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Ruby in the Smoke
 
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Ruby in the Smoke (School & Library Binding)

by Philip Pullman (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
Price: CDN$ 18.58 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over CDN$ 39. Details
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Frequently Bought Together

Ruby in the Smoke + A Sally Lockhart Mystery: The Shadow in the North + The Tin Princess
Total List Price: CDN$ 88.84
Price For All Three: CDN$ 66.50

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  • This item: Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

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  • A Sally Lockhart Mystery: The Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman

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  • The Tin Princess by Philip Pullman

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Product Details

Product Description

From Amazon.com

"Her name was Sally Lockhart; and within fifteen minutes, she was going to kill a man." Philip Pullman begins his Sally Lockhart trilogy with a bang in The Ruby in the Smoke--a fast-paced, finely crafted thriller set in a rogue- and scalawag-ridden Victorian London. His 16-year-old heroine has no time for the usual trials of adolescence: her father has been murdered, and she needs to find out how and why. But everywhere she turns, she encounters new scoundrels and secrets. Why do the mere words "seven blessings" cause one man to keel over and die at their utterance? Who has possession of the rare, stolen ruby? And what does the opium trade have to do with it?

As our determined and intelligent sleuth sets her mind to unraveling these dark mysteries, she learns how embroiled she is in the whole affair. As riveting and witty as the sensational "penny dreadfuls" of Victorian England (but thousands of times better written), Pullman's trilogy (including The Shadow in the North and The Tiger in the Well) will have readers on the edges of their seats. Ruby is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. (Ages 12 and older) --Karin Snelson



From Publishers Weekly

Pullman's Victorian melodrama boasts a sufficiency of mystery, murder and hairbreadth escapes involving a big cast of honest and ignoble types. "On a cold, fretful afternoon in early October 1872," the story begins, young Sally Lockhart is in London where she tries to find out the meaning of "the Seven Blessings." The phrase appears in a message from her recently deceased father, drowned in the South China Sea. When a colleague of her father hears the words, he dies instantly of a heart attack. That event marks the start of crises that go on with no let-up in the colorful Dickensian tale. Sally's legacy, supposedly a fantastic ruby, is nowhere to be found. A gang of cutthroats pursue the girl and her loyal allies, as the story sweeps on to a resounding close.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Ruby in the Smoke
70% buy the item featured on this page:
Ruby in the Smoke 4.4 out of 5 stars (97)
CDN$ 18.58
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The Ruby in the Smoke
CDN$ 11.69
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Once Upon a Time in the North: His Dark Materials 5.0 out of 5 stars (2)
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Customer Reviews

97 Reviews
5 star:
 (62)
4 star:
 (20)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.4 out of 5 stars (97 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars Sally, Sailors and Sparkling Stones, Nov 17 2007
By Craobh Rua "Craobh Rua" (N. Ireland) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: The Ruby in the Smoke (Hardcover)
"The Ruby in the Smoke" was first published in 1985, and was the first of Philip Pullman's books to feature Sally Lockhart. It was adapted for television in 2006 by the BBC, with Billie Piper - formerly of Dr Who - playing Sally.

The book opens in October 1872, when Sally Lockhart is only sixteen years old and has recently been orphaned. She never knew her mother, and her father - a former officer in the British Army and co-owner of the shipping firm Lockhart & Selby - has drowned in Singapore on company business. Naturally, she had been very close to her father, who had also taken personal responsibility for her education . (As a result, she knew little of French, English Literature, Art and Music though few other young ladies would have matched her in military tactic, the affairs of the Stock Market, military tactics and book-keeping. His most useful advice, however, was probably "keep your powder dry"). Sally, who also suffers from an unpleasant recurring nightmare, now lives with Caroline Rees, a thoroughly dislikable aunt.

When we first meet her, Sally has recently received a cryptic letter. It warns her of something called the Seven Blessings, and that somebody called Marchbanks will help her. She first visits Lockhart & Selby's offices - there, she hopes to find out not only who Marchbanks is, but also what the Seven Blessings are. Unfortunately, the the firm's secretary - Mr Higgs - can't help her : he suffers a heart attack and dies the moment she asks the question. She doesn't have to wait too long for help, though : Marchbanks, a former army officer, and an ex-sailor called Bedwell are both looking for her - and they both have useful information. This information puts Sally on a collision course with a dangerous villain called Mrs Holland . Thankfully she will have help - most notably from Frederick Garland, his sister Rosa and Jim Taylor - a very resourceful office-boy at Lockhart & Selby's.

