I Wish I’d Written: Lizzie Huxley-Jones

Lizzie Huxley Jones chooses a book by a rollicking good storyteller.

Choosing a book that I wish I’d written myself has turned out to be a near-impossible question for me, because I really feel that the best stories can only be told by their writer. But, saying that, I really wish I’d written Zohra Nabi’s third novel, Deep Dark.

Nabi has a terrific way with a pen; the book is incredibly atmospheric and beautifully written. It has a spiky, incorrigible main character in Cassia Thorne, ballad-seller and daughter to an ailing father.

Set in 1830s London, the novel reveals the true history of the trafficking of Italian children as musicians, while shedding light on issues of child poverty, class, and welfare that remain relevant today.

Make no mistake, there’s no preaching, no dull moments. This is a gothic thriller with a mysterious monster lurking under the streets that demands to be fed. The story rips along so fast that I was left gasping. And now, when I walk through the older bits of London, I look around and see the old London peeking through, Cassia’s London. That’s the power of a truly rollicking storyteller – they don’t just bring the book to life, they show you the world too.

Deep Dark by Zohra Nabi is published by Simon and Schuster, 978-1398532922, £7.99 pbk.

Vivi Conway and the Lost Hero, the concluding book in Lizzie Huxley-Jones’ Vivi Conway series, is out now, published by Knights Of, 978-1915820044, £7.99 pbk.