The Whalebone Theatre is a wonderfully warm, generous and expansive family saga which was a pleasure to read from start to finish. The story focuses on the eccentric Seagrave family who live at the Chilcombe estate in Dorset, particularly the strong-willed eldest daughter Cristabel, her half-sister Flossie (nicknamed "The Veg") and her cousin Digby. We first meet Cristabel as a smart and inquisitive four-year-old as 1919 turns to 1920, and follow the Seagraves through the 1920s and 1930s and into the Second World War.

What begins as a coming-of-age story about the creativity and imagination of children who are largely ignored by the bohemian socialite adults in their families turns into a thrilling story of wartime heroism and derring-do as first Digby and then Cristabel are parachuted into France with the SOE to work with the French Resistance, while Flossie holds the fort back in England. Along the way, Quinn explores the restrictions placed on women by society and how everyone's lives were transformed by war. Another strand running through the novel is the idea of acting - firstly in the titular theatre which Cristabel has erected in the grounds of Chilcombe (made from the bones of a whale stranded on the beach) but then as a necessary means of survival as an SOE agent.

I found this a consistently engaging and immersive novel; all the characters are lovingly drawn and develop in interesting and surprising ways. There is lots of humour but also moments of sadness and tenderness. I think this book would appeal to anyone who enjoyed 'I Capture the Castle', the Cazalet Chronicles or 'Life After Life'. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review!

Who didn’t as a child prepare shows for your family complete with hand drawn programmes and home made refreshments,I did and have many happy memories of those times .Imagine then that you live in a stately home in Dorset with huge wooded grounds and a convenient whale breaching leaves bones for you to make your own theatre .
The start of this extensive book is very jolly hockey sticks swallows and Amazons giving a child’s eye view of such an apparently charmed life
There are a whole host of eccentric Characters who fill the book particularly on its early stages with the story being told in a witty fast moving way
As the book is set before the Second World War you see the shadows lengthen as it were as the 3 children who’s stories we follow grow to adulthood and the inevitability of war
The contrast between child and adult between war and peace effectively separates the book on two .
I enjoyed the comparison between the bucolic Rosie tinted early whalebone theatre scenes and the scenes set in an occupied Parisian theatre during the war
Ultimately I did feel that this book lacked somewhat on originality and felt I had read it before on other novels with which I identified more deeply .
There were some contradictions in the story where it was clear that the Digby character was a half brother to the main character but the covert military teams were referring to him as her cousin ,perhaps this was an editing error as I did read an early copy on. NetGalley Uk
The book is published in June 2022

The Whalebone Theatre was an unknown for me- requested as an advance copy through NetGalley largely on the basis of the cover- so that it was an enjoyable and engrossing read was a very happy result. Perhaps not my usual choice of novel, but the meandering story of the Seagrave family through 1920s opulence and hedonism to wartime hardship and tragedy- seen largely through the eyes of the strong, defiantly independent Christabel Seagrave, the architect of the titular whalebone theatre- really drew me in.

Very happy to have stumbled across this- thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy.

There are books you read and forget, books that stay with you for a while and then, once in a blue moon, there will be that one special book you know will stay with you always, one that you will keep safe in a special corner of your mind - this is such a book. I have been transported back in time to post war Dorset, grown up with the Seagrave children, been happy that Christabel finally had the brother she’d longed for after sister Flossie, watched the birth of the Whalebone Theatre, the halcyon decadence of their parents, the parties and the gradual changes as the family at Chilcombe House become part of the new war effort. Just as Taras,, the bohemian artist they encounter,, the author paints the most vivid pictures - I was on the plane that took Christabel over France in search of her missing step brother, in the gardens helping Flossie cope with the German prisoners of war. I experienced the sunrises, the cold dark nights, the fun, the fear, the euphoria and the wonder. , I feel bereft now that I have had to leave these characters behind. This book will be bought and treasured!

It is almost incredible to believe this is a first novel. It is exceedinly well crafted and beautifully written. Equal to Elizabeth Jane Howard and the Cazalet series.

Christabel and her siblings are a delight, most of the adults pretty unappealing.

