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The Fate in the Box
Fogfinger rules Venice. His Fog Squad and spies are everywhere. The Venetians fear him and obey him. Every year one of their children is lost in a grisly Lambing ceremony. The child must climb the bell tower and let the Fate in the Box decide their destiny. Most end their days in the jaws of the primeval Crocodile that lurks in the lagoon. Or so Fogfinger tells them. But a chance meeting by a green apricot tree between Amneris and Tockle may be the beginning of the end for Fogfinger.
Silk and sewing, a magical glass kaleidoscope, mermaids and misunderstood Sea-Saurs, talking statues and winged cats, blue glass sea-horses, a spoiled rich girl and a secret society are just some of the ingredients in Michelle Lovric's exquisitely imagined and superbly plotted fourth fantasy set in Venice.
Silk and sewing, a magical glass kaleidoscope, mermaids and misunderstood Sea-Saurs, talking statues and winged cats, blue glass sea-horses, a spoiled rich girl and a secret society are just some of the ingredients in Michelle Lovric's exquisitely imagined and superbly plotted fourth fantasy set in Venice.
- GenresFantasy
352 pages, Hardcover
First published May 2, 2013
29 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Lovric
112Ìýbooks167ÌýfollowersMichelle Lovric is a novelist, writer and anthologist.
Her third novel, The Remedy, was long-listed for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction. The Remedy is a literary murder-mystery set against the background of the quack medicine industry in the eighteenth century.
Her first novel, Carnevale, is the story of the painter Cecilia Cornaro, described by The Times as the possessor of ‘the most covetable life� in fiction in 2001.
In Lovric’s second novel, The Floating Book, a chorus of characters relates the perilous beginning of the print industry in Venice. The book explores the translation of raw emotion into saleable merchandise from the points of view of poets, editors, publishers � and their lovers. The Floating Book, a London Arts award winner, was also selected as a WH Smith ‘Read of the Week�.
Her first novel for young adult readers, The Undrowned Child, is published by Orion. The sequel is due in summer 2010.
Her fourth adult novel, The Book of Human Skin, is published by Bloomsbury in Spring 2010.
Lovric reviews for publications including The Times and writes travel articles about Venice. She has featured in several BBC radio documentaries about Venice.
She combines her fiction work with editing, designing and producing literary anthologies including her own translations of Latin and Italian poetry. Her book Love Letters was a New York Times best-seller.
Lovric divides her time between London and Venice. She holds a workshop in her home in London with published writers of poetry and prose, fiction and memoir.
Her third novel, The Remedy, was long-listed for the 2005 Orange Prize for Fiction. The Remedy is a literary murder-mystery set against the background of the quack medicine industry in the eighteenth century.
Her first novel, Carnevale, is the story of the painter Cecilia Cornaro, described by The Times as the possessor of ‘the most covetable life� in fiction in 2001.
In Lovric’s second novel, The Floating Book, a chorus of characters relates the perilous beginning of the print industry in Venice. The book explores the translation of raw emotion into saleable merchandise from the points of view of poets, editors, publishers � and their lovers. The Floating Book, a London Arts award winner, was also selected as a WH Smith ‘Read of the Week�.
Her first novel for young adult readers, The Undrowned Child, is published by Orion. The sequel is due in summer 2010.
Her fourth adult novel, The Book of Human Skin, is published by Bloomsbury in Spring 2010.
Lovric reviews for publications including The Times and writes travel articles about Venice. She has featured in several BBC radio documentaries about Venice.
She combines her fiction work with editing, designing and producing literary anthologies including her own translations of Latin and Italian poetry. Her book Love Letters was a New York Times best-seller.
Lovric divides her time between London and Venice. She holds a workshop in her home in London with published writers of poetry and prose, fiction and memoir.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 13, 2013
The Fate in the Box by Michelle Lovric
Orion Children’s� Books
ISBN: 978-1- 44400-3390
Hardback - May 2013
� Sam Hawksmoor
In 1783 Venice is terrorised by an Irish despot called Fogfinger who controls the city through his intimate knowledge of gossip and automata (clockwork robots). He has the rich in the palm of his hands and the poor cowed into submission. The rich are so idle they let the automata do everything for them and at night an army of slaves, the winder uppers, go out to wind up all the machines ready for the next day of indolence.
