The Watchmaker of Filigree Street is Natasha Pulley’s first novel, and its intricate, compelling story line and endearing characters mean her career will surely be one worth following. The combination of stuffy British bureaucracy with exotic Japanese influences makes the setting a delight to explore with our protagonist Thaniel.

Thaniel is a young clerk in an entry level position at the Home Office, and he spends his days sending and receiving telegraphs in a job he never wanted and living a dreary life in Victorian London. He’s a synesthete and a brilliant piano player, and about as badly suited to the tedium of the government office as it’s possible to be. He needs his world to be shaken up a bit, and Irish Republicans are only too happy to oblige when they set off a huge explosion near his office.

Strangely, Thaniel narrowly misses being blown up as a mysterious clockwork watch that fell into his possession sets off a deafening alarm just ahead of the bombing. The police investigation into the attack sends Thaniel in the direction of the watch’s creator, a shy and incredibly talented Japanese watchmaker called Mori. Thaniel soon finds himself leaving behind his gloomy lodgings to live with Mori and his handsy clockwork octopus Katsu.

As the Home Office’s investigations point increasingly towards Mori as the perpetrator of the bombing, Thaniel is torn between his growing affection for the watchmaker and his sense of duty. He’s also starting to notice some unusual things about Mori. It’s almost as if the clockwork genius knows what you’re going to say before you do.

The fast paced story propels us on an adrenaline-fuelled ride around London; through a fireworks shop in the city’s Japanese village, via a punch up in an Underground train tunnel, down into a fume-filled basement laboratory, with a kidnapping, an arranged marriage and an operetta all thrown in for good measure.

If you’re looking for an unusual page turner with more twists than a 1960’s dance hall, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street won’t disappoint. This is a good first book that hints at an author who will produce great books in the future; Pulley is currently in Peru researching and finishing her second book, which I cannot wait to read.