Nonesuch - Francis Spufford *****

By Brian Clegg

This is a remarkable book. Set in London from the beginning of the Second World War and into the blitz, it could work well as a straight novel detailing a young woman’s attempts to find a place for herself in the chauvinist world of finance against the backdrop of an experience that left a mostly female staff exhausted from lack of sleep and fear. Yet, that’s just the backdrop for an effective urban fantasy.

It seems an ancient order had managed in the seventeenth century to find a way to change history from a location outside of normal time and space, known as Nonesuch. The order had become a shadow of its former self – except a young upper class Nazi, Lall, is determined to recreate the bridge to Nonesuch for her own nefarious ends.

Set against Lall is central character Iris – the young woman attempting to make her way in the world of finance. To be honest, initially Iris is extremely self-centred, not caring much about anyone else. But she discovers her humanity thanks to meeting Geoff, an engineer with the new television service, and his eccentric father. She also is intensely analytic, seeming to think through in extraordinary detail activities that most would barely bother to think about. All in all, a notable character, and far more rounded than her slightly two-dimensional petite blonde Nazi arch-enemy.

It’s a beautiful read, both for its vivid portrayal of life in wartime London and in the cleverly developed fantasy element. I particularly loved Francis Spufford’s irritable quantum angels. My only criticism is that the writing feels over-descriptive – it could have been tightened up a bit, which would have helped what is a slightly overlong volume. Admittedly we get a flash forward opener to introduce the fantasy element, but it takes an awful long time before we get into gear on the main theme.

However, I would forgive this book a lot (including the ending, with which I wasn’t entirely happy), both for its atmospheric power and the wonderfully visualised fantasy. The blurb describes it as ‘spellbinding’, and it is, both metaphorically and literally. Recommended.

You can buy Nonesuch from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com and Bookshop.org

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Now Appearing is the blog of science writer Brian Clegg (www.brianclegg.net), author of Inflight Science, Before the Big Bang and The God Effect.