Dillsworth's engrossing debut probes the underbelly of Victorian London's musical theatre scene. Narrator Zillah, headliner of Marcus Crillick's variety show and the "Great Amazonia" of Drury Lane, is billed as the "dangerous savage from darkest Africa" and is costumed in skins, a feathered cloak, and beads. Her routines range from blood sacrifice, war dances, and a series of tableaux that supposedly reflect her background. The only problem is that she's a fraud, born free and living in west London. It's a secret she must conceal in order to keep crowds coming. Her closest friends are Ellen, a singer from Galway, and "lean and mysterious" Barky, the compassionate stage manager. Each has their own burdensome skeleton to hide. Their lives clash through Zillah's forbidden romance with titled Viscount Vincent Woodward, who offers her a life of luxury with "carriages, clothes, and cuisine"; Lucien Winters, a wealthy African grocer with his own designs on Zillah; and an enticing Leopard Lady from Paris whose physical abuse leads to an immigration scheme that could topple the whole enterprise. Dillsworth's graphic descriptions of pungent docks, warehouses, opium dens, and back alleys create an immersive atmosphere, and the author rounds things out with strong secondary characters, like the henchman Bill Black; and rich backstories, such as that of Zillah's childhood love. It all adds up to a stunning historical drama. (Apr.)

DEBUT Dillsworth's debut is an entertaining tale of Victorian London, incorporating issues of class, race, and gender. Zillah, an orphan from the slums, is pleased to be Crillick's theater headliner, the Great Amazonia, even if she must dupe the audience into believing that she is a "Black savage" from Africa. Her act is a chance to escape poverty and the limited opportunities afforded young Black women in Victorian society, as is her romance with Vincent, Viscount Woodward. Her life changes the night she meets Lucien Winters, a free African merchant, who encourages Zillah to question her role as Amazonia and her identity as a Black woman in England. When the Leopard Lady, featured in the unscrupulous Crillick's proposed "freak" act, disappears, Zillah plans to find her, straining her relationship with Vincent and drawing her to Lucien and the Sierra Leone resettlement project. Zillah's courageous rescue scheme ultimately leads her to self-realization; she is wholly herself, not just her race, sex, or class. VERDICT Thoroughly researched details of life in Victorian London and Zillah's chatty narration create very appealing historical fiction. Purchase for readers who love Victorian settings and independent, feisty women characters.--Barbara Clark-Greene

Marcus Crillick is known for his variety show, and his main attraction is The Great Amazonia. Zilah, who plays the part of this "savage queen from darkest Africa," is a young, mixed-race woman who grew up in the slums of Victorian London. Zilah knows that her performance depends upon her keeping the secret that she isn't actually from Africa. She has been able to keep her identity under wraps until she meets Lucien, who makes her believe there are better futures for the Black poor of London. While Zilah struggles with her future and her self-revelations, Crillick brings a young African woman into his underground oddity variety show. Zilah knows this woman isn't here by her own choice and is determined to help her escape Crillick's abusive captivity. Tension builds as Zilah maneuvers her way around powerful and cruel men in order to get herself and this captive woman out of London. Rich with historical details of Victorian life, freak shows, and racial tension, Dillsworth's debut is an empowering tale of strength and determination.

A young actor in Victorian-era London is determined to save an African woman from an evil theater owner. Twenty-year-old Zillah, the narrator of Dillsworth's debut novel, has far from a charmed life, but she's come a long way from "the slums of St. Giles," the London neighborhood where she was raised. Or has she? The young woman, the child of a Black mother and White father, has an acting gig, but it's a pretty bad one: She plays the "Great Amazonia," "a dangerous savage from darkest Africa," at a theater company run by a leering creep named Marcus Crillick. (Both Zillah and Crillick know the Amazon isn't in Africa, but they assume, correctly, that their audiences won't care.) Zillah has been living with her lover, Crillick's friend the aristocrat Vincent Woodward, at Crillick's house. Zillah sees Vincent as her ticket out of the theater, but things get complicated when she meets Lucien Winters, a Black grocer who loathes Zillah's act and wants to "save" her from it. Zillah manages to withstand the humiliation she feels when she performs in blackface (Crillick thinks she's "not Black enough" as it is to play Amazonia), but when the theater owner introduces a new act to his patrons, a terrified African woman he calls the "Leopard Lady," Zillah despairs for the newcomer's safety, suspecting she's been kidnapped. Zillah becomes determined to save the woman, knowing that it will mean the end of her career at the theater; meanwhile, she learns an unwelcome secret about Vincent's family. With the exception of Zillah, all the characters are flat archetypes--Crillick is cartoonishly evil; Vincent and Lucien are both bland though are apparently meant to be charming. While Dillsworth does a decent job of evoking Victorian London and her pacing isn't terrible, readers will see the plot twists, such as they are, coming a mile (kilometre?) away. Dillsworth shows some promise, but this novel never manages to rise above the level of unremarkable. Nothing to marvel at. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.