The Whalebone Theatre: A Read with Jenna Pick: A novelNEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A TODAY SHOW #ReadWithJenna BOOK CLUB PICK • A transporting, irresistible debut novel that takes its heroine, Cristabel Seagrave, from a theatre made of whalebones to covert operations during World War II—a story of love, family, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation. “Absolute aces...Quinn’s imagination and adventuresome spirit are a pleasure to behold.” —The New York Times “Utterly heartbreaking and joyous.” —Jo Baker, author of Longbourn One 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 household—her sister, Flossie; her brother, Digby, long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor; Maudie Kitcat, kitchen maid; Taras, visiting artist—build a theatre from the beast’s 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 France—a more dangerous kind of playacting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart. |
Contents
Prodigal Brother | 18 |
Entreaties | 31 |
A Sleeping Woman | 45 |
The Boxing Day Hunt | 59 |
Afterwards | 73 |
A Hunters Moon | 88 |
The Arrival of the God Poseidon | 109 |
Welcome to Chilcombe | 122 |
Noises Off | 177 |
Maudie Kitcats Diary | 194 |
Enter the Whale | 211 |
Parties | 225 |
to C | 238 |
Postcard | 256 |
Incomplete Letter | 269 |
Exhibition Catalogue | 283 |
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Common terms and phrases
Annabel Antigone arms arrived asks attic beach bedroom beneath Betty Brewer brother Chilcombe cigarette comes Crista Cristabel says dark darling Digby's door Dorchester Dorset dress Édouard empty eyes face feels floor France French front German Gestapo girl glass hair hand head hear holding Île Saint-Louis Iliad imagine Jasper Jean-Marc kitchen Kovalsky laughs lawn leans leave Leon Lieselotte London look Madame Bovary Maudie Miss Cristabel Mlle Aubert mother never night nods paint Paris Perry Philly play Préfecture pulls replies says Cristabel says Digby says Flossie says Myrtle says Rosalind says the Veg says Willoughby Seagrave Sekhmet shakes shouts sits sleep smiles someone Sophie stands stay sure talk tell theatre There's things train trees tucked turns Uncle Willoughby village voice WAAF waiting walks watch wearing Wehrmacht Weymouth whale window woman women wooden