This first part of the Tipton Saga is a romp through Victorian England with the first generation of the extraordinary Tipton family. It follows the twin Tipton boys growing up in a Black Country orphanage seeing the industrial revolution taking shape. However it appears an external force is pulling the strings on the boys. Not one force, but two, and this is because of their highly unusual parentage which they are initially unaware of.
In adulthood one brother joins the East India Company, the other a large industrial ironworks. They have a fallout and a near fatal fight in the half-built Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, but they come together for George's application to the Great Exhibition of 1851. After a brush with royalty it becomes necessary to escape to the new world and lay low for five generations as the enormity of the fantasy and the destiny of their task is revealed. Starting in 2019 it is encumberment on their descendants, two beautiful women, to secretly begin this task.
Reading Birth of the Tiptons is like falling down the rabbit hole and I really enjoyed my trip. It's a cross genre novel that mixes historical fiction with fantasy, which makes for a very entertaining read.
The Tipton twins are growing up in an orphanage and they have no idea who their parents are, even when they hear their father's voice in their head. Their destiny has been mapped out from the moment of their birth in 1810 but there are dark and dangerous forces at work to try to disrupt this. When their descendants in America discover a mysterious old trunk in 2019, they put themselves and their destiny at risk.
Told via flashbacks the story meanders through Georgian and Victorian England, imparting nuggets of historical fact like Easter eggs amongst the colourful and engaging storyline. I felt like I had been in a time machine as I walked in the footsteps of the past and gazed at the sights and sounds of 19th century London.
Incredibly imaginative and very entertaining, Birth of the Tiptons is a brilliant start to the Tipton Saga and I can't wait to see what happens next.
I received a digital ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
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