The Ventriloquist's Tale

How it reads

The Ventriloquist's Tale is literary fiction (magical realist historical fiction, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in an international setting, in the historical past, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are identity, family and class and society. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 368 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's a hidden gem — known to relatively few readers.