Publication: 9th May 2024 – Orion
Sometimes finding your place in the world is the greatest puzzle of all…
Clayton Stumper is an enigma.
He might be twenty-five years old, but he dresses like your grandad and drinks sherry like your aunt.
Abandoned at birth on the steps of the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, he was raised by the sharpest minds in the British Isles and finds himself amongst the last survivors of a fading institution.
When the esteemed crossword compiler, Pippa Allsbrook, passes away, she bestows her final puzzle to him: a promise to reveal the mystery of his parentage and prepare him for his future.
Yet as Clay begins to unpick the clues, he uncovers something even the Fellowship have never been able to solve – and it’s a secret that will change everything…
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers is a delightful debut novel. I enjoyed the characters and their stories, the puzzles to solve (although I can’t say I was able to solve any of the puzzles), and the different timelines that made for an engrossing read.
The story is told from two different perspectives. Clayton Stumper is twenty-five-years old but, based on his clothes and his tastes, you wouldn’t know it. He was raised by the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers after he was found by its founder, Pippa Allsbrook, right after his birth. He doesn’t know anything about his biological parents and, even though he found a family in the members of the Fellowship, he always wondered. After Pippa’s death, Clayton finds out that she left him a series of puzzles that will lead him to the true identity of his parents. All he has to do is follow the clues that will take him first to London where he meets an old friend of Pippa and finds a new one for him. And, as we follow Clayton on his quest towards the truth, we also learn about Pippa, how she founded the Fellowship of Puzzlemakers, about the challenges, the dreams, the secrets, and the relationships that form and grow over the years.
I liked how the narrative alternates between two timelines and I loved the character of Pippa, a strong woman who always knows what she wants, and the character of Clayton, who never felt like he belonged, but now has the chance to find what he’s been looking for.
An emotional and entertaining read, The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers is a story that is very easy to love!
A huge thank you to Orion and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.
Samuel Burr is a TV producer who has worked on popular factual shows including the BAFTA-nominated Secret Life of 4-Year-Olds. Samuel’s writing was selected for Penguin’s WriteNow scheme and in 2021 he graduated from the Faber Academy. He previously studied at Westminster Film School.