Through Dickensian allusions, including tumbledown cottages, char acters with aptronymic names, and surprising turns of fortune, Umansky tells a tongue-in-cheek Victorian tale of Solomon Snow, abandoned on the doorstep of a poor village couple—with a silver spoon in his mouth. When Solomon eventually sets off to solve the mystery of his identity, he is aided by two sharp-witted girls, one a budding writer, the other a circus sideshow runaway. Together with some plucky Oliver Twist–type orphans, the main characters provide a melodramatic romp (announced with chap ter division placards) while also managing to convey some of the bleakness of nineteenth-century cities . nlr

Originally published by Puffin Great Britain, in 2004.