Mr. Timothy [Hardcover]

Tiny Tim is back! No, not the squeaky-voiced troubadour who tip-toed through tulips in the 1960s, but the original--Timothy Cratchit, the crutch-wielding tyke from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Only now he's a "mostly able-bodied" 23 years old, resides in a London whorehouse in exchange for tutoring the madam, struggles to wean himself from financial dependence on his ancient "Uncle" Ebenezer Scrooge, and, as we learn in Louis Bayard's darkly enchanting historical thriller, Mr. Timothy, is haunted by the spirit of his late father--a man whose optimism and strength the son feels himself incapable of imitating.

When we first encounter Timothy, during the Christmas season of 1860, he's vexed by the discovery of two dead 10-year-old girls, each branded with the letter "G"--one found in an alley, the other fished from the Thames River by Cratchit and a voluble old salt who makes his money by finding (and then robbing, of course) errant corpses. Timothy's concern leads him to protect a third possessively marked waif, the frightened and suspicious Philomela--who, he soon realizes, is being sought by a knife-loving former Scotland Yard inspector and a moneyed, malevolent voluptuary. When, despite precautions, Philomela is kidnapped by her pursuers, Cratchit--assisted by a shrewd warbling urchin known as Colin the Melodious--resolves to fulfill his "great calling" in life by mounting a rescue. However, this mission will force the habitually uncourageous Timothy to not only defend himself against sexual molestation charges, storm a well-guarded mansion, and solve the puzzle of a coffin-filled basement, but also engage in a nightmarish final chase along London's docklands.

Authors employing real-life characters as detectives are often hampered by their adherence to historical fact. Bayard suffers no such limitations in imagining what fates awaited Dickens's now-famous fictional figures. Under his pen, Scrooge--whose rooms are decorated for Christmas year-round--becomes an eccentric collector of fungi and host to an interminable stream of charity solicitors, while Timothy Cratchit strikes out beyond his lonely young man status to become the head of an unconventional clan. Bayard's appreciation for the lurid exoticness of Victorian London rivals that of John MacLachlan Gray (The Fiend in Human), while his lyrical prose subtly suggests 19th-century influences. Mr. Timothy is at once a compelling Christmas crime yarn and an audacious literary endeavor. No humbug there. --J. Kingston Pierce

Bayard's first two novels (Fool's Errand; Endangered Species) were contemporary romantic comedies, a far cry from his third, an audacious and triumphant entertainment that imagines the post-Christmas Carol life of Tiny Tim, transformed from an iconic representation of innocent suffering ("the iron brace was bought by a salvager long ago, and the crutch went for kindling") into a fully realized young adult struggling to find his place in a cruel world. Having lost his parents and become estranged from his remaining family as well from as reformed Ebenezer Scrooge, Mr. Timothy Cratchit has found a niche in a brothel as the tutor to its madam. Haunted by his failure to connect with his father, as well as by his father's ghost, Timothy has developed a thick skin to guard against the oppressive misery endemic to 1860s London. His defenses are penetrated when he encounters Philomela, a 10-year-old waif who has been mysteriously abused. With the assistance of a singing street urchin called Colin the Melodious and a maimed retired seafarer, he pursues the source of her torment and its connection with another child whose branded body was dumped in an obscure alley. The quest becomes more quixotic when evidence points to the aristocracy, abetted by a corrupt police force, but with Philomela taking an active role, the quartet narrow in on their target. With surprising but plausible twists, and a visceral, bawdy evocation of Victorian London, Bayard has crafted a page-turner of a thriller that is elevated beyond its genre by its endearingly flawed hero for whom nothing human is alien.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Timothy Cratchit is Tiny Tim no more in Bayard's inventive updating of the Dickens character's life after Christmas Carol. Grieving his recently deceased father and attempting to free himself of the financial support of "Uncle" Ebenezer, Timothy (no longer tiny and free of his crutch) is living in a brothel, where he earns his board by teaching the madame to read. Mostly, though, he bemoans his mistreatment of his father, whom he ridiculed for his sentimentalized view of the world. Then young Timothy, hard-boiled wanna-be, encounters a 10-year-old waif, Philomena, and turns all gooey himself, desperate to help her avoid the gutter. Soon Timothy and another street urchin he befriends are attempting to expose a child-porn ring run by some of London's most powerful men. The transition from character study to historical thriller is a bit awkward, but Bayard drenches the reader in the underbelly of 1860s London and, in true Dickensian fashion, makes us care passionately about the fates of his characters, even to the point of overlooking an improbable turn or three. A first-rate entertainment. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

“[A] dazzling blend of literary fiction and white-knuckle thriller.” (People (four-star review) )

“Inventive and amusing.” (New York Times Book Review )

“This mix of thriller and literature is as rich as a Christmas cake…a spirited adventure. ” (Atlanta Journal-Constitution )

“The voice and intelligence behind the book are a real marvel.” (Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife and Four Spirits )

“...all of the moral passion of a Dickens novel but none of the quaint sentimentality.” (Gary Krist, bestelling author of Extravagance )

“Mr. Timothy is a spirited and absorbing thriller and Louis Bayard is a very talented writer.” (Kevin Baker, author of Paradise Alley )

“...a satisfying, gruesome thriller and a moving meditation on fathers, sons, and the making of a family.” (Sarah Smith, bestselling author of "The Vanished Child" )

“There isn’t one throwaway sentence in this fabulous Victorian mystery ...a subtle character examination and a page-turning plot.” (Entertainment Weekly )

“Audacious...triumphant entertainment ...a page-turner of a thriller.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

“A first-rate entertainment.” (Booklist )

“A divinely crafted novel.” (Denver Post )

“Clever…sly…wonderful.” (Washington Post )

Welcome to the world of a grown-up Timothy Cratchit, as created by the astonishing imagination of author Louis Bayard.

Mr. Timothy Cratchit has just buried his father. He's also struggling to bury his past as a cripple and shed his financial ties to his benevolent "Uncle" Ebenezer by losing himself in the thick of London's underbelly. He boards at a brothel in exchange for teaching the mistress how to read and spends his nights dredging the Thames for dead bodies and the treasures in their pockets.

Timothy's life takes a sharp turn when he discovers the bodies of two dead girls, each seared with the same cruel brand on the upper arm. The sight of their horror-struck faces compels Timothy to become the protector of another young girl, the enigmatic Philomela. Spurred on by the unwavering enthusiasm of a street-smart, fast-talking homeless boy who calls himself Colin the Melodious, Timothy soon finds that he's on the trail of something far worse -- and far more dangerous -- than an ordinary killer.

This breathless flight through the teeming markets, shadowy passageways, and rolling brown fog of 1860s London is wrought with remarkable depth and intelligence, complete with surprising twists and extraordinary heart.

Louis Bayard is a novelist and reviewer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Nerve.com, and Salon.com. He lives in Washington, D.C.

According to novelist Louis Bayard, frail Tiny Tim was a survivor and a far more interesting character than Dickens let on. In MR. TIMOTHY, his delightful and atmospheric novel set in 1860s London, Bayard gives the adult Tim a limp, colorful compatriots, and a mystery to solve: Who is branding and killing homeless little girls? Mark Honan reads this first-person narrative beautifully. His Tim is plucky and engaging, a young man rising above the station into which he was born. (The difference between Tim's accent and his older brother's is clever and telling.) Tim's companions include an old boatman, a streetwise homeless boy, an Italian girl, and some London prostitutes-all read so believably that the scene in one's headphones passes before one's eyes. Be careful when driving. Otherwise, enjoy. This is a pleasure. A.C.S. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.