New York, 1895. Sylvan Threadgill, a young night soiler who cleans out the privies behind the tenement houses, pulls an abandoned newborn baby from the filth.

Odile and her sister Belle were performers in the Church of Marvels, a Coney Island sideshow, before it burned to the ground. Now Belle has escaped to the city and Odile is growing increasingly concerned about her.

Alphie wakes up groggy and confused in Blackwell’s Lunatic Asylum. She is convinced that her imprisonment is a ruse by her husband’s vile mother.

In a single night, these strangers’ lives will become irrevocably entwined.

This is Parry’s debut novel but you would never guess it from the strength and confidence of her writing. Victorian New York comes alive on the page, the dark nights lit by splashes of dim light from swinging lanterns, the smells and filth of the streets, the seedy glamour of the theatre and the darkness lurking beneath the surface of polite society’s drawing rooms.

Parry’s imagery is so detailed and engrossing that the minute you start reading you’ll find yourself tumbling headfirst into a world so richly detailed that you will be able to smell the sweat on the skin of the character standing next to you.

The atmosphere is superb, ranging from backstage at a theatre show to the seaside to an opium den. Though the writing is beautiful there is no mistaking the grit and sweat underneath it all.

The descriptions are visceral and vibrant. These characters do not inhabit a glamorous world but one where shadows and menace lurk around every corner.

Even if the writing was the only good thing about this book, I still would have enjoyed it immensely. It’s rare to read a book that manages to have brilliant writing, a great plot and amazing characters, but Parry has done just that

The plot is fantastic. Parry has proved adept at weaving together seemingly disparate narrative strands to create one surprising and entirely satisfying story. There are twists aplenty but all of them make perfect sense; none feel as though they are there purely for shock value.

It’s difficult writing a book with alternating viewpoints; inevitably there will be one narrator you enjoy reading more/less than the others. But Parry has managed to create three characters that readers will both sympathise with and enjoy spending time with. Each of the narrators are outsiders in different ways, struggling to find a place where they fit in, and their spirit to survive and the alienation they endure only endears them to the reader.

This is not your average historical novel. It is bizarre and wonderful and intriguing, featuring characters who are usually side-lined. I loved that Parry focused on outcasts, on those whose stories are usually brushed aside in favour of more traditional and recognisable narratives. Parry doesn’t shy away from the terrible hardships of turn of the century New York and nor does she shy away from showing us the intricate and often confused inner workings of her characters. Even though this is a short novel you will come away feeling as though you know each of the characters intimately.

This is a wonderful novel, beautifully written and bizarre and insightful all at once. I highly recommend it.