2015 book 174

Natasha Pulley's The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
I am pretty sure this is Pulley's first novel, and it's kiiiiinda of a great one? It's set in Victorian London, where a young government telegraph operator receives a mysterious pocketwatch--which eventually saves him from a huge bombing. This leads him to its Japanese creator, who has an unusual ability (I mean, besides clock-making), and eventually to a young woman who wants to be a physicist, but stupid sexist society is not cooperating! I feel like Pulley does a good job with the Japanese-people-in-London aspect of thing, and the relationship between the clockmaker and the young man is really excellent. I did have some mixed feelings about the physicist, but really liked how Pulley ended things (I almost used a clock pun there but refrained, are you happy?). Yes, this was right up my alley, very good stuff. A-.