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Jamrach's Menagerie: A Novel by Carol Birch: book review



Jamrach’s Menagerie (2011) is set in 1830s London, England, by the dockyards, where sailors come and go. The narrator is Jaffy Brown, now in his fifties, reflecting on the voyage that made him a man. He always knew he’d be a sailor. His mother said his father was a sailor.

Jaffy is eight-years old when he sees a tiger in a menagerie and tries to pat it. The tiger strikes him down, he survives, becomes known for his bravery, and lands a job at Jamrach’s menagerie. Charles Jamrach is a naturalist and importer of exotic animals, birds, and shells to sell to zoos and individuals. As cleaner of manure from the animal enclosures, Jaffy works alongside Tim Linver – ‘older, bigger than me, different as could be, straight goldy-haired, pretty and girl-like of face.’ Tim has a sister; the lovely Ishbel.

Jamrach makes Jaffy go to school so he can read, and write, and draw. At 15 years of age, Tim and Jaffy set sail on a whale ship for the East Indies (Indonesia) – to the island of Java – to find and bring back a dragon for Jamrach’s menagerie: ‘three years and come back a man, come back changed.’


On the voyage he sees flying fish, sea birds, and a pod of sperm whales. On Pulau Lomblen he is smitten with the young women, the volcanoes, and the colours ‘on the edge of the world.’ Then he sees the dragon … ‘a kind of lizard … the muscles in those arms, the skin like ancient armour.’ And so the men set about to catch the Komodo dragon – the largest lizard in the world. But then they had to get it from the island to the boat, and from the boat to the whale ship, and all the way back to England: ‘Catching it was only the beginning; making it live was the thing.’

Not only did Jaffy have to keep the dragon alive, but he also had to survive years at sea. ‘That voyage was the making of me’ he says. But at what price? The sea voyage home was eventful and harrowing.

Set at the time Charles Darwin (1809-1882) wrote his theory of evolution, the novel Jamrach’s Menagerie depicts the historical and social norms of the times, the interest in menageries, and the lengths people go to – such as the ends of the earth – to find exotic creatures. But it is also the adventure of a young boy as he transitions to manhood.

Reviewers have said this novel is a combination of Herman Melville’s ‘Moby Dick’ meets the writings of Charles Dickens, or of the same ilk as Yann Martel’s ‘Life of Pi.’ High praise – and well deserved high praise. The writing is superb; well-paced, intriguing, exciting, enthralling, descriptive, and evocative.


Martina Nicolls is the author of several books including a children’s poetry book on the Komodo dragon, The Komodo Verses: Dragon Poems (2012).



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