Book Review – Little Spark by Jess Kidd

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About the Book

A secret cannot stay locked away forever

Bodkin Bell, orphan, pickpocket and survivor, doesn’t know where she came from, but she knows she’s different. Gaslights flare as she walks past. Cutlery spins. Shocks fly from her fingertips.

For years, she was ‘Little Spark’, the star of an electrifying sideshow – until the act went too far and she ended up in a London gaol.

Now she’s been offered a way out. A chance to serve at Point Mote, a vast, desolate house marooned on the misty Kent marshes. There, she will assist a reclusive family of cunning inventors in the creation of automata: miraculous, lifelike machines for which gentlemen collectors will pay handsomely.

But this house of wonders hides mysteries too. As Bodkin starts to question why she is really there, she unearths secrets that have been buried bone-deep for years – and a truth beyond all imagining. One that was never meant to be found.

Format: Hardcover (352 pages) Publisher: Canongate Books
Publication date: 13th August 2026 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

If you’re freaked out by the idea of automata so realistic you could mistake them for the real thing or so grotesque you’ll wonder at the mind that conceived them, then prepared to be unnerved by some of the machines created by the former owner of Point Mote and its new heir, Ramshaw. And, as it turns out, that’s not the worst of it because there are even more sinister things going on.

This is the world in which Bodkin finds herself, chosen to serve part of her prison sentence – the result of a momentary loss of control – in a huge but rather dilapidated manor house on the Kent marshes surrounded by high walls to keep interlopers out – or perhaps to keep the inhabitants in.

Bodkin’s unclear exactly why she’s there, presuming it’s pure chance she was selected by the formidable Lady Hesperia Halsey, Ramshaw’s aunt. But even a gloomy old house is better than prison plus she’s confident that Cornelius Bell, the man who has been her mentor since she was a child, will arrive to rescue her. Indeed, she’s convinced her transfer to Point Mote is all part of his plan. But is Cornelius, a proven trickster, gambler and teller of tall tales, someone she can rely on?

I loved Bodkin. She’s determined, resilient and resourceful. However, the unique physical characteristic that made her such a theatrical marvel sets her apart from others, in more ways than one. ‘She lives with a chest which jangles like a fistful of spoons, hums like a hive, ripples like a bucket of eels. A heart that doesn’t beat so much as teeters and skids like a spinning top on a wet floor.’ In the course of the book Bodkin learns things about her early life, things that have up until now existed as mere fragments of memory.

Point Mote is a house of secrets – many of them macabre – and a place of tragic events. Its eerie atmosphere is combined with an element of madness and obsession. This is a time when scientific experimentation overlapped with the desire of the rich for sensation, the more excessive and outlandish the better. If you’ve read the author’s earlier book Things In Jars you’ll know the kind of thing I mean.

If you reckon you’ve got it all figured out be prepared for a few surprises. Little Spark is a brilliantly atmospheric, deliciously creepy mystery with a completely captivating main character.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Canogate via NetGalley.

In three words: Atmospheric, sinister, engaging
Try something similar: The Weather Woman by Sally Gardner

About the Author

Jess Kidd was brought up in London as part of a large family from County Mayo. She is the author of several acclaimed novels for adults including Himself, The Hoarder, Things in Jars and The Night Ship, and a book for children, Everyday Magic. In 2017, Kidd won the Costa Short Story Award and in 2020 she was picked by The Times as one of the best emerging Irish writers. (Photo: Author website)

Connect with Jess
Website | Instagram

#WWWWednesday – 5th August 2026

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Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

What I’m Currently Reading

Conqueror (Agricola #4) by Simon Turney (Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Following years of distinguished military and political exploits, Agricola has been rewarded with control of Aquitania by the Emperor Vespasian.

But Agricola’s greatest glories have always come in that rainy northern corner of the Empire: Britannia. When Vespasian sends him back to Britannia, this time as governor, he has a chance to cement his place in Roman history.

To conquer Britannia completely Agricola must overcome its many Celtic tribes. The Ordovices have massacred a Roman cavalry unit. The Selgovae and Damnonii resist Imperial rule fiercely. And he must take them on with ever fewer troops due to a series of changes at the heart of Roman power.

Failure will mean disgrace or death, but if he should succeed, Agricola will be forever lauded among the pantheon of Rome’s heroes.

Trials of the Heart by Stephen Wade (Northodox Press)

Will the forbidden fruits of their labours come to light?

As the end of the Second World War nears its close, a tense mood surrounds Leeds. Karel Letnov faces the noose at the Leeds assizes. Accused of a string of suspicious killings in the peaceful village of Forley, a war-ravaged community contemplates its future.

Clara nursed Karel back to health following the evacuations from Dunkirk at the start of hostilities. So when her husband, Tom, is found murdered, rumours of a secret relationship abound. 

Alyse Rose, a singer with Ken Kershaw’s dance band, becomes enraptured by the case when it is revealed that Kershaw and Karel were perhaps more than friends.

Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams (Pan Macmillan)

Sarah Wynn-Williams, a young diplomat from New Zealand, pitched for her dream job. She saw Facebook’s potential and knew it could change the world for the better. But, when she got there and rose to its top ranks, things turned out a little different.

From wild schemes cooked up on private jets to risking prison abroad, Careless People exposes both the personal and political fallout when boundless power and a rotten culture take hold. In a gripping and often absurd narrative, Wynn-Williams rubs shoulders with Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and world leaders, revealing what really goes on among the global elite – and the consequences this has for all of us.

Candid and entertaining, this is an intimate memoir set amid powerful forces. As all our lives are upended by technology and those who control it, Careless People will change how you see the world.

What I’ve Just Read

The Knife Maker of Venice by David Gilman (Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

1604. As pirates seeking slaves to sell in the markets of North Africa terrorise the coasts of Europe, headstrong Richard Sheriff and his sister Elizabeth are torn from their Devonshire home and thrust into a waking nightmare.

Richard’s skills as a blacksmith see him fetch a high price, but the pirate captain has other plans for Elizabeth and once they are separated, Richard has no idea of his sister’s fate. They must both learn to survive on a deadly voyage into the unknown.

Sold into servitude in Venice: glittering, vicious city of secrets, he is apprenticed to a knife maker. Richard’s talents soon win him renown… but haunted by his sister’s absence, he vows never to stop looking for her, knowing she would do the same for him.

First he must survive that city of ghosts. Will the siblings live to see each other again, or will they join the myriads lost to Venice, where life is cheap, profit is all, and escape nigh-on impossible? (Review to follow)

What I’ll Be Reading Next

A Shroud of Snow (Bradecote and Catchpoll #14) by Sarah Hawskwood (ARC, Allison & Busby)

December, 1145. Hamelin Isenmongere, a trader in iron and charcoal, is considered by many to be the most popular man in Worcester. Why then is he found on the quayside near his warehouse with his head beaten in?

As winter bites, Undersheriff Hugh Bradecote, Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin are on the trail of a killer. However, they must tread cautiously when the trail of evidence leads them back to Worcester Ccastle itself where William de Beauchamp is more concerned that they seek out a spy within its walls. It is up to the Sheriff’s men to discover whether the murder was an act of betrayal by someone close to home, or one that casts a shadow over the fight for England’s crown.