A short, easy and enjoyable read - though, given the constant references to opium use, it mightn't be to everyone's tastes.
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4.0 out of 5 stars A good mystery, not to be confused with His Dark Materials, Jun 11 2003
By "jennkepka" (Lawrence, KS United States) - See all my reviews
I read this book after finishing the His Dark Materials trilogy. It's obviously a Pullman work, from the strong female heroine down to the complex, fabled power of the titled ruby. Somehow, though, the book felt a bit like Pullman's test-run for the HDM trilogy. Sally, the daughter of a shipping and businessman, is suddenly orphaned when her father dies a half world away. Left to her own devices, she must piece together the clues of his mysterious death and his final message to her. Along the way, she meets and befriends a motley crew of helpers and makes startling discoveries about her own birth and parentage (a familiar tale to anyone who's read HDM).

The book is a solid and entertaining mystery, particularly for a younger segment of "young-adult" readers (ages 10 and up, I'd say), and Pullman's writing is lovely. The book has little of the darkness or subversive subtext that Pullman's more famous trilogy offers, though, and should not be considered a necessary next-read after His Dark Materials.

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4.0 out of 5 stars One of my favorites as a teenager., May 7 2002
By A Customer
I love the Sally Lockhart trilogy. The stories read just like a "penny dreadful," only the writing is much more skillful. There is no end to the mystery, fun, and adventure in this too-short series of superbly-plotted books. I took issue with two major decisions the author made (in books two and three), but I won't discuss them here because that would ruin the books for anyone who hadn't read them. Let me just say (and this won't give anything away) that one had to do with a fire, and the other had to do with a replacement that just wasn't good enough.

Book one was the best of the three, and the reason why I went on to read other series by Mr. Pullman. There was an incredible coincidence you had to swallow that I would have spit out with any other book. But the author has so much fun with it, and it's so appropriate for a book that honors that old-fashioned melodramatic genre of dime novels, that it feels like it belongs. In fact, everything feels like it belongs in this book, so finely-woven together is its setting, characters, and plot.

Bravo to Mr. Pullman for his major success with this work!

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A great read that's hard to put down
Sally Lockhart has been orphaned at 16 by the death of her father. She has come to live with a relative that does not want her - and her life is in danger. Read more
Published on May 6 2002 by Erika Soeterik

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book for a Mystery
I'm not usually the Mystery type reader but I would have to say that this book was fantastic. I loved the suspense. Read more
Published on April 29 2002 by Liz

5.0 out of 5 stars Intruiging, wonderful, READ IT!
Phillip Pullman once again captures readers in the poetry of his stories. The Ruby in the Smoke is an intruiging and wonderful book, I could not put it down. Read more
Published on April 18 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars A startling and surprising mystery.........
You can tell after reading this book that Philip Pullman put an enormous amount of thought and planning into the context of this book. Read more
Published on April 10 2002

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite The Golden Compass.
I didn't feel as connected to Sally Lockhart as I did to Lyra of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. Read more
Published on Mar 18 2002 by Karen K. Hart

3.0 out of 5 stars Not as Good as His Dark Materials
It was pretty good. Maybe I'm just spoiled by reading Pullman's other (wonderful, amazing) trilogy first, but it was alright. Read more
Published on Feb 28 2002 by Abigail Johnson

5.0 out of 5 stars This is on eof my favorite books ever!
I had started reading The Golden Compass, and for some odd reason I was not into it. So I came across another book: The Ruby In The Smoke. Read more
Published on Feb 18 2002 by millenibab

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars - Pluck with Charm in Victorian London
This book of a 16 year old girl in Victorian London is the best of the trilogy. It's written for young adults but at 56, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Read more
Published on Jan 27 2002 by JD Schaefer

5.0 out of 5 stars More than it seems
If I ever have children, whether they're sons or daughters, I'll give them copies of the three Sally Lockhart books, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series, Garth Nix's... Read more
Published on Jan 18 2002 by Forrest L. Norvell

5.0 out of 5 stars Beware of the Seven Blessings...
When I first heard of this book someone was recommending it to me and when I first saw it I thought it looked really stupid. Read more
Published on Jan 13 2002 by bookwrmlin

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