The Candlelit Menagerie

September 1, 2020
Set in late eighteenth-century London, Brown's debut centers around six-foot-tall Lillian, who is working as a lady's maid when she discovers Grady's Menagerie, home to a wide array of animals. Lillian is immediately taken with the lion, Leonidas, while the owner of the menagerie, Edward Grady, is equally taken with her. He offers her a job at the emporium, which Lillian happily accepts, determined to improve the living conditions of the animals. Lillian cuts her hair short and takes to wearing trousers, feeling free for the first time in her life, and, to her great surprise, she attracts a suitor in John Button, the serious, thoughtful assistant to the veterinarian who treats Grady's animals. Lillian agrees to marry Button after extracting a promise from him that she can continue her work at Grady's Menagerie, but when tragedy strikes and Lillian finds solace in raising a baby chimpanzee, it puts a strain on their new marriage. Vibrantly capturing the hustle and bustle of the era, Brown's novel will appeal to animal lovers and historical fiction aficionados alike.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)