London, 1899. Thomas Thresher, twenty-three, nominal scion of the noted banking family of that name, should consider himself fortunate, with a bright future to look forward to. But Thomas feels no hope for anything, present or future. His cruel, tyrannical brother, Walter, the bank’s governor, insists that Thomas serve as a clerk, performing pointless tasks, from which he learns nothing, nor is he meant to, a Dickensian touch. Further, Walter demands that he marry a young woman he’s never seen — a Jewess, no less, an idea that repels him.

But Thomas finds it hard to feel sorry for himself, or to feel much of anything, because Walter has manipulated him all his life and discarded him as worthless — except to do his bidding, as with the strange marriage, for no reason Thomas can fathom. He’s allowed no will or character of his own, and you can see the effects.

What’s more, London itself has changed. Violent fogs that slither like giant, amorphous reptiles bludgeon people to death. Thomas has seen this, but there are other horrors he’s only read about, such as women giving birth to rabbits, or people whose spirits have become trapped in horses, furnishings, or articles of clothing. He doubts all these accounts until he starts sprouting leaves.
These abnormalities and others go by the name of Peculiarities, and in stereotypical British fashion, nobody talks about them. Nobody in polite society, anyway, for the worst afflictions beset the lower classes predominantly, a concept Thomas is loath to accept when his purported fiancée, Esther Feldstein, tells him so.

But you know that Thomas must take her seriously, sooner or later, not least because the bank seems implicated in some way — the impenetrable institution, a Dickensian theme. At the same time, he can accomplish nothing unless he takes himself seriously too, a difficult task when he has been ground under his family’s heel.

His progression makes terrific reading; I’m reminded again of Dickens, say, Pip in Great Expectations. You don’t often see a thriller with such an intricate, forceful character arc, let alone a story that also has enough energy from reversals to power a small city. Plenty happens in The Peculiarities, but this is a character-driven novel that explores every emotional transition, and that’s why you care.

The story invokes magic, as you might have guessed, and the plot revolves around the power it confers. But though characters attempt to cast spells, the magic here, as Liss states in the text and repeats in an afterword, doesn’t operate in defiance of natural laws. Rather, it depends on natural laws “previously hidden or generally unknown.” The distinction will become clearer if you read the novel, which I recommend, but I’ll give you one hint. Thomas was on the way toward becoming a first-rate mathematician at Trinity College, Cambridge, until Walter forced him to quit his studies. The skill comes in handy.

Note too the context of the so-called Peculiarities. That the London fog has become deadly violent, instead of the passive killer known to history, suggests environmental disaster writ large. That it attacks poor neighborhoods more often than others reflects a fact reckoned with today but not during the Victorian Age, and that Thomas at first refuses to accept the evidence rings all too true.

How ironic that he’s turning into a tree, as though the forests are taking vengeance for human depredation. And the births of “rabbit children” represent two themes, natal defects from industrial poisons and the attack on reproductive rights. Surely, Liss intends to criticize capitalism in its unbridled state—consider that the central institution here is Thresher’s Bank.

At once a coming-of-age story, a thriller, and historical fantasy, The Peculiarities has much to offer. The plot twists like an eel, sometimes in melodramatic fashion, with one incredible revelation after another. But the prose is beautiful and lucid, and the characters never strike attitudes, as they might in a full-fledged melodrama. Esther proves more than a match for Thomas, one of several friends with whom he never would have bothered had he not been afflicted and chosen to embark on a journey of discovery.

I generally avoid historical fantasy, but such is my admiration for Liss’s previous books, most notably A Conspiracy of Paper (capitalism, again), that I grabbed this novel off the shelf. The results confirm my trust. ( )

David Liss rarely fails to disappoint, and this is another fascinating novel from him. Like The Twelfth Enchantment this has more fantastical elements than his straightforward historical fiction, and also like that one there is a lot going on (perhaps a bit too much) but overall, this is a very solid read. Fans of HBO's "The Nevers" may notice some echoes here! ( )

Nothing like a Victorian story of strange magic and monsters. It took me a while to get into this book, but once Hannibal Hills droll narration caught me, it wouldn’t let go. London’s gray fog seems to hide the Peculiarities. Of course, well-bred London scoffs at this. Money can do that to you, allowing you to ignore problems that impact you because really it is the working people who seem to be most impacted. Except Thomas can’t ignore it, he’s turning into a tree and becomes enmeshed in a world of the occult. And the best part is Thomas turns into a decent person at the end. ( )

Before reading his The Peculiarities, I was unfamiliar with David Liss' work. But recently, my GoodReads friends have been talking a lot about both this book in particular and Liss' work in general, so I requested this title for review—and I'm quite glad I did.

The Peculiarities is a sort of historical mystery-fantasy novel. At the turn of the 20th Century strange things have been happening—the transformation of people into wolves or trees, women giving birth to litters of rabbits, elegent, faceless dead people attacking the poorer classes of London—and all these happenings have been accompanied by strange mists that linger for days, sometimes growing tentacles and attempting to murder people. Liss takes his readers on a wild ride.

I was absolutely fascinated by the first half of this novel. Events got stranger and stranger. I kept asking myself somewhat stunned questions. What is Liss going to throw in next? How are all these disparate elements going to merge into a coherent story?

In the second half of the novel these many elements do come together, though I was almost disappointed that they did. I could have spent hundreds of pages more following Liss into his bizarre alternative London. The fully realized story line was interesting, but somewhat less original than the events leading up to it.

If you like fantasy novels or alternative histories, you're going to love this title. If you've had little experience with these genres, The Peculiarities is a good place to start. Liss will keep you thinking and keep dealing out surprises.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title; the opinions are my own. ( )