The Adventures of Miles and Isabel

Selected by The New York Times as a Notable Book of the Year, Tom Gilling's novel opens in a crowded playhouse in 1856 Sydney, Australia, where two spectacular lives are about to start. During her scandalous turn as Hamlet, a heavily pregnant (and unmarried) actress unexpectedly goes into labor onstage, shocking the audience. Indeed, one patrician spectator — who is also with child — is so moved that she too goes into labor. The babies born that night are Miles and Isabel, two dreamers dest...