It is a long time since I was so involved with a novel and its characters. Wonderful

Thank you to the publishers for sending me this novel in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I felt as if this novel was at a very slow pace. It also had a lot of first world problem vibes from Christabell growing up with a very odd family. The plot did intrigue me however it just did not live up to the expectations that was laid out from the initial plot.

I feel as though I have read a trilogy. There is no question that 'The Whalebone Theatre' is a well written and researched novel, which would make a great TV drama.

Part 1: I was engaged from the beginning and felt invested in the story of Rosalind and Christabel. Having lost his first wife, Jasper marries Rosalind and it soon becomes clear that her sole purpose is to provide him with a son and heir. Christabel is looked after by the household staff and her new mother has no interest in her. Rosalind was very naive with regard to pregnancy and when she does give birth, it's a girl.

I loved the line which says she' looks like a vegetable, shall we call her that? Thankfully, the name Florence (Flossie) is given. Jasper's brother Willoughby has been waiting in the wings and when Jasper dies, he claims Rosalind as his own and they have a son, Digby.

When the bones of a whale wash up on shore, the theatre is born and the children perform plays for the community.

Part 2: We follow the journey of the children, as they have love interests and war consumes life. Christabel wants to join the land army and Digby goes to fight, while Flossie stays to look after the house and the theatre becomes a vegetable plot. I particularly enjoyed the letters exchanged by Christabel and Digby.

Part 3: I found this section emotional. The children find themselves back at home and coming to terms with loss. The theatre is resurrected and improved upon and becomes popular once more.

I liked the paragraph where Christabel talks about her dream of flying having come full circle from when Willoughby buys her a toy plane many years before.

I would definitely recommend this read.

Thanks indeed to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

If ever a book deserves to be called an “Epic family drama” it’s this one. Spanning several decades from the end of WW1 through to the end of WW2 this is primarily the story of 3 ( sort of ) siblings. Christabel, the eldest daughter lost her mother in childbirth and we meet her as she is awaiting her fathers return with his new wife. Christabels father and stepmother then go on to have Flossie. A close relationship develops between the new Mrs Seagrove and her husbands brother…. Digby is the result!
All grow up in a ancestral home in Dorset, with fabulous parties, and wild guests… and the children are left to their own devices. All three develop a love if the theatre… but their simple plans are thwarted by the start of WW2, and their desire to serve their country in varying capacities.
A story of siblings, of fractured families, of theatre and the arts, of feminism and service.
This ebbed and flowed for me. I loved the start most of all, and at times my interest wandered. But an engaging… though very lengthy at over 550 pages… read

This is a pretty epic family saga and I love books such as this.

The story follows the Seagrave family and their lives at the family home of Chilcombe . The children and particularly Christabel form a central part - indeed it is their theatre in the shadow of a Whalebone arch that gives the novel its title.

Sadly this book was just OK for me. I usually love big books but I think this one could have done with some cutting. The first part in particular is quite slow and plodding and I almost gave up. The second half as WW2 impacts the lives of the Seagraves and the children each find their own way to play their part in the war effort was much more interesting.

I also had a problem connecting to many of the characters and found many a bit underdeveloped. Christabel is a strong central character ( and needed to be due to her unconventional upbringing) but I just didn’t connect with her - I found her unbelievably precocious as a child and just downright annoying as an adult.

Sadly although I was very much looking forward to this it just didn’t land for me.

Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read an early copy

Joanna Quinn’s debut’s an interwar, family saga that runs from the 1920s through to the end of WW2. It follows the fortunes of an upper-middle-class, Dorset family, the Seagraves. It opens with the second marriage of stolid, middle-aged, widower Jasper Seagrave to much younger, frivolous socialite Rosalind, whose prospects of a better marriage were blighted by WW1. The narrative moves between Jasper, Rosalind, Jasper’s daughter Christa (Christabel), and her profligate uncle Willoughby – once his mother’s golden child. As time passes key characters die, family dynamics shift and two more children – Digby and Florence – are added to the mix. The family interact with displaced bohemian artists, encounter a wondrous beached whale, travel to London to see the Ballets Russes, and later take on active wartime duties. It’s a richly-detailed piece but the pace is extremely leisurely to the point of meandering, and the slender plot lacks momentum. In addition, I found the central characters a little too thinly-drawn to fully engage my attention, with the possible exception of Jasper who’s unexpectedly portrayed as someone whose outward appearance conceals a surprisingly complex, emotional interior. It’s a perfectly competent, well-researched piece with some vivid descriptive passages, and elements that play with narrative conventions and expectations – letters, scripts, lists. And it’s likely to be a satisfying read for avid fans of this kind of period recreation but, from my perspective, comparisons to books like The Chamomile Lawn, the Cazalet chronicles or to Nancy Mitford did it no favours. It doesn’t have the drama or the deft touch of Wesley or Howard and it lacks Mitford’s sparkling wit. I struggled to rate this one, it’s not a bad novel, it just didn’t really work for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Fig Tree for an ARC

