Miss Peregrine's Museum of Wonders by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine’s Museum of Wonders is billed as an indispensable guide to Riggs’ wildly successful ‘peculiar children’ series. It is written in his unique gothic-like style and continues his tradition of illustrating his text with numerous vintage black and white photos of ‘peculiars’ which together with their droll captions, are a delight in themselves.

This is not a novel, but a series of short entries describing and giving examples of loops, peculiars and ymbrynes, and their enemies the hollowgasts and wights. There are helpful hints for peculiars on how to conduct themselves in the present, a couple of longer stories about peculiars who have appeared in other books, as well as maps, a phrase book, lists of real people who ‘may have been peculiars’ and Miss Peregrine’s handwritten notes to Jacob.

The Museum of Wonders could be read as you progress through the series, to provide backstory and elaboration, or before tackling any of the books, to give an insight into Riggs’ intricately constructed world and characters. As I hadn’t read any of his other books, this was an enjoyable introduction to his style, but I’m sure that I missed the relevance of many of the references to characters and events.

This book is visually engaging, from the handsomely presented faux-bound gold-embossed cover with marbled endpapers, to the decorative flourishes that firmly reflect the 1800s era. It is a work that you could read cover-to-cover, dip into randomly or simply pore over the enthrallingly creepy photos.

Themes: Fantasy, Gothic, Adventure, Photography.

Margaret Crohn