Automata and missing children…

Paris, 1750. Madeleine is desperate to escape from the brothel that her mother runs, so when one of the brothel’s clients, a policeman, offers her money to take a position as a maid in the house of Doctor Reinhart in order to spy on him, she accepts. Doctor Reinhart is an automaton maker, already famed for his life-like creations of birds and animals which he animates using clockwork. Madeleine is not told the reason the police are interested in the doctor; she is merely instructed to report on any suspicious activities. When she arrives at the doctor’s house she meets Véronique, the doctor’s young daughter, just returned from her education in a convent and now keen to follow her father's footsteps and become an automaton maker too. Soon Madeleine becomes convinced that the doctor is indeed involved in a secret project, but despite her best efforts and the pressure being applied on her, she can't find out exactly what. Meantime Paris is in an uproar over the disappearances of several children. At first the missing children came from amongst the many homeless waifs living on the streets, but now the children of tradesmen are disappearing too and rumours are flying as to who is taking the children and why...

I don't want to say much more about the plot than that, because the interest of the book comes from the slow revelations that finally allow Madeleine and the reader to know what is going on. To be honest, I worked out parts of the mystery fairly early on, but it didn’t matter because the story is much more about the characters and how they are impacted by the events in the book. The historical setting of Paris in the reign of Louis XV is wonderfully portrayed – I'm no expert on the period so can't speak to its authenticity, but I found it totally convincing. Mazzola takes us into the poorest and darkest corners of the city and to the dazzling court of the king, and shows us the huge inequities that only a few decades later would lead to bloody revolution.

The story is told from the perspective of three different women, though all in third party. Madeleine is the main character, and she’s very well drawn. We learn about her terrible but sadly not unusual experiences as a child forced into prostitution, though it’s made even harder by the fact that it’s her mother who did the forcing. But Madeleine is strong, determined not just to make a better life for herself but also for her young nephew Émile, who is a sickly child and an orphan, his mother, Madeleine’s sister, having died not long before the book begins. Madeleine is also unusual in that she has some basic education given to her by her father before he died. It is Madeleine's ability to read and write that makes her useful to the police as a spy.

Véronique is the second perspective. Since part of the mystery revolves around her, we don't get to know her quite as well as Madeleine until late on in the book. However, she too has had a difficult childhood and is now looking to forge a life and career for herself in a society that restricts opportunities for women of her class to little more than marriage or the convent.

The third perspective is a woman that we initially know as Jeanne but soon discover is in fact Madame de Pompadour. Through her we learn about the life of being the officially recognised mistress of the King, considerably more luxurious than Madeleine's life in a brothel, but perhaps no more secure. Jeanne’s position is entirely dependent on Louis’ favour, and she knows that there are many who would happily see her fall from grace or take her place. Through her, too, we get to see the power struggles at court, with everyone jostling for the king’s patronage, and all completely uninterested in the poverty and growing anger of the Parisian poor on their doorstep.

Mazzola touches on many issues – women’s lowly status and lack of agency, slavery, prostitution, poverty, and so on. But in every case she shows us these things through the characters’ lives and actions – she doesn’t preach and she doesn’t get polemical. Hallelujah! Her characters are firmly rooted in their own time, and haven’t miraculously acquired twenty-first century attitudes and sensibilities.

The story itself is wonderfully creepy, with Mazzola making great use of the settings and the doctor’s automata to create an atmosphere of mild Gothic horror. Apparently it’s inspired by a real scandal of children going missing in Paris at this time and some of the rumours that flew around, although Mazzola has created her own story from this base. There are hints at the supernatural, at the old story of science being allowed to run beyond control, at the lengths that obsessions will take people to and the lines that they will cross in pursuit of knowledge. And the resolution of the story is both dark and satisfying.

An excellent book – great setting, well-drawn interesting characters, and a story that intrigues and chills and takes us to the edge of the supernatural, but ultimately stays on the right side of credible. Loved it – highly recommended!

