The Thief on The Winged Horse by Kate Mascarenhas

I would like to thank Head of Zeus for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Head of Zeus

Published – 12th November

Price - £18.99 Hardback £5.59 Kindle eBook

The Kendrick family have been making world-famous dolls for over 200 years. But their dolls aren't coveted for the craftsmanship alone. Each one has a specific emotion laid on it by its creator. A magic that can make you feel bucolic bliss or consuming paranoia at a single touch. Though founded by sisters, now only men may know the secrets of the workshop.

Persephone Kendrick longs to break tradition and learn her ancestors' craft, and when a handsome stranger arrives claiming doll-making talent and blood ties to the family, she sees a chance to grasp all she desires.

But then, one night, the firm's most valuable doll is stolen. Only someone with knowledge of magic could have taken her. Only a Kendrick could have committed this crime...

Change has been on my mind this week. We can easily accept unnatural situations as normal despite how that puts some segments of our world down but eventually something can upset that situation. Those moments can be unpredictable and transformative. In Kate Mascarenhas’ intriguing The Thief on the Winged Horse we get a strange magical situation in miniature where tradition, family secrets and a desire for change bring down the status quo.

From the first page you’ll notice a small hint that this book is a world that isn’t quite our own. It outlines the family history of Kendricks Workshop that we are told sells magic dolls and amongst the family members we have a Head Sorcerer. In the 19th century four sisters in Oxfordshire created a workshop and became famous for selling dolls that offered charms – intense feelings of emption you experience once you touch them – courage, fear, delirium. Perhaps not quite what everyone would give their children, but they became highly prized – in the wars many young men would get a courage doll, so they are these days highly valuable pieces of merchandise that many would love to have secrets of. Now the firm is run by men and all it’s sorcerers are men – that’s just based on merit of course. Women are valuable to the running of the firm just not in charge or handling the magic.

This all changes when we get a strange interloper Larkin arriving out of nowhere claiming to be a lost family descendent and wanting to start learning the art of dollmaking. This puts him in the orbit of two women Persephone and Hedwig. Persephone is the daughter of the black sheep of the family Briar, a violent drunk, yet she stays resolute on the island and hungers desperately to learn the magical side of the business and is gently but firmly refused by the management. Hedwig works for the current owner of the business but in the role of housekeeper which as well as petty cleaning also looks at accounting, investments and she desperately wants more but Cedric the business owner politely tolerates her ideas to a point – his love of tradition means she can’t really go much further too in the family firm and her role is based on her boss deciding to tolerate her. But Larkin’s arrival leads to conflict, relationships and a theft that upsets the dynamics that run this firm and potentially suggest a family myth based around the fae has been awakened.

What I loved about this novel is that strangely appropriate for a tale of dolls it looks at the world in miniature. We have this strange cut-off community that lives on a small island and is primarily all related working on one key industry. It has a feel of quaintness with an old-fashioned till and store and everything Kendricks make is handmade. But look closely and Mascarenhas shows us a small c conservative mindset – women are very firmly in their place; heterosexuality is encouraged and domestic violence while disproved of may lead to a blind eye rather than condemnation. As many characters note a business that started with four women is now a distinctly male governed world. In some ways this may feel old-fashioned to our eyes but women’s ideas being openly taken over by men and glass ceilings in companies are not yet consigned to our history either.

To make this tale come alive we have this triumvirate of three characters. Persephone, Hedwig, and Larkin who decide to take the situations that follow their arrival on the island. Hedwig at 19 is wonderfully ready to do a lot more I the world bright, a tad ruthless and yet trapped as a housekeeper and committed to a parent that gambles money away. Persephone is a woman who saw the breakup of her family caused by her father Briar’s alcoholism and she was never allowed to learn any skills despite some natural talent towards making dolls. She could easily have a quitter and less disruptive life away from the island but stays fixed on her goal even if this means she can’t really find any relationships (or admit openly to her bisexuality). Finally we get the mysterious Larkin – who knows the family history; is very skilled already and is secretive about his own past. We know he has an agenda but not sure if it is revenge for a family slight or something more mercenary, Hedwig can see his slightly duplicitous nature can aid a scheme to possibly make her rich enough to get a life of her own while Persephone sees someone who can help her improve her craft and explore magic. Larkin sees in both opportunities for his own ends. These relationships are for me the hook of the novel as you want to find out how their schemes will finally change things.

I loved the dynamics of the relationships in the novel. Very much focused on the subtext of what people do and say rather than what they may openly tell each other. Hedwig’s ideas are criminally minded but considering how she has been dismissed you may end up admiring rather than disproving while with Persephone what appears devotion to the family firm becomes more a case of a woman who wants to prove that she herself has value and skill. Which may inspire more to follow suit. This is a tale of intrigue, secrets and family rivalries that have created a toxic world that is about to finally shift and the changes to come will be marked.

The last element that pulls you in is the atmosphere that Mascarenhas creates. Its primarily a world like ours but the magic of the dolls is linked to a tale of a strange character known as the The Thief who appears often to cause trouble for the family and has a focus on certain women. Its never quite clear if The Thief is an actual fae power linked to the power or perhaps a family myth used to explain women who don’t follow the rules. It makes the tale feel unworldly and just perhaps Hedwig and Persephone have a hidden ally. Another piece of intrigue to pick apart as the story unfurls.

This is a very accomplished piece of contemporary fantasy exploring sexism and a desire to be more than what the world tells you to be. I was wowed by Mascarenhas’ previous novel The Psychology of Time Travel and again we get a tale of innovative worlds, strong characters in orbit around each other and some sharp and perceptive explorations of our own world. Highly recommended.