A Very Unusual Pursuit
City of Orphans (Bogle) Series
Author: Catherine Jinks
Book 1 in the City of Orphans (Bogle) series
Pages: 330
Published: 2013
Age: 11+
If ever a chill entered her soul, or the hope suddenly drained from her heart, she knew a bogle was to blame.
Birdie McAdam, a ten-year-old orphan, is tougher than she looks. She's proud of her job as apprentice to Alfred the Bogler, a man who catches monsters for a living. Birdie lures the bogles out of their lairs with her sweet songs, and Alfred kills them before they kill her. On the mean streets of Victorian England, hunting bogles is actually less dangerous work than mudlarking for scraps along the vile river Thames. Or so it seems—until the orphans of London start to disappear . . .
Please Note: A Very Unusual Pursuit has been published in the United States under the title How to Catch a Bogle.
About the City of Orphans (Bogle) Series
Books in series order
- 1.A Very Unusual Pursuit(2013)
- 2.A Very Peculiar Plague(2013)
- 3.A Very Singular Guild(2014)
Reading age: 11+ years
This series should be read in order.
Monsters have been infesting London’s dark places for centuries, eating every child who gets too close. That’s why ten-year-old Birdie McAdam works for Alfred Bunce, the bogler. With her beautiful voice and dainty looks, Birdie is the bait that draws bogles from their lairs so that Alfred can kill them.
One life-changing day, Alfred and Birdie are approached by two very different women. Sarah Pickles runs a local gang of pickpockets, three of whom have disappeared. Edith Eames is an educated lady who’s studying the mythical beasts of English folklore. Both of them threaten the only life Birdie’s ever known. But Birdie soon realises she needs Miss Eames’s help to save her master, defeat Sarah Pickles and vanquish an altogether nastier villain.
Please Note: The City of Orphans series is published in some countries, including the United States, as the Bogle series.