The Clockwork Girl by Anna Mazzola
The Clockwork Girl is a fascinating story set in the turbulent Paris of 1750. The novel is told from different perspectives that of three women from different levels of society and with very different backgrounds. Madeleine is the daughter of a woman who runs a brothel and since she has been terribly disfigured she is no longer any use in the sex trade and so is sent to be both spy and chambermaid to the maker of mechanical contraptions of amazing complexity.
Veronique is the clockmaker’s 17 year old daughter. She has just returned from the convent and he is training her in his trade. We then have Jeanne who is the King’s favourite mistress and seemingly lives a life of luxury. The story is based on real characters and involves missing children an event which occurred at the time but could have been just the clearance of the poor from the streets of Paris by the police.
The writing immerses you in the sights, smells and terrible conditions in 18th Century Paris. The poor struggle to survive whilst the rich at Versailles are also wallowing in filth and decay. The mechanical constructions are based on those made by Vaucanson and his digesting duck is mentioned.
The mystery element within the novel I found very interesting and when all was revealed I was surprised and also relieved.
There are interesting historical notes at the end of the novel and also puts some of the true events in context meaning you can measure them up against the story which Anna Mazzola has woven around them. I will be recommending the story and would like to thank the author, the publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read the novel in return for an honest review.

A gothic mystery set in 1750s Paris, full of rumours and secrets. I loved this book, it is atmospheric and disturbing, you are pulled into the very different lives of the 3 women who narrate the story but all have a similar goal of trying to survive and stay ahead of people who would tear them down. The characters are fantastic and complex none are truly good but some are truly evil. The automata are perfectly described in the uncanny valley and I loved the overall unsettling tone of the book which gives it the gothic quality similar to Rebecca. The plot and mystery are brilliant and have so many twists and turns that made this book difficult to put down. Overall it was a great read and I look forward to reading more by the author

I’d like to thank NetGalley and Orion for approving me for an ARC of this book. I buddy read this with a couple of my friends in my book club.

The Clockwork Girl is a dark and gothic read where history is brought to life! Set in Paris we follow young Madeleine who has been sent on a mission at the Reinhart’s house. Posing as a maid it is Madeleine’s job to discover what weird and dangerous creations Reinhart is making and to report it back to the police. Whilst this job is very dangerous for Madeleine it is a chance for her to escape the clutches of her mother and start a new with her nephew.

Madeleine’s story is horribly sad and from the beginning I could understand her motivation to break free of her mother. Working as a prostitute with her mother as her madam is sickening and I can’t understand how any mother could allow that to happen to their children.

Once Madeleine enters the Reinhart’s house it seems her mission is more challenging and complex than she first thought. Could it possibly be that Reinhart isn’t as dangerous as she has been told? It’s not long before Madeleine begins to befriend Reinhart’s daughter Veronique and question where her loyalty lies.

Our other narrators in this story are Veronique and Jeanne. Veronique has had an equally sad childhood and I couldn’t help but sympathise with her. Even as a young woman she is struggling to gain her father’s attention and she desperately wants to work alongside him. Jeanne also known as Madame de Pompadour, is the King’s mistress who is starting to lose favour at the palace. Jeanne will do anything to stay close to the King and remove anyone that gets in her way.

These three fascinating women’s lives are soon intertwined as Reinhart’s final creation is unveiled. Anna Mazzola has seamlessly weaved the fact and the fiction leaving us with a dark and twisted tale that gave me all the spooky vibes!

I really enjoyed this book and even stayed up til 1am to finish it. Madelaine, a daughter of a brothel owner is persuaded by her mother and the police to spy on a clockmaker. She is torn between the desire to get away from her uncaring mother, protect her young nephew, the deceit of spying and the concern for the clockmaker's daughter. All this is set in Paris at the time of unrest.
Although a fictional tale, the author's notes explain what is total fiction and what is based on fact. Mazzola has obviously done a lot of research and this is reflected in the detail and the atmosphere she creates.
This is an honest review of a complementary ARC.

Into the festering world of eighteenth century Paris we move from the debauched atmosphere of the brothel where Madeleine Chastel lives with her mother, sister and young nephew, into the sinister world of Dr Maximilian Reinhart, an expert clock maker, with an interest in creating automaton. Reinhart employs Madeleine, not only as a chambrière, in his house where shadows lurk in every dark corner, but also as a femme de chambre to his seventeen year old daughter, Véronique.

