric in its depiction.