In this harsh world Amneris is the young artist who copies the designs from a special Kaleidoscope for her parents to make silk patterns for the rich. Tockle is the boy who gathers glass shards from the Island of Murano where beautiful glass objects are made and his mother survives as a water seller, carrying around her buckets all day. Biri is a congirl, living on the proceeds of selling her clever parrot to people which returns to her each day so she can sell it again.
In Fogfingers' world, every home is equipped with a listening device so he can hear gossip and the talk of ‘traitors�. The slightest wrong word and whole families could disappear as the secret Fog Police descend on them. To keep the poor even more terrified there are the regular ‘lambings� where chosen children are sacrificed to a giant crocodile that lurks in the lagoon. The rich children are kept fat because the lambing at the top of the tower can only support children of a certain weight and that means poor, small, hungry kids are the only ones to die.
Amneris is to be lambed, her short life to be snuffed out at the whim of a jack-in-the-box. Can Amneris be saved? It is a very long drop to the jaws of the beast.
There is great evil and paranoia in this Italian adventure and much fun to be had in what is really a kind of distant prequel to the wonderful 'Undrowned World' by Ms Lovric.
The three children are connected by their poverty and by glass as well as their opposition to the evil puppet master Fogfinger. There is another child, a spoiled, plump, rich girl whose every whim is catered for and by sheer chance Amneris and Latenia become odd friends. But little does Latenia know that her fate is the most terrible of all.
A complex delight with vivid writing that brings old Venice to life in a way that only Michelle Lovric can do. Are there any mermaids you ask? � Can there just be only one shrivelled specimen in the Museum of Natural History? Read on if you dare. You will not be disappointed.
© Sam Hawksmoor May 13 2013
Author The Repercussions of Tomas D and other stories
Orion Children’s� Books
ISBN: 978-1- 44400-3390
Hardback - May 2013
� Sam Hawksmoor
In 1783 Venice is terrorised by an Irish despot called Fogfinger who controls the city through his intimate knowledge of gossip and automata (clockwork robots). He has the rich in the palm of his hands and the poor cowed into submission. The rich are so idle they let the automata do everything for them and at night an army of slaves, the winder uppers, go out to wind up all the machines ready for the next day of indolence.
In this harsh world Amneris is the young artist who copies the designs from a special Kaleidoscope for her parents to make silk patterns for the rich. Tockle is the boy who gathers glass shards from the Island of Murano where beautiful glass objects are made and his mother survives as a water seller, carrying around her buckets all day. Biri is a congirl, living on the proceeds of selling her clever parrot to people which returns to her each day so she can sell it again.
In Fogfingers' world, every home is equipped with a listening device so he can hear gossip and the talk of ‘traitors�. The slightest wrong word and whole families could disappear as the secret Fog Police descend on them. To keep the poor even more terrified there are the regular ‘lambings� where chosen children are sacrificed to a giant crocodile that lurks in the lagoon. The rich children are kept fat because the lambing at the top of the tower can only support children of a certain weight and that means poor, small, hungry kids are the only ones to die.
Amneris is to be lambed, her short life to be snuffed out at the whim of a jack-in-the-box. Can Amneris be saved? It is a very long drop to the jaws of the beast.
There is great evil and paranoia in this Italian adventure and much fun to be had in what is really a kind of distant prequel to the wonderful 'Undrowned World' by Ms Lovric.
The three children are connected by their poverty and by glass as well as their opposition to the evil puppet master Fogfinger. There is another child, a spoiled, plump, rich girl whose every whim is catered for and by sheer chance Amneris and Latenia become odd friends. But little does Latenia know that her fate is the most terrible of all.
A complex delight with vivid writing that brings old Venice to life in a way that only Michelle Lovric can do. Are there any mermaids you ask? � Can there just be only one shrivelled specimen in the Museum of Natural History? Read on if you dare. You will not be disappointed.
© Sam Hawksmoor May 13 2013
Author The Repercussions of Tomas D and other stories
June 2, 2013
Exciting, highly original adventure for 8+ readers
Michelle Lovric has created a truly bizarre and unsettling version of Venice under the dictatorship of the cruel and peculiar tyrant Fogfinger. In the best children's book tradition, he is unequivocally evil and the adults seem helpless and, in many cases, clueless that they are even in a bad situation. Michelle Lovric's child heroes are resourceful and brave, as well as being readily relatable for child readers.
