“The ruby in the smoke”

Hello everyone, I’m Sofia and today I want to review a book I read a couple of years ago. The book I’m talking about is “The ruby in the smoke” by Philip Pullman; a yellow book published by “Salani editore” in 2003 in London.

The protagonist is Sally Lockhart, a sixteen- years- old girl who has recently been orphaned, as her mother died when she was just a child and her father drowned with his commercial ship bound for China because she had discovered something in commercial relations.

A few days after the death of his father he receives a letter that will begin his adventures to discover the truth about the death of his father, his family, and the Seven Blessings in a path that connects England and India, maritime trade, opium, and ruby that seems to have disappeared.

In these adventures she will not be alone because moving through the streets of London she will meet several characters including Jim, Frederick, Rosa, Tremarella, and Adelaide who will be of great help in solving the mystery and at the same time hindered by enemies, dangerous people who would do anything for the reply and to keep their shoddy trades secret.

This book fascinated me a lot because it is full of mystery; the character I liked the most is Sally Lockhart for her tenacity in wanting to find the truth. An episode that I particularly liked was when Sally Lockhart had the ruby in her hand, she realized that it was the latter that caused the father’s death and she decided to throw it from the bridge where she was standing.

The main theme he talks about is that unity is strength, because if Sally hasn’t met her new friends she would not have been able to find the truth. I liked it very much, I recommend it to everyone also because the narration is very simple and full of similes that make you feel better the story.