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by: Louis Bayard  List Price: $13.95 Amazon.com's Price: $11.16 You Save: $2.79 (20%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks
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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9780060534226 ISBN: 0060534222 Label: Harper Perennial Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 416 Publication Date: November 01, 2004 Publisher: Harper Perennial Release Date: October 26, 2004 Studio: Harper Perennial Related Items:
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display Editorial Review: Amazon.com: Tiny Tim is back! No, not the squeaky-voiced troubadour who tip-toed through tulips in the 1960s, but the original--Timothy Cratchit, the crutch-wielding tyke from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. Only now he's a "mostly able-bodied" 23 years old, resides in a London whorehouse in exchange for tutoring the madam, struggles to wean himself from financial dependence on his ancient "Uncle" Ebenezer Scrooge, and, as we learn in Louis Bayard's darkly enchanting historical thriller, Mr. Timothy, is haunted by the spirit of his late father--a man whose optimism and strength the son feels himself incapable of imitating. When we first encounter Timothy, during the Christmas season of 1860, he's vexed by the discovery of two dead 10-year-old girls, each branded with the letter "G"--one found in an alley, the other fished from the Thames River by Cratchit and a voluble old salt who makes his money by finding (and then robbing, of course) errant corpses. Timothy's concern leads him to protect a third possessively marked waif, the frightened and suspicious Philomela--who, he soon realizes, is being sought by a knife-loving former Scotland Yard inspector and a moneyed, malevolent voluptuary. When, despite precautions, Philomela is kidnapped by her pursuers, Cratchit--assisted by a shrewd warbling urchin known as Colin the Melodious--resolves to fulfill his "great calling" in life by mounting a rescue. However, this mission will force the habitually uncourageous Timothy to not only defend himself against sexual molestation charges, storm a well-guarded mansion, and solve the puzzle of a coffin-filled basement, but also engage in a nightmarish final chase along London's docklands. Authors employing real-life characters as detectives are often hampered by their adherence to historical fact. Bayard suffers no such limitations in imagining what fates awaited Dickens's now-famous fictional figures. Under his pen, Scrooge--whose rooms are decorated for Christmas year-round--becomes an eccentric collector of fungi and host to an interminable stream of charity solicitors, while Timothy Cratchit strikes out beyond his lonely young man status to become the head of an unconventional clan. Bayard's appreciation for the lurid exoticness of Victorian London rivals that of John MacLachlan Gray (The Fiend in Human), while his lyrical prose subtly suggests 19th-century influences. Mr. Timothy is at once a compelling Christmas crime yarn and an audacious literary endeavor. No humbug there. --J. Kingston Pierce Product Description: It's the Christmas season, and Mr. Timothy Cratchit, not the pious child the world thought he was, has just buried his father. He's also struggling to bury his past as a cripple and shed his financial ties to his benevolent "Uncle" Ebenezer by losing himself in the thick of London's underbelly. He boards at a brothel in exchange for teaching the mistress how to read and spends his nights dredging the Thames for dead bodies and the treasures in their pockets. Timothy's life takes a sharp turn when he discovers the bodies of two dead girls, each seared with the same cruel brand on the upper arm. The sight of their horror-struck faces compels Timothy to become the protector of another young girl, Philomela, from the fate the others suffered at the hands of a dangerous and powerful man. A different kind of Christmas story, this breathless flight through the teeming markets, shadowy passageways, and rolling brown fog of 1860s London would do Dickens proud for its surprising twists and turns, and its extraordinary heart. Download Description: " It's the Christmas season, and Mr. Timothy Cratchit, not the pious child the world thought he was, has just buried his father. He's also struggling to bury his past as a cripple and shed his financial ties to his benevolent ""Uncle"" Ebenezer by losing himself in the thick of London's underbelly. He boards at a brothel in exchange for teaching the mistress how to read and spends his nights dredging the Thames for dead bodies and the treasures in their pockets. Timothy's life takes a sharp turn when he discovers the bodies of two dead girls, each seared with the same cruel brand on the upper arm. The sight of their horror-struck faces compels Timothy to become the protector of another young girl, Philomela, from the fate the others suffered at the hands of a dangerous and powerful man. A different kind of Christmas story, this breathless flight through the teeming markets, shadowy passageways, and rolling brown fog of 1860s London would do Dickens proud for its surprising twists and turns, and its extraordinary heart. " Average Rating:
 Rating: - . . . . who did NOT die!The concept is so forehead-slappingly simple I was a bit skeptical going into this book: Tiny Tim (" . . . who did NOT die", and I hear Gonzo from the The Muppet Christmas Carol - Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition, for my money still the best adaptation) grows up! Doh, sure, that's too easy (hmm, why didn't I write that book first?), so I mentally subtracted a star from my rating of Mr. Timothy before turning the first page.. But the execution turned out to be more complex, both better ... Read More Rating:  - A Good if Flawed AttemptMr. Timothy by Louis Bayard has a fascinating premise -- a character we all know and love, grown up and a different person, trying to solve a mystery. I was never a great fan of A Christmas Carol, but I do love mystery novels, and I decided the concept was interesting enough to read this book. The mystery of the book is not lacking, nor is the action when it actually moves forward. Bayard, through Mr. Timothy's voice, gives excellent detail of what is happening and what Mr. Timothy is seeing ... Read More Rating: - "God bless us every one!"Sometimes it's better not to know what happens to a fictional character after the book in which he or she appears ends. This is the continuation of the life of Tiny Tim, all grown up now and just about free of the physical problem with his leg. While this book is not badly written, and the characters well-drawn, it seems that it takes an awfullly long time to get to the point of the plot. Several times I felt like putting the book down, but I kept on reading in the hope that it would imprve. It does improve, ... Read More Rating:  - ExcellentI was a little apprehensive about reading MR. TIMOTHY, but after reading THE PALE BLUE EYE, a book I enjoyed quite a bit, I decided to go ahead and read this one. I found this book to be even more enjoyable. Kudos to Bayard for having the guts to take such a beloved classic character and place him in a situation that we as readers could never contemplate him being in. Bayard does a great job of describing Tim's life in 1860 London and his descriptions are detailed enough without being over-bearing. ... Read More Rating: - Entertaining follow-up to an old story (with a twist) (and, please don't read the Editorial Reviews, they are a spoiler)Hopefully, you have not yet read the editorial reviews for this book. If you haven't, please don't do so. They share too much of the story, and are almost a spoiler. As you might know, the title of this book comes from Timothy Cratchit, the Little Timmy from Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Timothy is now a 22 year orphan and lives independently. He is not the cheery little kid from years ago, but kind of a bitter young man. Ebenezer Scrooge (known now as Uncle N), transformed by the Christmas incident of ... Read More 
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