The characters are definitely a strength in this novel (and in others I've read by the same author). These Venetian fantasies are peopled by a mixture of humans and creatures (some real, some fantastic) with strongly differentiated characteristics. I love the determination and tenacity of little Amneris, first seen in peril in the prologue as she climbs up into a tower where death may await her. From this opening, we jump back three months to see how this climax is reached, meeting Tockle, son of kaleidoscope makers, and Biri, Amneris's best friend, along the way. The child characters are realistic and recognisable and I'm sure many children will view them as friends and will recognise aspects of their friends (and of themselves) in them. The evil and magical characters are gloriously larger-than-life and inventive.
The novel is tightly and intricately plotted, with plenty of clues (and red herrings) as to how it will all fit together. I certainly wasn't able to predict the details of the story and there is more than enough to surprise and delight a child reader. Michelle Lovric uses magic and fantastic beasts to help the children, working within the quest and fairy tale traditions of magical helpers, but it is their own bravery which ultimately spurs them on, resulting in a satisfying tale for young readers.
Overall. I would readily recommend this for young readers of fantasy and adventure. It has all the characteristics of the best-loved children's stories, including larger-than-life characters alongside believable child heroes, magic and mystery and clear lines between good and evil.
Michelle Lovric has created a truly bizarre and unsettling version of Venice under the dictatorship of the cruel and peculiar tyrant Fogfinger. In the best children's book tradition, he is unequivocally evil and the adults seem helpless and, in many cases, clueless that they are even in a bad situation. Michelle Lovric's child heroes are resourceful and brave, as well as being readily relatable for child readers.
The characters are definitely a strength in this novel (and in others I've read by the same author). These Venetian fantasies are peopled by a mixture of humans and creatures (some real, some fantastic) with strongly differentiated characteristics. I love the determination and tenacity of little Amneris, first seen in peril in the prologue as she climbs up into a tower where death may await her. From this opening, we jump back three months to see how this climax is reached, meeting Tockle, son of kaleidoscope makers, and Biri, Amneris's best friend, along the way. The child characters are realistic and recognisable and I'm sure many children will view them as friends and will recognise aspects of their friends (and of themselves) in them. The evil and magical characters are gloriously larger-than-life and inventive.
The novel is tightly and intricately plotted, with plenty of clues (and red herrings) as to how it will all fit together. I certainly wasn't able to predict the details of the story and there is more than enough to surprise and delight a child reader. Michelle Lovric uses magic and fantastic beasts to help the children, working within the quest and fairy tale traditions of magical helpers, but it is their own bravery which ultimately spurs them on, resulting in a satisfying tale for young readers.
Overall. I would readily recommend this for young readers of fantasy and adventure. It has all the characteristics of the best-loved children's stories, including larger-than-life characters alongside believable child heroes, magic and mystery and clear lines between good and evil.
April 5, 2016
3 leaning on 3.5; 4 if I'm feeling pleased.
This is my first novel by Ms. Author, so I haven't had the pleasure of reading her previous books that I've learned also feature Venice. Ever since I've read The Thief Lord, I've wanted more stories in a Venetian setting, so when I saw the Fate in the Box in a book sale, I purchased it straight away.
It was... good. Adequate? I was surprised by the amount of magical beings in it, and while I may love my fantastic beasts, it felt like the story turned into a pot luck of fantasy creatures and ideas. The were a pleasant surprise, because, after all, it is a river city.
The bad guy was adequately bad, the retribution was satisfactorily laid out, and there is some character development notable in the story. I wish I would have seen more of Tockle, the only male protagonist, though; he kind of got shoved in the background by Amneris, Biri, and Latenia (who wasn't even that much of a major character?). He also kind of... cried too much in my opinion.
And while I was hanging on for a great Venetian story, I found myself slightly disappointed, probably because I've compared it to The Thief Lord. In The Fate in the Box, all I got were names, names, names, names of places, names of houses, Italian terms... I understand it's a fantasy story, but it's set in Venice for pancake's sake. A little description of the city here and there would not have been amiss. There are some notes at the end by Ms. Author where she had written down the places in Venice that inspired her for a few settings in the book, but I didn't have time to Google them one by one to help me imagine the main characters' dwellings (aside from the fact that this info came at the end of the story).
Squicks aside, I quite enjoyed it. I felt like the characters were really fleshed out and the story proved most entertaining.
This is my first novel by Ms. Author, so I haven't had the pleasure of reading her previous books that I've learned also feature Venice. Ever since I've read The Thief Lord, I've wanted more stories in a Venetian setting, so when I saw the Fate in the Box in a book sale, I purchased it straight away.
