So there is one book lately I haven’t been able to stop talking about since I got the ARC from the publisher and read it in a whirlwind of a few days. And that book is the The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by HG Parry. This beautiful book lovers dream of a story took me aback with it’s atmospheric portrayal of Victorian England, the sheer number of classic literary characters represented, and its complex and at times complicated relationship between the characters, particularly between the two brothers.

Charles Sutherland is a literature professor with a secret. He has always had this magical ability to bring any character he wants out of books and into the real world. Often times when he is reading a book and concentrating to much on it, they come out accidently without him really meaning for them too. Charles can put them back, but often they don’t want to return. His older perfectly normal brother Robert Sutherland with a house, a normal job, and a girlfriend, is not particularly happy about his brother’s ability, as he is often relied upon to help, and hopes that with disuse his brother’s ability will disappear. But one day when Robert is called upon to help his brother with one of his many “emergencies” the character extracted, Uriah Heep, starts to make threats that someone, he doesn’t know who, wants to create a new world where literary characters like him, can live their life openly in the real world. They soon find that this someone also has Charlie’s powers and will stop at nothing to see this vision succeed. Thus, begins the brothers chase to find out who this person is, and to stop him.

Along the way they meet many interesting characters including Sherlock Homes, Darcy and Dorian Grey, among others, and many crazy impossible things ensue! When the brothers figure out each piece of the puzzle everything is meticulously reasoned out as to why and how it is happening. The sheer ingenuity of this book is amazing, and the literary theory presented as to how and why things happen would make any scholar proud. The setting is atmospheric and authentic and a place I didn’t want to escape.

But at it’s heart it’s about two brothers and how they navigate their own relationship in the midst of also dealing with this world ending crisis and Charles’s magic ability that has always been the family secret. I loved seeing how Charlie grew from being very reliant upon his brother and uncomfortable and unsure of himself, unless he was discussing books, to someone who knew who he was and was comfortable in himself. But Robert’s inner growth to me was the most drastic and transformative, and as the entire story was mainly told from his perspective with little vignettes from Charlie’s journals, I think Robert’s story was also a little bit better developed. Robert who was always the protective one, who always went to Charlie’s aid whenever he was needed, realized that in protecting him and in him feeling that Charlie always needed protecting, that he was actually hindering Charlie from reaching his full potential. This realization for both of them of this co dependent relationship they had with each other and how they worked through it, was for me one of the strongest and most interesting parts of the story.

I loved so many things about this story. I loved that it was a brother story, you don’t get many stories about brother relationships and it was refreshing to see. The setting was beautiful and atmospheric, the hint of romance was subtle and felt real, the amount of literary characters who had scenes in the book was so much fun to witness, the literary theory talked about was very concise and added a nice element to the story. But most of all I loved that this was a story that celebrates story and literature and the reader’s relationship to story.

This story is a truly a tale for bibliophile’s and literature enthusiast’s everywhere and everyone no matter who they are should read this book when it comes out next week. Thank you to Red Hook Books and Hachette Publisher for my ARC for review!