Crista is a small child, left to her own devices much of the time as her father is still lost in grief for her mother. When he remarries her new step-mother isn't interested in her, or baby Flossie when she arrives, but only Digby, the younger brother who is born some years later after Crista's father dies and Rosalind re-marries his more dynamic younger brother. When a whale is washed up on the beach, Crista claims it, and some artists arrive at the house - leading to the creation of the Whalebone Theatre.

The second half of the book is during WW2, where Crista and Digby have both joined up, and Flossie is in the Land Army and running the estate. Some of the book is set in occupied France, and that's where the story really takes off. The first half was a little slow, and many of the adult characters were just horrible people (although I felt sorry for tragic Jasper, Crista's father), but the book pulls together in after the war starts. There are some great side characters as well as the central three siblings/cousins, and a really clear visual around the theatre that captures the imagination.

This unusual coming-of-age novel has a ‘modern classic’ feel to it. The setting is a genteel, decaying English country house where highly intelligent, imaginative little Christabel Seagrave has to fend more or less for herself for three long years. Nominally supervised by servants, she misses out on the special love and attention of a parent, as her mother has passed away and her father desperately mourns her. When he brings his new bride Rosalind home, it soon becomes clear that this second marriage will not give Christabel any security either, as her new stepmother is more interested in the brother-in-law she has acquired than in her husband and his little girl. When Christabel’s father also passes away, stepmother Rosalind remarries and further children arrive in the household, Christabel finds herself banished to the attic alongside Rosalind’s daughter Florence. Long-awaited male child Digby receives better treatment than the girls but is just as lonely. He is therefore drawn to the wild, untamed adventures that Christabel conjures up for Florence and herself in the absence of any parental love or formal education, and the three neglected children become a tight team. A whale carcass that washes up one day on the beach of their home is just the stepping stone for an even larger, more ambitious project Christabel has in mind….

Wonderfully well written, this novel evokes portrayals of the decades between the First and Second World War as well as highlighting issues of the intricacies of parenting that endure to this day. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me have access to a free ARC that enabled this unbiased and honest review.

A tale of mixed emotions running through the first half of the 19th Century. An enjoyable read with historical facts correct, which is always good. It focuses around a slightly disjointed family of three children who live somewhat isolated from their parents in a large house in Dorset, one day the eldest finds a dead whale on the beach and tries to claim ownership and, though denied, goes on to use the bones to create a theatre on the beach. this forms the stability for the children as they grow up and their lives get impacted by World War 2. As the story grows I was sucked in and found myself reading to later into the night that I intended.

When the story begins Crista is awaiting the arrival of her new stepmother. Crista is 4 years old and lives in the attic of the large imposing Chilcombe. Her companions are the maids and the characters in her imagination.
Eventually Crista gets her longed for sibling, a sister named Florence but nicknamed Veg because her mother said she looked like a vegetable.
Later still Florence (now Flossie) gets a half brother, Digby.
The three children are as close as any full siblings could be, partly because they are ignored by their parents and left to their own devices in the estate in the Dorset coast.
When a whale washes up in their beach Crista claims it and eventually it becomes part of the theatre where the children persuade servants, family and friends to put in plays which are attended by people from the local village and neighbourhood.
When was is declared the three, by now young adults, take different paths but remain as emotionally close as ever, each 'doing their bit ' one way or another.
I nearly gave up on this book. Partly because I disliked the adult characters so much (apart from Jasper, who is tragically sad) and partly because it felt so dragged out. It could, perhaps should, have been at least two stories; before and during WW2.. As it was the first part with lists of paintings at an exhibition was too long while I wanted the more from from the second half.
In the end the war years made up for the bits I did not like but I hope there will be more about Crista and Leon, To issue and George.