The story moves seamlessly between the mean and moody streets of Paris where children seem to be vanishing into the ether, to the decadent luxury of the French court of Louis XIV, where the King wiles away his time ensconced with Madame de Pompador, his maîtresse-en-titre, whose own obsession in the macabre is never far from the surface. The sinister atmosphere allows a fascinating glimpse into this shadowy world and through it all Madeleine and Véronique try to keep one step ahead of a deadly game.

Beautifully written, The Clockwork Girl is this author writing at her absolute best in a story which takes you whirling back to a long ago era where the streets were dark and the Parisian gutters reeked of sewage and bitter despair.

After the death of their father, Madeleine and her two sisters are forced to work in the brothel run by her mother. The youngest daughter dies in childbirth and Madeleine is scarred by a client, fearful of being cast out Madeleine is forced to become a mouche, a police spy. Sent to work in the household of Doctor Reinhart, an anatomist and clockmaker, Madeleine becomes friendly with his daughter. However as children are going missing in Paris, the Doctor's clockwork models become more and more lifelike - is there a link?
Mazzola is developing into a really compelling writer of historical fiction. The three books have all had very different settings but are linked by a supernatural underpinning. Here the setting is 18th Century Paris where a weak Louis XV is obsessed with science and is ruled by his advisors. The sense of time and place is really strong and the story is not really one about the supernatural but more akin to the ideas of Mary Shelley.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I have chosen to write this honest review voluntarily.
This book is set in Paris at a time when living conditions reflect an enormous divide between rich and poor but the splendour of the palace of Versailles is actually covering filthy, smelly rooms and people. Much is known about this time and place and the book clearly portrays historically accurate facts whilst conveying an undercurrent of the ever-present threat of arrest or disappearance and life lived on the edge of existence. Madeleine comes from a lowly background and is forced into the role of police informer although she comes to like the family she is investigating and reporting on. This book is a mystery in the sense that the reader does not receive confirmation of who is actually controlling the investigation until almost the end of the book but with the disappearing children, the rumours of what happens to them, the mysterious 'living doll or automaton' there is a creeping sense of unease that becomes almost horror. The author has created a novel weaving an unusual, fantastical tale mixed with fact and magic that has left me with a sense of unease, readers be warned!

Paris 1750 - Since her father's death, Madeleine Chastel has been forced to work in her mother's 'Academie', actually a brothel in a seedy part of Paris catering to all tastes and perversions. Now through one of her mother's clients, a police officer, Madeleine has a chance to escape this sordid life. Someone is needed to spy on the household of Dr Reinhart, a maker of fabulous lifelike automatons. Is Reinhart a talented mechanical engineer suitable to be introduced at the court of Versailles, or is he dabbling in black magic?
Wary of revealing herself, Madeleine manages to work her way into the confidence of the household, particularly that of Reinhardt's seventeen year old daughter, Veronique, but she's also troubled by the strange disappearances of young children from the streets. Parisians are growing scared and angry, gossip spreading about who might be abducting the children, and why.

The Clockwork Girl is a chilling, atmospheric novel set in mid-18th century Paris, against the backdrop of real historical events in which children disappeared mysteriously.
The story progresses through the eyes of three women of differing positions in society; Madeleine, now employed as a maid, Veronique, Reinhart's daughter newly returned from a childhood spent in a convent, and Jeanne, Madame de Pompadour, mistress of the king. Through their eyes we're introduced to the extremes of Parisian society - from the lowest depths to the glittering court of Louis XV. It's all too obvious that these two worlds cannot exist beside each other for much longer; that poverty and anger will lead the Parisians to revolt.
It's slightly 'slow burn' in mood. For most of the book the building of atmosphere, the gradually unwinding of Madeleine's back story and her current growing fear of something dreadful hiding in plain sight, take priority over action and dramatic events, but it's these aspects, particularly Madeleine's growing unease, that lend credibility to the plot.

