“I cracked into Alan Clark’s Of Thimble and Threat, expecting to read a chapter or two. Instead, I read the book in a single sitting, drawn in at first by the ingenious form, but kept enraptured by the characters’ humanity and overwhelming sense of verisimilitude. Of Thimble and Threat is no sanitized Victorian Disneyland; it gets right the struggles of the ordinary people of the era, the toxic environs in which they lived (and died), the backbreaking labor conditions, and the laudanum and alcohol-soaked temptations of an age that has been described as the Great Binge. My complements to the author.”
—Ross E. Lockhart, Managing Editor of Nightshade Books
“Author and artist Alan Clark is a master of creating beautiful and frightening things. His writing and his art alike are skillful, moving and nasty in turns. In Of Thimble and Threat, he explores the life of a Ripper victim, a life cut short by violence and marred by poverty. If you know somebody that reads historical fiction, give them the good stuff.”
—Garrett Cook, author of the Murderland series and Jimmy Plush, Teddy Bear Detective
“Of Thimble and Threat” carried me into the emotional life of a Victorian woman at risk, let me live her dreams and losses, and even surprised me when Catherine met her inevitable death at the hands of The Ripper. Brilliant!
—Eric M. Witchey, award-winning writer and author of Beyond the Serpent’s Heart
“Of Thimble and Threat is a terrifically absorbing read. A mature novel and superbly researched. The image of silver in the blood was woven expertly and made the ending luminous and poignant.”
—Simon Clark, author of Vampyrrhic
“Books and movies rarely make me cry, but by the end of Alan M. Clark’s Of Thimble and Threat, I was bawling. In terms of scope and power, this novel feels more akin to Dostoevsky and other heavyweights of Russian literature than any contemporary novel I’ve encountered. Clark draws you into the life and plight of Catherine Eddowes, the third Jack the Ripper victim. However, this is not a novel about Jack the Ripper. This is a novel about one woman and her life in bleak-ass Victorian London. Following Catherine Eddowes from childhood to death, you will fall in love with her even as she plummets down a dark path that inevitably results in self-destruction and unbearable pain for her loved ones. This book swells with so much emotion and is so brilliantly constructed that all I can really say is this: Read it, folks. Read it for good writing. Read it for entertainment. Read it to be a better person. Read it for any reason at all. Whatever your motives, do not miss this book. It’s important.”
—Cameron Pierce, Managing Editor of Lazy Fascist Press
“Of Thimble and Threat is the unexpected tale of an ordinary woman, told by an extraordinary writer.”
—Elizabeth Engstrom, author of Lizzie Borden and York’s Moon
“Of Thimble and Threat is an wonderful little novel that conjures up the real Victorian London. No gleaming steampunk set-pieces are found within its pages, no storylines glorifying well-dressed gentlefolk with their brushed suits, parlor drama, and manicured carriages. Instead, Of Thimble and Threat unflinchingly depicts what life was like for the poor and forgettable in filthy post-Industrial Revolution London, a heartbreaking backdrop indeed for the story of Catherine Eddowes, the fourth victim of Jack the Ripper.
“Clark recreates Eddowes’ life in stunning detail, and the detail is not always pretty. The real Eddowes was not, of course, the plucky heroine of a novel, and to his credit, Clark does not try to make her into one. Instead he gives us a real person, a woman with flaws, whose wants that aren’t always wise or sensible; whose actions are not always admirable. Because Clark gives us such an honest portrait of her, her life, and inevitable death, are that much more tragic: When she dies, it is no stage death. Catherine Eddowes was real, and Clark masterfully brings her back–only to snatch her away again.”
—Molly Tanzer, Managing Editor of Lightspeed and Fantasy Magazine.
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