Philip Pullman’s idea with the Sally Lockhart series, of which The Ruby in the Smoke is the first, was to take tropes of Victorian adventures and treat them with realism and attention. So here we meet Sally Lockhart, a young woman thrust into adventure in Victorian England, and her encounters with a priceless jewel with a curse on it. But in typical Pullman fashion, there’s grit and grime to this world, and also heart and growth.

FuzzyCo grade: A