The Ingenious Edgar Jones

During the mid 1800's, at the time of the Victorian Industrial Revolution, an unusual baby boy is born to a barmaid and an Oxford University watchman. This incredibly odd boy named Edgar Jones arrives into the world with a fur lined spine and a feisty personality of unbound curiosity and strength. From his toddler years into his early teens, Edgar is a willful unruly boy forever challenging everyone's patience. He shows no aptitude for learning his books, but oddly enough, is talented in ways of ingenious invention. Edgar is a tinkerer, he has a keen eye for solving problems of steel and iron and can unravel and rebuild any gadget or invention put in front of him at the blink of an eye. Shrugging the life of a scholar, his early years are spent working with the local blacksmith, as apprentice to the bellows and fire that melt and mold the town's wares of iron. Seeing this boy's potential, a local professor buys Edgar's apprenticeship from the blacksmith and brings him to Oxford's grounds where a monumental gothic natural history museum is being erected. Edgar finds himself in his element, surrounded by steel girders, gothic arches and flying buttresses. There he swings high in the rafters and climbs ratlines of monstrous metal, assisting other steelworkers to create one of Oxford's greatest architectural wonders, and proves his young brain is more than talented. But sadly when the project is finished, Edgar is discarded by the professor he came to love as mentor, and tossed aside to apprentice again as an assistant to a local inventor. A local merchant with a shop to keep, the inventor retrains Edgar to now hone his talents towards creating mechanical toys, timepieces, and scientific instruments. This is a bittersweet story of a boy misunderstood by his simpleminded God-fearing parents, a tale of a boy born for destiny and fame at the wrong time and place. Inner demons haunt Edgar's dreams, his secret wish to once and for all prove his worth to his father who is easy to condemn his achievements and squash his dreams, and gain respect among his mentors, torment him day and night. Frustration and revenge soon invade Edgar's heart when time after time his abilities are disregarded. At a time when Christianity still reigned over science and technology, moral and religious ethics enter the story offering the reader an insight to Victorian philosophy and into the views on what will soon become the age of invention, and the shocking realization of mankind's birth and evolution. In trying to prove himself among his peers, and at the same time retaliate against his enemies, tragedy strikes in an innocent accident causing disaster. Edgar's life is at stake, questions of legal and moral rights for a child come into play. Edgar's innocence, and the negligence of his parent's guidance are thrown before a judge and jury, this innovative heartbreaking novel now becomes intense as the court brings the reader a startling verdict. Readers will love the

Elizabeth Garner's dense and rich historical allegory is not your typical light summer read. This novel boldly tackles some big issues--scientific progress and its struggle against entrenched religious values, the innocence of childhood, father-son relationships, the gendered politics of domesticity--all within the narrative of a presumably sweet young boy who just might be the devil incarnate. Needless to say, this one will challenge you. *The Ingenious Edgar Jones* is the kind of novel I wish I were reading in a literature class--this novel requires discussion, debate, and collaborative interpretation. As soon as I finished it, I felt an immediate urge to talk to someone about it. Although the story itself is rather straightforward, there is just so much there to ponder and chew on. Is Edgar a 19th-century Icarus who dared to fly too high on his dreams of invention? Is he a demon spawn sent to destroy the religious foundations of early 19th-century culture? Or is he simply a sweet, innocent boy doomed to shoulder the burdens of society's ignorance? Garner has woven a strong, thought-provoking narrative in the Dickensian tradition. I'm eager for her next novel.

I got a copy of this in England, and really enjoyed it. It's set in Victorian Oxford, so the story (birth and youth of Edgar) is against a historical backdrop of class snobbery and manners, the contemporary debates and discoveries about evolution and also the development of the industrial revolution - that skills and technology can change the world and what role a person can play. But all these ideas are handled lightly - Edger and his family and the people in his world are all real characters, and the architecture and geography of Oxford itself is a solid physical world. If you know the town of Oxford, or are interested in it, then this is a great snapshot recreating a historical moment, while the story itself takes flight with the power of a child's imagination to transform. It's supposed to be coming out in the US at some point, so look out for it.