A transporting, irresistible debut novel that takes its heroine, Cristabel Seagrave, from the gargantuan cavity of a beached whale into undercover operations during World War II--a story of love, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation.
She and Digby become British secret agents on separate missions in Nazi-occupied France--a more dangerous kind of playacting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart..
As Cristabel grows into a headstrong young woman, World War II rears its head.
Within the Whalebone Theatre, Cristabel can escape her feckless stepparents and brisk governesses, and her imagination comes to life.
She and the rest of the household--her sister, Flossie; her brother, Digby, long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor
Maudie Kitcat, kitchen maid
Taras, visiting artist--build a Theatre from the beast\'s skeletal rib cage.
By law, it belongs to the King, but twelve-year-old orphan Cristabel Seagrave has other plans. --Jo Baker, author of Longbourn One blustery night in 1928, a whale washes up on the shores of the English Channel.
I just disappeared into The Whalebone Theatre and didn\'t want to leave.
Utterly heartbreaking and joyous ...
A transporting, irresistible debut novel that takes its heroine, Cristabel Seagrave, from the gargantuan cavity of a beached whale into undercover operations during World War II--a story of love, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation
