Publishers Weekly - Audio
09/01/2014
In Hodgson’s debut novel, set in 1727 London, 25-year-old gentleman-rake Tom Hawkins is robbed of his last farthing and, shortly thereafter, tossed unceremoniously into the city’s nightmarish debtor’s prison, The Marshalsea Gaol. Once the gates slam shut, the author’s fluid style and fertile imagination (assisted by considerable existing diaries and other firsthand accounts) are in full force as she takes her antihero through a series of dire straits and hairbreadth escapes. Lee’s upper-class London accent fits Hawkins’s narration well, catching his air of roguish charm—the aural equivalent of a jaunty swagger. His interpretation of Sam Fleet, Hawkins’s off-putting cellmate, includes a moist, smarmy manner of speech, ripe with sinister innuendo. For the wellborn widow of Fleet’s former roommate, Captain Roberts, who visits the prison calling for an investigation into his death, Lee uses a fluty, properly posh delivery. And he’s equally successful in finding voices for the other inhabitants of Marshalsea, from the snarling, angry gatekeeper Cross to the aggressively cheery owner of the gaol’s coffeehouse, jolly Sarah Bradshaw. An HMH/Mariner hardcover. (June)
Publishers Weekly
★ 04/14/2014
Hodgson, the editor-in-chief of Little, Brown U.K., conjures up scenes of Dickensian squalor and marries them to a crackerjack plot, in her impressive first novel, set in 1727. Tom Hawkins, the 25-year-old wastrel son of an English minister, has the misfortune to land in London’s hellish debtors’ prison, the Marshalsea Gaol. With his life and sanity at stake, Hawkins seizes a possibility for a reprieve. Shortly before his entry to the Marshalsea, the hanging death of another prisoner, Capt. John Roberts, was ruled a suicide. Roberts’s widow believes otherwise, and with reports of the captain’s ghost haunting the jail, the authorities hope that Hawkins will conduct an independent investigation that they can use to calm the inmates. Hodgson makes the stench, as well as the despair, almost palpable, besides expertly dropping fair clues. Fans of Iain Pears and Charles Palliser will hope for a sequel. Agent: Clare Conville, Conville & Walsh Literary Agency (U.K.). (June)
From the Publisher
A scenic intrigue filled with wastrels and gaols.” —Vogue’s “Buzziest Beach Reads”
"Alive and immediate. The story crackles with anxiety as Tom finally finds purpose for his idle hands, the true meaning of honor and the identity of the real devil in the Marshalsea." —Chicago Tribune"Historical fiction just doesn’t get any better than this. A riveting, fast-paced story…Magnificent!" —Jeffery Deaver, author of the bestselling The Kill Room and Edge"Antonia Hodgson’s London of 1727 offers that rare achievement in historical fiction: a time and place suspensefully different from our own, yet real. The Devil in the Marshalsea reminds us at every turn that we ourselves may not have evolved far from its world of debtors and creditors, crime and generosity, appetite and pathos. A damn’d good read." —Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian and The Swan Thieves"A wonderfully convincing picture of the seamier side of 18th-century life. The narrative whips along. Antonia Hodgson has a real feel for how people thought and spoke at the time—and, God knows, that’s a rare talent." —Andrew Taylor, author of An Unpardonable Crime and The Four Last Things "It is the mesh of lies and duplicity that draws you into this brilliant first novel." —The Times (UK) "There are enough plot twists to fill an upturned three-corner hat and a cast of memorable and believable inmates, good and bad. This is a riveting historical thriller that's finely crafted and difficult to put down." —Daily Mail (UK) "Something new in the world of historical crim fiction, with mesmerising detail and atmosphere." —Financial Times (UK) "Splendid...Impeccably researched and astonishingly atmospheric, with time past evoked so strongly that one can almost smell it, this is a truly spellbinding tale." —The Guardian (UK) "Superbly written, historically accurate, always convincing and often quite chilling...A book to savour." —Crime Review (UK) "The plot develops almost as many intricate turns as there are passages in the Marshalsea…Hodgson’s plotting is clever…the local color hair-raising." –Kirkus Reviews "[Hodgson] conjures up scenes of Dickensian squalor and marries them to a crackerjack plot, in her impressive first novel...Hodgson makes the stench, as well as the despair, almost palpable, besides expertly dropping fair clues. Fans of Iain Pears and Charles Palliser will hope for a sequel." --Publishers Weekly (STARRED REVIEW)"Satisfyingly twisty debut thriller...so well detailed that one can almost smell the corruption, and the irrepressibly roguish Tom makes a winning hero." —Booklist
