Set in Ratcliffe Highway in 1897, a young boy named Jaffy Brown finds himself face-to-face with an escaped Bengal tiger. It is through Jaffy’s naivety, and therefore his fearlessness, that he walks up to the creature and pats it on the nose. Only by the intervention of the tiger’s owner, Mr Jamrach, who removes the boy from its clutches, does he escape relatively unscathed. Extraordinarily, as Birch points out in her acknowledgements, this event did in fact occur in real life! The vast majority of the story, however, is fictional.

‘Part 1’ (the book is divided into three parts) explores Jaffy’s life working in Mr Jamrach’s Menagerie, and his natural flair in dealing with animals. Birch’s colourful use of description creates a wonderful sense of the smells, sights and sounds of the filthy Victorian streets of Bermondsey, where Jaffy is forced to peel pennies from the walls of sewers; and of Wapping waterfront, squelching barefoot amongst the taverns and market stall squalor. From the title, this is the story I expected. A story based around the collection of ‘the world’s strangest creatures’, accepting the fact that Jaffy would at some point step aboard a ship, as the back of the book’s dust-jacket suggests. This, however, is where the menagerie element ends, and indeed Mr Jamrach himself does not feature again until the very end of the story.

The basis for the sea voyage (which comprises the entirety of the pages to follow) is a mission to the Indonesian islands in order to capture an elusive and fierce creature coveted by a wealthy Englishman. Jamrach commissions the successful naturalist, Dan Rymer, for the voyage, and Jaffy, along with his child-hood friend, Tim, offer their assistance. Capture of the creature, along with the sailor’s experiences of whaling, are quite enthralling. The characters are well-rounded, and dialogue amusing and very readable.

I found myself reading this book quite contentedly during the initial few chapters; contemplating what an interesting and fun read it might make as a bedtime story for an eight year-old, perhaps. It seemed to be one of those stories with universal appeal, such as Lord of the Rings, for example; although admittedly of an entirely different genre. I certainly didn’t anticipate the swift departure from both the upbeat content of the book, and consequently my assumption that it would be a good choice for a child!

Whilst the writing remains gripping throughout, the story does take a very dark turn. Without wishing to reveal too much, I think it is worth warning any potential readers that this book does contain graphic scenes of cannibalism, and the faint-hearted among us may not make it to the end (literarily-speaking of course). Birch has a way of writing with such lucidity, that it’s not difficult to be drawn into her world, allowing the suspense and misery to become quite overwhelming to the reader at times. That said, if you have the stomach for it, this story is one of great imagination, and comradeship. The heart-breaking experiences of the characters remind the reader that whilst indeed the writer is presenting fictional characters, the trials they face would have been very real for sailors at the time.

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