The Boy with the CuckooClock Heart

A fantastical novel, a wildly inventive taleby turns poignant and funny, lusty and wrenchingabout love and heartbreak. Edinburgh, 1874: Born with a frozen heart, Jack is nearly dead when his mother abandons him to the care of Dr. Madeleinewitch doctor, midwife, protector of orphanswho saves Jack by placing a cuckoo clock in his chest. It is in her orphanage that Jack grows up, amid tearfilled flasks, eggs containing memories, a man with a musical spine. As Jack gets older, Dr. Madeleine warns him that his heart is too fragile for strong emotions: he must never, ever fall in love. And, of course, he does: on his tenth birthday and with headoverheels abandon. The object of his ardor is Miss Acaciaa bespectacled young street performer with a soulstirring voice. But its not only Jacks heart thats at risk, its his very lifeand doubly so when he injures the school bully in a fight for the affections of the beautiful singer. Now begins a wild journey, of escape and pursuit, from Edinburgh to Paris to Miss Acacias home in Andalusia, where Jack will finally learn the great joys, and ultimately the greater costs, of owning a fully formed heart.