The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
In 1883, Thaniel Steepleton returns to his tiny flat to find a gold pocketwatch on his pillow. But he has worse fears than generous burglars; he is a telegraphist at the Home Office, which has just received a threat for what could be the largest-scale Fenian bombing in history. When the watch saves Thaniel's life in a blast that destroys Scotland Yard, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori--a kind, lonely immigrant who sweeps him into a new world of clockwork and music. Although Mori seems harmless at first, a chain of unexpected events soon proves that he must be hiding something. Meanwhile, Grace Carrow is sneaking into an Oxford library dressed as a man. A theoretical physicist, she is desperate to prove the existence of the luminiferous ether before her mother can force her to marry. As the lives of these three characters become entwined, events spiral out of control until Thaniel is torn between loyalties, futures and opposing geniuses. Utterly beguiling, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street blends historical events with dazzling flights of fancy to plunge readers into a strange and magical past, where time, destiny, genius--and a clockwork octopus--collide.
Themes & atmosphere
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The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
Thaniel Steepleton is a Home Office telegraphist in 1883 London when a strange gold pocket watch turns up on his pillow. Six months later the watch saves his life from a Fenian bomb, and Thaniel goes looking for its maker, a quiet Japanese clockmaker named Keita Mori on Filigree Street.
Yes. Natasha Pulley has continued the world with The Lost Future of Pepperharrow (2020) and The Mars House (2024). Each can be read as a standalone, though shared characters reward in-order reading.
Partly. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is set in 1880s London with steampunk-leaning elements. The Japanese watchmaker character draws on Meiji-era cultural exchange. The novel blends literary fiction and speculative fiction.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street was written by Natasha Pulley, published in 2015 by Thorndike Press.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is 336 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street takes most readers 5 to 7 hours to finish.
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.