Changes

|title=The Exhibitionists

|sort=Exhibitionists, The

|borrow=Yes

|isbn=978-1780950112

|pages=336

|publisher=G-Press Fiction

|date=October 2012

|website=http://russelljamesbooks.wordpress.com

|summary=A busy fusion of historical fact and fiction as three children grow up in Victorian London unaware of their beginnings against a background of artistic innovation. You'll smile, cry and sidle to the edge of your seat whilst accidentally absorbing interesting bits of info whether you're interested in art or not.

}}

On one particular London night in 1834 three children start a journey that will mould their futures. Newly born Maddy is abandoned in Mrs Cuthbertson's establishment (a thinly veiled baby farm) causing Maddy to spend years looking for the reasons that led her there. Baby Sam is fished out of the Thames and grows with a burning desire to uncover the truth, shaping his career as a journalist. Meanwhile Hannah is conceived that night by two people fated to live lives that don't coincide, until…

Each block of chapters covers a certain year showing how the cultural history develops alongside the development of Sam, Maddy and Hannah in such a convincing way that I had to read the novel with a search engine handy to separate those who were real from those originating in Russell James' imagination. (Notes at the back would have been nice for this but if you have access to a computer or decent library, it's not a huge setback.)

My only mild grumble is that ''The Exhibitionists'' feels like two books jostling for prominence under the same cover. The artists were so fascinating they deserved a book of their own and I also wanted to spend more time with the children, feeling that their development was sometimes interrupted rather than enhanced by having to leave them to go back to the artists. (I know – I'm a contrary oosit sometimes!) However this is a minor gripe and I could bore you for ages recounting scenes and nuances whilst never running out of enthusiasm myself; the sign of a good read. Indeed, if Russell James is 'a cult' as one critic termed him, he deserves the wider audience that ''The Exhibitionists'' will attract. And then perhaps he could write some more historical fiction/faction fusion… please?

If you've enjoyed this and would like another novel based on an artist, complete with a 'solved' mystery, try [[A Name in Blood by Matt Rees]].

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