A Very Peculiar Plague
City of Orphans (Bogle) Series
Author: Catherine Jinks
Book 2 in the City of Orphans (Bogle) series
Pages: 376
Published: 2013
Age: 11+
Eleven-year-old Jem Barbary spent his early life picking pockets for a canny old crook named Sarah Pickles. Now she's betrayed him, and Jem wants revenge. He also wants to work for Alfred Bunce the bogler, who kills the child-eating monsters that lurk in the city's cellars and sewers. But Alfred is keen to give up bogling, since he almost lost his last apprentice, Birdie McAdam.
When numerous children start disappearing around Newgate Prison, Alfred and Jem agree to join forces, waging an underground war. They even seek help from Birdie, dragging her away from the safe and comfortable home she's found with Miss Edith Eames. Together they learn that there's only one thing more terrifying than facing a whole plague of bogles – and that's facing some of the sinister people from Jem's past . . .
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.