From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY
"[Hodson] conjures up scenes of Dickensian squalor and marries them to a crackerjack plot, in her impressive first novel. . . . Hodgson makes the stench, as well as the despair, almost palpable." —Publishers Weekly Starred Review
Library Journal - Audio
★ 10/15/2014
In this murder mystery, set in 18th-century England, young Tom Hawkins ignores his father's wishes that Tom become a country parson. Life as a London gambler and womanizer proves more inviting. However, this choice comes at a high price, and Hawkins is jailed in the notorious Marshalsea Gaol debtors' prison. Prior to his arrival, another prisoner was murdered, and his ghost apparently haunts the prison. Hawkins's only chance for release is to discover the identity of the murderer. The investigation's series of terrible twists, turns, and betrayals takes a serious mental and physical toll on Hawkins. The strength of Hodgson's debut novel lies in its wide range of fascinating characters, which gives the book the feel of a Dickens novel. In addition, as the work draws on actual people, places, and events from accounts found in the British National Archives, it provides the grim feel, sounds, and smells of 18th-century London. Reader John Lee does an excellent job telling the story and bringing its many characters to life. VERDICT Fans of historical fiction and murder mysteries will enjoy this excellent audiobook. ["Both history and mystery fans will enjoy the roller-coaster twists and turns of this atmospheric historical thriller," read the review of the Mariner: Houghton Harcourt hc, LJ 4/15/14.]—Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Parkersburg Lib.
JULY 2014 - AudioFile
Antonia Hodgson’s historical thriller is a fascinating look at the conditions of the notorious eighteenth-century debtor’s prison, the Marshalsea. Narrator John Lee brings the characters to life, differentiating their voices and imbuing them with vivid personalities. Tom Hawkins finds himself imprisoned in the Marshalsea, sleeping in a room whose last occupant either killed himself or was brutally murdered. The story has nearly endless twists and turns, although Hodgson brings everything together for an immensely satisfying ending. Between Hodgson’s plotting and Lee’s narration, this is an exciting and atmospheric listening experience. J.L.K. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2014-04-01
In 1727, a murder occurs in the Marshalsea debtors prison in London, and a recently incarcerated prisoner is promised his freedom if he finds the killer. This isn't Dickens' Marshalsea from Little Dorrit but an earlier structure, even more loathsome and inhabited by a cast of repellent characters, a number of whom could qualify as the "devil" of the title. Tom Hawkins meets every one of them as he tries to figure out who killed Capt. Roberts a few months earlier. As the book opens, Hawkins is on top of the world, for he's won enough at gambling to pay off some of his creditors; but that same evening, he's set upon, robbed and taken to the Marshalsea. There, he meets a cross section of the English classes and finds a strictly capitalist system—he can have pretty much anything he wants as long as he's able to pay. Of course, the irony is he's imprisoned for debt and doesn't have a lot of spending money. He's immediately taken under the wing of Samuel Fleet, a suspected murderer and translator of French erotica; and he's soon antagonized the aptly named Joseph Cross and the egregious William Acton, two of the jailers. Acton is a vicious sadist who delights in beating a boy who tried to escape, much to the reader's revulsion. The plot develops almost as many intricate turns as there are passages in the Marshalsea as Hawkins crosses the paths of men and women, high and low, who might know something about the death of Capt. Roberts—and about Roberts' ghost, which now seems to be haunting the prison. Hodgson's plotting is clever, perhaps even overly intricate, and the local color hair-raising.
