The Ruby in the Smoke

Hearing The Ruby in the Smoke brings back all the pleasure of first reading it. Philip Pullman's outstanding storytelling is as evident here as in the now more famous Northern Lights. Permeated with the murky fog of Dickensian London, the story of orphaned Sally Lockhart searching to unravel the mystery of The Seven Blessings is richly told in many voices, all of whose precisely described characters Lesser brings clearly to life. The complicated plot and vividly described backgrounds including sleazy boarding houses, home to opium smokers, absorb absolutely.