Fall Reading 2013 How to Catch a Bogle

If Charles Dickens had written a script for Ghostbusters, it would have resembled what Catherine Jinks has given readers. Victorian England in 1870 was a setting ruled by class distinctions and not a great place to be an orphan. Luckily for Birdie, Alfred Bunce has taken her as his apprentice and she helps him to trap and kill bogles. In the course of their work they meet Miss Edith Eames, a lady of quality who is interested in the scientific study of folklore. She offers to take Birdie in and give her an education, which Birdie thinks is an awful offer when she is doing honest work as a bogler's girl. They also run into Dr. Morton, a physician with an interest in the occult. There is a cast of supporting characters including housemaids, pickpockets, gravediggers, and even asylum workers that all fill the complex world of Bethnal Green and the surrounding London neighborhoods. The food, clothing, and figures of speech all transport the reader back in time so that you almost expect Oliver Twist to pop up and speak to Birdie.

Readers who enjoy historical fiction mixed with a bit of fantasy, or stories like The Spiderwick Chronicles that have creatures from folklore, will have a good time reading about Birdie and Alfred and their bogling business. The publishers have provided a video trailer for the book, which shows how Birdie lures the bogles in for Alfred to slay. You can also visit the book's website and find out more about the author, download the lyrics to one of Birdie's songs, and more. Or visit author's site to find out what else she has written. This is just the first in a planned trilogy, so stay tuned for more adventures with Birdie and her friends.