I think this is one of my favourite books that I have ever read.

I feel like I grew up with the Seagrave family. Every single character was believable, dynamic and absorbing in their own right. Quinn’s descriptive language is evocative and breathtaking. I feel like I just lived through the War. This book is one of those beautiful, rare gems that, when you eventually re-surface, makes you see the world differently. I just wish I had a print copy!


Stunning. Quinn has created a masterpiece.

Enormous thanks to NetGalley and Penguin/Fig Tree for this privilege.

(Ps. Pg.333, towards the bottom of the page, the last bit of dialogue from Hendricks is missing the opening speech marks).

Epic saga full of family, love, death. Had me captivated from start to end. It is lengthy but well worth the read. Highly recommend

This story is a beautiful tale of family, strength, imagination, and friendship. The way in which we follow the three children, in particular Christabelle, as they grow up and find themselves during a time of war is so carefully written that you become invested in each characters story.
It was wonderful that each character was allowed to develop and find a role that suits them. Although I would have loved to have seen more of Digby’s story and delved into that in greater detail, perhaps the mystery of what he did in Paris is part of what makes us understand Christabelle’s frustration and pain. Although there were a few parts of the book which felt unnecessary and almost developed into something but never did which I felt could have been left out, this would have made the book slightly more concise and could perhaps have enhanced the flow of the book.
Having said that I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Thoroughly absorbing family saga, though not as much about theatre as expected

I requested this book as an ARC because of the title, and the setting – post First World War, and into the Second.

Set around a somewhat complicated family of children, Christabel, her half sister Florence, and Flossie’s half brother Digby, this is very much an account of three improperly loved, poorly parented children, all more than a little oddball, who are fiercely bonded to each other, in childhood and later in adulthood

All three children are unusual, especially the fiercely intelligent Christabel, who has a passion for the theatrical arts, and for literature.

The Seagrave family are upper middle class. Jasper Seagrave, the father of the two girls, by different wives (no spoiler here, we meet motherless Christabel, as her father brings home his unsuitable-for-country-living bride. Rosalind and Jasper are not love’s young dream for each other. The marriage, on both sides, driven by economics, the loss of so many gilded young men in the trenches, and a paucity of young men to marry young women, on her side, and the need for a male heir, on his.

There are deep challenges between the fast urban sophisticate set of the roaring 20s on the bride’s side, and the huntin’shootin’fishin’ traditional landownin’ but somewhat financially struggling side, on his.

The theatrical and artistic yearnings of the children, particularly Christabel and Digby, are fostered by a group of free living Bohemian artists, who are invited to live and work on Chilcombe, the Dorset coastal estate where the Seagrave family has its roots

Though there is certainly some focus on theatricalities in the early part of the book, the main trajectory, as the children enter their later teens and early twenties, is the move towards that second world war, with childhood dreams of the stage laid aside as the young adults enter the theatre of war. Two of them actively, one on the home front

I found this a compelling, beautifully written account, with a wonderfully rounded trio of major characters and many fascinating minor ones.

I had some slight reservations about one character being shuffled off to Ireland as war progressed, as it seemed a little contrived, in order to allow the quietest of the three children, Flossie, to have a more focused, intense, dramatic role to play than might otherwise have been the case. But though I had this bit of a quibble, it couldn’t diminish my 5 star rating

I particularly enjoyed, in Quinn’s writing, her awareness of how sounds might translate into groups of onomatopoeic letters. This was something which happened all through, and I was impressed by how aware she made me of these sounds, playing in my head.

It is difficult to summarise this book; it’s an epic family saga (over 500 pages), spanning decades of time, full of colourful, engaging and well-rounded characters. The historical accuracy is en pointe, to the extent that I learned previously unknown facts about the period.
I don’t usually reach for historical fiction, but if it’s as good as this, I definitely will do so more in future.

This is an epic saga of family, war, love and death. A book that a reader can really immerse themselves in.