The beautiful cover attracted me to this novel. The storyline had me entranced. A fictional story based on true events in 1750 of The Vanishing children of Paris. Louis XV was obsessed by death and fascinated by automation, so much so that he employed Dr Reinhart to produce an automation.
Madeline was sent by the Police to the home of Dr Reinhart to discover what he was doing and making. Veronica, his daughter, desperately wanted to learn her Fathers trade but he seemed indisposed to teach her.
Thus book transports us from the squalor and deprivation of the streets of Paris to the glittering world of Versailles. Its a slow burner of a novel but well worth reading, it is beautifully written.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Orion publishers for the opportunity to read this advanced copy, I am under no obligation to leave my review

History is brought to life in this stunning story.
Such a wonderful piece of writing, full of intrigue and tense, atmospheric moments.
I loved getting to know Madeline- such a hard life for someone so young. With little choice and support she was drawn into the world of automaton with the Doctor and his daughter, Veronique.
The history of Paris in the 1750’s was fascinating- and the writing so descriptive. The squalor and poverty in Paris compared to the decadence of Versailles was so cleverly written and the development of each character so detailed. The strength of the three main female protagonists was wonderful to read about - their determination to survive in a man’s world.

I love this type of book: a historical novel with a slow-burning and sinister plot. I was instantly transported to 1700s Paris and the life of Madeleine and her young mistress Veronique and as soon as I entered the world I didn’t want to come back out. As the two girls become more wrapped up in the mysterious ongoings of Veronique’s father, an automaton maker, things start to escalate and get wildly out of hand.

Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Macneal’s The Doll Factory.

I was surprised by how much I loved this, it sounded like a book I would enjoy but I didn’t realise how much, this is a haunting and suspenseful read, a twisted gothic tale. This is the story of a maid, a clockmaker and missing children. Anna Mazzola explores the Automata (clockwork machines although a simple explanation) and how they were revered and feared, leading to whispers of witchcraft and black magic. this with how the children are quietly vanishing from the streets of Paris manages to create a chilling air as you read. The clockwork girl is exquisitely told and intricately woven, the suspense will have you guessing right up to the very end. A completely unique story that I thoroughly recommend.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

This book is a magnificent as its cover. A well researched, gripping, and fascinating story that kept me reading.
I fell in love with the style of writing and the storytelling since the first pages and couldn't stop reading.
The characters are fleshed out and fascinating, the historical background is well researched and detailed.
A riveting and gripping historical fiction, the story of women from different social standing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This book was incredible! I absolutely loved it from start to finish! I loved it so much i've gone and bought a physical copy because it needs to be on my shelf, if you love historical fiction i have a feeling you will absolutely love this! Give this a try!

A creepy, gothic, engrossing historical fiction masterpiece! And I’m glad I loved it so much as I preordered the beautiful Waterstones special edition before I read my advance copy.

I was completely immersed in the life of Madeline, the sights, sounds and pretty disgusting smells of Paris during the 18th century and the reign of King Louis XV.

The story is written from the points of view of three ladies from very different backgrounds.

The main narrator is Madeleine, a young prostitute who’s madam is her actual cruel money focussed mother. Madeline is told she must undertake an undercover mission to pretend to be a maid to enable her spy on a talenttted clockmaker and automata maker, Dr Reinhart. Rumours are circulating that he is undertaking unnatural experiments and the police want to know exactly what he is doing. Is he actually doing the unthinkable and taking his knowledge of automatons so far as to try to reanimate the dead?

The second narrator is Veronique, Dr Reinhart’s daughter. Recently returned home from her depressing years being schooled at a convent. Veronique, at her fathers behest, has been studying the human body and organs. She is desperate to become his apprentice.

The third narrator is Jeanne, Madame de Pompadour, the King’s mistress. She feels her useful time is coming to an end as the King tires of her and she is desperate to stay in the court. She needs to find a way to protect her place despite people within the Palace trying to remove her.

Three ladies whose lives, though highly unlikely, become intertwined.

From the gutters of the backstreets of Paris to the Palace and the King himself, this is an extraordinary imagined story based around many true facts, of the fascination of automata at the time and how far the creators go to make their designs as lifelike as possible.