It was... good. Adequate? I was surprised by the amount of magical beings in it, and while I may love my fantastic beasts, it felt like the story turned into a pot luck of fantasy creatures and ideas. The were a pleasant surprise, because, after all, it is a river city.
The bad guy was adequately bad, the retribution was satisfactorily laid out, and there is some character development notable in the story. I wish I would have seen more of Tockle, the only male protagonist, though; he kind of got shoved in the background by Amneris, Biri, and Latenia (who wasn't even that much of a major character?). He also kind of... cried too much in my opinion.
And while I was hanging on for a great Venetian story, I found myself slightly disappointed, probably because I've compared it to The Thief Lord. In The Fate in the Box, all I got were names, names, names, names of places, names of houses, Italian terms... I understand it's a fantasy story, but it's set in Venice for pancake's sake. A little description of the city here and there would not have been amiss. There are some notes at the end by Ms. Author where she had written down the places in Venice that inspired her for a few settings in the book, but I didn't have time to Google them one by one to help me imagine the main characters' dwellings (aside from the fact that this info came at the end of the story).
Squicks aside, I quite enjoyed it. I felt like the characters were really fleshed out and the story proved most entertaining.
February 15, 2017
After enjoying reading The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric, I thought I would read her latest children's book, The Fate in the Box. I knew from reading her strange and wonderful adult novel that she was very good at creating a most unlikable villain, one that the reader wants to see get his just punishment for his dark deeds before the end of the tale. In The Book of Human Skin, the villain is Minguillo Fasan, in The Fate in the Box, it is another fiend in the form of a man, named Fogfinger. Like all good villains in literature, the more I read of Fogfinger as the cruel ruler of the people of Venice, the more I desired his downfall.
I found The Fate in the Box a strangely charming book with enough wit and alarming events to make me smile and want to read on. The story is set in Venice in the year of 1783, but it does not tell the history you will find in the history books. It is a record of strange events, rooted in Michelle Lovric's fantasy vision of Venice. Perhaps her most original creations in her story are the mermaids who come to the aid of the children, Amneris, Tocle and Biri, in their fight against Fogfinger. Having learned to speak in human tongue from sailors and pirates, what they say is often comical as it is rough. The book is a fantasy, but it deals with things of the real world, such as the gulf between the very rich and the very poor, snobbery, tyranny, cruelty, injustice, torture, death and hate. But there is love, too, friendship, and the triumph of imagination, ruled by goodwill, over the stupidity and darkness of evil. Like all good children's books, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, to The Wind In The Willows, Winnie The Pooh, The Hobbit to Watership Down, The Fate in the Box is well worth reading, whatever age you are.
I found The Fate in the Box a strangely charming book with enough wit and alarming events to make me smile and want to read on. The story is set in Venice in the year of 1783, but it does not tell the history you will find in the history books. It is a record of strange events, rooted in Michelle Lovric's fantasy vision of Venice. Perhaps her most original creations in her story are the mermaids who come to the aid of the children, Amneris, Tocle and Biri, in their fight against Fogfinger. Having learned to speak in human tongue from sailors and pirates, what they say is often comical as it is rough. The book is a fantasy, but it deals with things of the real world, such as the gulf between the very rich and the very poor, snobbery, tyranny, cruelty, injustice, torture, death and hate. But there is love, too, friendship, and the triumph of imagination, ruled by goodwill, over the stupidity and darkness of evil. Like all good children's books, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, to The Wind In The Willows, Winnie The Pooh, The Hobbit to Watership Down, The Fate in the Box is well worth reading, whatever age you are.
September 1, 2013
Michelle Lovric creates some wildly imaginative creatures and personalities, including the city of Venice itself which becomes so much more than just a setting for the action, almost taking on the role of a integral character in the plot. It's an exciting, fantastical tale but as a grown-up, I also love the underlying message that we shouldn't rely on machines and technology so much - there's a great lesson in there for our kids (and even the grow-ups) if they pick up on it !
full review :
full review :
October 6, 2013
I have read all of Michelle Lovric's wonderful evocative children's books set in Venice, and I think this is the best since an "Undrowned child". Really beautiful and very clever. I love reading about the author's inspiration and research at the end of each book as much as I enjoy the book itself!
April 30, 2013
Book review to follow.....
February 27, 2016
Colourful, exciting, and well thought out world
August 13, 2022
kids book of all time
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