Product Description 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 IIa story of love, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation.Utterly heartbreaking and joyous ... I just disappeared into The Whalebone Theatre and didnt want to leave.Jo Baker, author of LongbournOne blustery night in 1928, a whale washes up on the shores of the English Channel. By law, it belongs to the King, but twelve-year-old orphan Cristabel Seagrave has other plans. She and the rest of the householdher sister, Flossie; her brother, Digby, long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor; Maudie Kitcat, kitchen maid; Taras, visiting artistbuild a theatre from the beasts skeletal rib cage. Within the Whalebone Theatre, Cristabel can escape her feckless stepparents and brisk governesses, and her imagination comes to life.As Cristabel grows into a headstrong young woman, World War II rears its head. She and Digby become British secret agents on separate missions in Nazi-occupied Francea more dangerous kind of playacting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart. Review Dazzling and imaginative . . . Peacetime whimsy gracefully segues into scenes of unbearable tension and heart-wrenching suspense . . . Combining elements of I Capture the Castle, Brideshead Revisited, and Charlotte Gray, this is a reading experience to be long cherished.Publishers Weekly (starred)Destined to become a classic. . .Elegantly writtenandtotally immersive, this is escapism fiction at its very best . . . Quinns debut is awonder.Eithne Farry, Daily MailThe Whalebone Theatre gives you wings . . . Slightly alarmingly, it is Joanna Quinns debuthow on earth is she this good? . . . Full of brilliant set pieces that pop and crackle with tension . . . Quinn handles her sprawling cast with ease and compassion . . . Reading contemporary fiction is rarely that fun . . . Just dive in and slurp it up.Susie Goldsbrough, The TimesMy ideal novel . . . Quinn creates a worldso rich with observation, detail, humanity, and heartthat you are incapable of doing anything butdrinking it in with greedy delight.Natasha Poliszczuk, YOU magazineIts astonishing to discover that this beguiling story is Joanna Quinns first novel . . . If you loved Elizabeth Jane Howards Cazalet series and Dodie Smiths I Capture the Castle youll absolutely adore this. Its touching, enthralling, and superbly writtenan extraordinary book that deserves to be read and re-read.Emma Lee-Potter, Independent, #1 Best Overall of 10 Best Books to Read This SummerI wasswept awayby thiscompelling,beautifully writtendebut and itsplucky heroine.Joanne Finney, Good HousekeepingIts the book of the summer . . . Honestly, I want to sound a trumpet and put out some flags. It is pure heaven from first word to last. Its a debut novel, incredibly for something so assured and fully realised . . . Generous, filling, deeply satisfying funny-sad, every page crammed with life and experience . . . The Whalebone Theatre is one of those books that has you hooting with laughter one minute and feeling absolutely floored the next . . . Quinn is one of those writers who has her finger on humanitys pulse. An absolute treat of a book, to be read and reread. India Knight, The Sunday TimesUtterly heartbreaking and joyous . . . I just disappeared into The Whalebone Theatre and didnt want to leave. Jo Baker, author of LongbournPlayful, inventive, sharp, funny, The Whalebone Theatre offers the sort of reading experience that is remarkably rare, even for those of us whose happiest hours are spent with books: sheer, undiluted delight from start to finish . . . It breathes fresh, bracing air into the lungs of the multi-generational sagaand the very form of the novel itself . . . Most importantly of all, perhaps, Quinn gives us Cristabel, the sort of