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
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