Thank you to Orion books for my advance copy of the book via NetGalley and my spot on the blog tour

This was great! I really enjoyed it. This is a dark and atmospheric mystery set in 1750s Paris, blending magic with real events to create a thoroughly enchanting gothic tale. It took me completely by surprise and kept me guessing right to the end. The characters felt very real and engaging and their alternating POVs made working out the mystery enjoyably difficult. There was so much I liked about this novel; I’ll definitely be reading this one again.

Madeleine and her sisters have suffered all of their lives at the hands of their cruel mother who uses her children to her advantage. When the police offer Madeleine money in exchange for information on the famous clockmaker she takes it as a chance to escape her current life and at once finds herself embroiled in a dark and dangerous world with no way out and no one to turn to for help.

Inspired by the real events of 1750 where children began vanishing from the streets of Paris this deliciously chilling and suspenseful story had me on the edge of my seat, and it’s twists and turns kept me guessing until the very end. The way Paris is described in this book reminded me of the way Maggie O’Farrell describes London in Hamnet. It gave me serious chills.

4.5 stars

I throughly enjoyed this one and I loved the whole concept and the setting for this story! There is something about historical fiction with a darker tone that just appeal to me!

I loved seeing this dark side of Paris and love that this story was influenced by real events with real characters. I also love that this story was told in three female perspectives! Each were distinctive and added to the storytelling.

Overall this was an amazing atmospheric historical fiction that had me gripped!

Thank you so much to the Orionand NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Set in C18th France in the time of Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour et al. We meet our heroine, Madeleine, in her early twenties working as a maid (amongst other things) in a squalid Paris brothel run by her mother. To keep on the good side of the local police chief, her mother offers the astute and resourceful Madeleine as a servant/spy in the home of a strange local watch-maker, whose odd activities are under suspicion. Her mission is to report back on said odd activities - well rewarded if she succeeds, but if she fails…? Meanwhile, there is a spate of disappearances of Parisian working-class children. The poor believe the aristocracy and royals to be the culprits - but is there a connection?

‘The clockwork girl’ is wonderfully evocative of the fetid streets, casual cruelty, corruption, filth, disease and stench of the time (the royal court isn’t much better, just with better clothes and interior decor.) The imagery and sensory detail are intense, the characters are well done, and it’s a pacey read imbued with a pleasurably gothic sense of strange unknown dangers, and tantalising mysteries and clues to puzzle over. Despite a slightly saggy middle, and being sometimes over-written - the stink of piss especially - the plot twists and distinctive characters kept me hooked.

There’s a wealth of recurring imagery to do with dolls, clockwork figures, masks, wigs, costumes - all mimicking and/or covering the real. Wigs, masks and cosmetics all very much of that time fashion-wise of course, but Anna Mazzola places them very much in the psychological realm too, all ultimately embodied in the ‘clockwork girl’ herself. The contrast of so much covering-up (in every sense) by the rich compared with Madeleine’s undisguisable facial scarring, at the hands of an sadistic punter, is ever-present. There’s plenty of relevant social comment too: the ruling class in a cocoon of obscene wealth and decadence; equally obscene poverty, racism and structural injustice, all with a strong feminist underpinning. With three alternating POVs, the impoverished Madeleine, bourgeoise Veronique, the watch-maker’s daughter, and La Pompadour herself, we also get a view from/of all classes, and a presentiment of the context of the revolution to come. Highly astute socially, historically and psychologically, the novel also draws on the Enlightenment scientific thrust at the time, to dispense with religious superstition and advance empirical knowledge - in this case, at any cost.

The story kept me guessing until the end; the unreliable clues and multiple viewpoints mean you’re never quite sure what or who to believe (mirroring the quest of Enlightment enquiry perhaps). It’s quite unrelentingly dark and would perhaps have benefited from a few lighter moments for contrast, but otherwise cleverly done in every way. I hadn’t read anything by Anna Mazzola before but having very much enjoyed seeing her at a book event (she’s highly entertaining) I was keen to check her work out, and am thus grateful for this ARC courtesy of Netgalley.