Just Finished Reading: The Invention of Everything Else by Samantha Hunt

New York – 1943. Rumours abound about the strange occupant of Room 3327 of the New Yorker Hotel. Is he a mad genius, a visitor from another world, a man from the future or a dangerous security risk? Chambermaid Louisa, already fascinated by the secret lives of the people who pass through the hotel, is determined to find out. Letting herself into Room 3327 she discovers a strange mix of order and chaos. Part completed experiments fight for space with neatly stacked and labelled papers and the strangest thing she finds is the man himself. At first incoherent Louisa finally begins to understand the life of one of modern time’s greatest and greatly misunderstood men of genius – Nicola Tesla. Meanwhile strange events are happening in her private life as long lost friends reappear and a childhood romance is reignited by a man who claims he is from their future.

Either I’m becoming particularly skilled at spotting good novels or the bookseller Waterstone’s is becoming particularly adept at offering them in their regular 3 for 2 sales. Yet again it looks as if I have chosen a well written and frankly intriguing novel based around the last few months of Tesla’s life. How much of it is true I have no idea as I have only the scantest knowledge of Tesla’s life (and have in consequence added a biography to my Wish List). However, if he was half as bright as this novel makes out the world would be a very different place if people had actually listened to him and invested in his ideas. Whilst the life of Tesla is often strange enough the life of the chambermaid Louisa gets stranger with each passing chapter. With talk of time-travel, flash-backs and secret agents the novel could have collapsed into the worst kind of fantasy. Instead we are presented with an off-kilter magically-realistic New York for the 1890’s to the early 1940’s which, despite what can only be called fantasy elements, never becomes fantastically unbelievable. This is a very accomplished novel with deeply interesting characters and an unquestionably fascinating plot. I fell into the world created by the author and was honestly unwilling to return to the real world when I was forced to put the book done. It is an original work that deserves the widest audience. Highly recommended.