The Lost Future of Pepperharrow

by Natasha Pulley

Overview

Natasha Pulley’s Watchmaker of Filigree Street captivated readers with its charming blend of historical fiction, fantasy, and steampunk. Now, Pulley revisits her beloved characters in a sequel that sweeps readers off to Japan in the 1880s, where nationalism is on the rise and ghosts roam the streets.

1888. Five years after they met in The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, Thaniel Steepleton, an unassuming translator, and Keita Mori, the watchmaker who remembers the future, are traveling to Japan. Thaniel has received an unexpected posting to the British legation in Tokyo, and Mori has business that is taking him to Yokohama.

Thaniel’s brief is odd: the legation staff have been seeing ghosts, and Thaniel's first task is to find out what’s really going on. But while staying with Mori, he starts to experience ghostly happenings himself. For reasons Mori won't—or can’t—share, he is frightened. Then he vanishes.

Meanwhile, something strange is happening in a frozen labor camp in Northern Japan. Takiko Pepperharrow, an old friend of Mori’s, must investigate.

As the weather turns bizarrely electrical and ghosts haunt the country from Tokyo to Aokigahara forest, Thaniel grows convinced that it all has something to do with Mori’s disappearance—and that Mori may be in serious danger.

"Wonderful... A lovely blending of steam punk ether science, Japanese historical figures, and a time-defying thriller." Robin Hobb, author of THE FARSEER TRILOGY

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781635573305
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	02/18/2020
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	1,099,670
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

Natasha Pulley, the author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and The Bedlam Stacks, studied English literature at Oxford University and earned a creative writing M.A. at the University of East Anglia. She lives in Bath, England.

Editorial Reviews

★ 11/04/2019

The phenomenal sequel to Pulley’s The Watchmaker of Filigree Street moves the series from Victorian-era London to a haunted, steampunk version of 19th-century Tokyo. Thaniel Steepleton is offered a translator position at the British legation in Tokyo on the same night his lover, clairvoyant Japanese clock maker Keita Mori, returns to their London home after months abroad. The pair travel together to Japan along with Thaniel’s adopted, autistic daughter. There, Thaniel meet’s Takiko Pepperhow, Mori’s wife, a woman Thaniel hadn’t known existed. As Thaniel questions his relationship with Mori, Mori uses his clairvoyance to manipulate the affairs of the people around him. After Mori goes missing, it’s up to Thaniel to find him as a massive electrical storm strikes Tokyo and ghosts wander the streets. Pulley’s intricate plot, vibrant setting, entrancing magic, and dynamic ensemble of characters make for an un-put-downable historical fantasy. New readers will be pulled in and series fans will be delighted by this tour de force. Agent: Jenny Savill, Andrew Nurnberg Associates. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

2019-11-10
More steampunk adventures of a samurai prognosticator, his clockwork octopus, and his human lovers.

Five years after her charming debut novel, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street (2015), Pulley brings back the main characters for another scramble through the dangers and consequences of clairvoyance. Readers of the first book already know the big reveal: that Keita Mori—the eponymous London watchmaker—has an unusual memory that works both backward and forward. (Readers new to the series should put this book down and start with Watchmaker.) This time Pulley sets the action principally in Japan, where Mori; Thaniel Steepleton, a British translator and diplomat; Grace Carrow Matsumoto, a physicist; and Takiko Pepperharrow, a Kabuki actress and baroness, are working together to foil a samurai's power grab and turn away a Russian invasion. At least, that's what Mori's doing; the others are rushing blindly down paths he's laid out for them, which may or may not get them where he wants them to go. But if Mori knows what's coming and what steps they can take to change the future, why doesn't he just tell them what to do? The answer is half satisfying (because, as in any complicated relationship, communication isn't always easy; because the characters have wills of their own and might not obey) and half irritating (because if he did, there wouldn't be much of a story). Pulley's witty writing and enthusiastically deployed steampunk motifs—clockwork, owls, a mechanical pet, Tesla-inspired electrical drama—enliven a plot that drags in the middle before rushing toward its explosive end. Perhaps more interesting than the plot are the relationships. The characters revolve through a complex pattern of marriages of passion and convenience, sometimes across and sometimes within genders and cultures, punctuated by jealousy and interesting questions about trust.

Although this sequel doesn't break new ground, it will appeal strongly to fans of the first book.

Kirkus Reviews

Phenomenal … Pulley's intricate plot, vibrant setting, entrancing magic, and dynamic ensemble of characters make for an un-put-downable historical fantasy. New readers will be pulled in and series fans will be delighted by this tour de force.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“This latest book marks another grand whirl of magical realism, playful oddities, and deep humanity.” —Library Journal

“Atmospheric and compelling. I wept multiple times and resented every moment I wasn't reading it.” —Mary Robinette Kowal, author of THE CALCULATING STARS

“Pulley's witty writing and enthusiastically deployed steampunk motifs-clockwork, owls, a mechanical pet, Tesla-inspired electrical drama-enliven.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Again Pulley mixes supernatural intrigue, politics, and romance to create an absorbing adventure.” —Booklist

“Combining a wondrous romp through the world of magical clockwork mechanisms and octopus automatons with an environmental thriller that fascinates and shocks in equal measure, this is an adventure not be missed.” —Historical Novels Review

“[I]t is difficult to put the book down. At times, it is a love story, a story about a family doing their best, a ghost story, and a science experiment gone awry. Pulley has created an amazing world in THE LOST FUTURE OF PEPPERHARROW.” —Bookreporter

“engrossing… Rich descriptions of Japan and intriguing character development shine in this intricately wrought fantasy of history making.” —Shelf Awareness, Starred Review

“The magical atmosphere of Watchmaker continues to delight in its sequel as Pulley's world matures into a sprawling exploration of morality during political and personal upheaval. Grounded in the reality of marginalized experiences in the nineteenth century, Pepperharrow, like Watchmaker, offers a heightened version of our own history in which fantasy elucidates the human capacity for love, acceptance, and sacrifice. In its examination of goodness amid the evils of nationalism, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow is an electrifying page-turner that proves that the nineteenth century, even imagined as a steampunk past, is closer to our current moment than we thought.” —World Literature Today

From the Publisher