Book Review: "The Turnglass" by Gareth Rubin

It is not normal to come across a tête-bêche in the modern day - an outdated and often over-ambitious way of writing it involves physically flipping the book over and reading an entirely different story after finishing the first. Literally meaning 'head-to-toe' it is a book that runs cover to cover and quite literally, head to toe. Often, both the stories are linked together some way and honestly, I was surprised that it was actually done with so much success. You can, as with a tête-bêche, start with either side of the book and it should still make sense - and it does. There are, however, some faults in that one of the narratives is clearly not as strong and atmospheric as the other and very clearly, one is far more immersive, to the point that the second half for me, became tiring and boring. However, both of the narratives play off each other and help solve the mystery of the other and so, even if it isn't for you - you have to respect the ambition here.

The novel starts in the 1880s in England and Dr Simeon Lee is down on his luck and so accepts an offer from a cousin named Oliver Hawes who is strangely and extremely sick. As he believes he is being poisoned, Simeon Lee agrees to help him out. Dr Lee discovers as well that Florence is encased in glass in the library because she has murdered her husband who is also Oliver's brother. There are constant suggestions to how the link between Florence's imprisonment and Oliver's illness may be the key to finding out the end of this strange mystery on an English Island where the gothic overtakes the atmosphere and drowns you in madness which reminds the reader of the ghost stories of the Victorian Era. His diary serves to be half of a tête-bêche where the other half tells the reader about an incident in California.

OR

The novel starts in the 1930s in California and Ken Kourian is attempting to become a big Hollywood actor. He meets a writer named Oliver Tooke and his sister Coraline. But when Tooke suddenly dies in a strange circumstance, Ken Kourian must search things out and go through everything with a fine tooth comb. As he moves through the freaks of the most degenerate place on earth, Ken must confront mysteries and depth like he has never encountered before. The answer to his death seems to lie in a weird tête-bêche about a man named Dr Simeon Lee.

There are clear ambitions of this book such as: the fact that it seeks to be authentic through using a 19th century method of bookmaking to tell its story. This is an ambition I have to respect regardless of how I actually feel about the story itself. It must have been an incredible and meticulous amount of work and precision to be able to construct this novel and to construct it without any major plot holes at all. It seems like the author has done a large amount of work to produce such a thoroughly built novel. The characters and atmospheres are often very fleshed out with each of them having a tone of voice and both sections having clear differences in language, making it easier to read and differentiate for the reader.

However, I would say that the 1880s section is far superior to the 1930s section. I feel like there is definitely more atmosphere and madness in the 1880s storyline and it felt a little bit more like a jigsaw rather than a golden age crime novel. This is down to personal taste. I loved the gothic atmosphere and the darkness, all the library scenes and the isolation of Florence alongside her presumed madness. There is something very supernatural in the feeling and the tone and it is far more memorable than its counterpart set in California.

All in all, I felt like this was a very ambitious novel with a great amount of work involved. I would definitely recommend this to all of my readers, especially if you want to read something very different to anything you have read previously. I have to say, it has been a long time since I have seen one of these myself. It was a real treat to read and I tip my hat to the author for their great amount of effort.