Steeplejack

By: A. J. Hartley

Narrated by: Noma Dumezweni

Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's Summary

Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Thoughtfully imaginative and action-packed, Steeplejack is New York Times best-selling A. J. Hartley's YA debut, set in a 19th-century South African fantasy world. Actress Noma Dumezweni - best known for originating the role of Hermione Granger in the stage production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - narrates with the precision and delicacy of a high wire act to bring a remarkably complex and one of a kind heroine to life.

Seventeen-year-old Anglet Sutonga lives repairing the chimneys, towers, and spires of the city of Bar-Selehm. Dramatically different communities live and work alongside each other. The white Feldish command the nation's higher echelons of society. The native Mahweni are divided between city life and the savannah. And then there's Ang, part of the Lani community who immigrated over generations ago as servants and now mostly live in poverty on Bar-Selehm's edges.

When Ang is supposed to meet her new apprentice Berrit, she instead finds him dead. That same night, the Beacon, an invaluable historical icon, is stolen. The Beacon's theft commands the headlines, yet no one seems to care about Berrit's murder - except for Josiah Willinghouse, an enigmatic young politician. When he offers her a job investigating his death, she plunges headlong into new and unexpected dangers.

Meanwhile, crowds gather in protests over the city's mounting troubles. Rumors surrounding the Beacon's theft grow. More suspicious deaths occur. With no one to help Ang except Josiah's haughty younger sister, a savvy newspaper girl, and a kindhearted herder, Ang must rely on her intellect and strength to resolve the mysterious link between Berrit and the missing Beacon before the city descends into chaos.

©2016 A. J. Hartley (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Critic Reviews

Thriller Award Winner, Best Young Adult Novel, 2017

"Tough, inquisitive, and forthright. Breakout African-born actress Noma Dumezweni perfectly captures the voice and personality of chimney sweep Anglet Sutonga.... Steeplejack turns out to be Dumezweni's first audiobook narration. Let's hope we hear more from her soon." (AudioFile) 

"A richly realized world, an intensely likable character, and a mystery to die for." (Cory Doctorow, New York Times best-selling author) 

Steeplejack Audio Climbs the Tops of Storytelling

What did you love best about Steeplejack?

Steeplejack follows the adventures of 17-year-old Anglet Sutonga as she searches for truth, purpose and the murderer of a young apprentice amidst the depths and heights of a society divided by class and race.It is a rush of a story with gorgeous sentence-level writing, memorable characters and enough plot twists to keep it interesting.

What did you like best about this story?

Author A.J. Hartley gives readers a lush world of landscape and characters to explore. I like the descriptions of the wildlife and diverse human/racial communities presented. Read by the incomparable Noma Dumezweni, these descriptions transport the listener to a compelling, alternate world.

What about Noma Dumezweni’s performance did you like?

Ms. Dumezweni captured the spirit and the heart of the characters as I imagined them. Her voice and performance perfectly matched the world presumably imagined in steampunk Victorian South Africa.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was a fantastic listen and I highly recommend it.

Rich with Humanity

I rarely take the time to review books. I consume them and move on to the next. I am compelled to take the time for “Steeplejack.” This is an excellent story well told and superbly narrated. I was hooked very quickly by the realness of the characters. Rich in all that is the best and worst in humanity and it’s interactions with one another. Don’t get me wrong. It’s an A+ action/mystery/caper/intrigue novel. It’s just that it is not as superficial as many good novels are. It has extra polishing, depth and richness. It is a premium tapestry well woven.

Alt Colonial Reality shows Reality of Colonization

This alternate reality steampunk (did the author intend any steampunk imagery?) was so hyper realistic that I found myself living the life of the lead character, I could feel the social tension between classes as colonialism was drawing to a close in a diverse world struggling for equality of race and class. I could feel the tensions between the old ways of my people dieing too slowly to help the optimism of the fresh generation. I dreaded but did not fear and revere my interactions with the not-so necessarily evil white colonialist establishment and found intrinsic goodness in my interactions with some of them. All my prejudices were challenged as I sought to discover the mystery that was bringing my city into chaos. Where you might expect to find gimmicky airships and gizmos, here in Barcelem you'll find yourself.

Started slowly, but

Well worth a little patience while the author developed the threads. Excellent performance to boot.

Amazing

This is an amazing story. The prose is beautiful and the story captivating. Narration was so well done.

The story draws you in!

The reader Noma Dumezweni's voice is almost hypnotic in the way she is reading this story. Excellent story!

wonderful tale told very well

great plot great characters very engaging storytelling and the narration is wonderful wonderful I will be looking for more from this author and narrator

Intelligent and engaging

I've enjoyed this author's retelling of Hamlet and Macbeth. This is the first of his YA entries that I've listened to. I found it engaging, enjoyable, and intelligent.

Refreshing and original with a wonderful narrator!

I have to give major kudos to this book for the creativity. It's rich, full of steampunk elements and takes place on the African continent. The narrator adds to the atmosphere with the cadence of her voice, and I just loved Steeplejack on audio partly because of her!


The investigation itself is not the strongest part of the plot, and I wasn't convinced by Ang's mostly intuitive jumps to conclusions/ I don't think she made for a good detective, and she certainly shouldn't have been offered the job. There was absolutely no reason for her to be primary. It would have made more sense to have her as a consultant helping the police investigation. Having said all that, I loved this book in so many other ways.


The different cultures, skin colours and clashes in technological advances made Bar-Selehm a fascinating place.


Ang is in a difficult position from the start. She is an outsider in her own tribe, she has no influence among the ruling race to go through her investigation successfully, and she doesn't know who to trust within the other tribe, which is in even worse condition than her own. She also decides to take care of her sister's newborn, which is sheer madness if you ask me and which she soon realises as well.


Her superior and his sister, the police detective, the Mahweni girl: they are all fabulous secondary characters and make for some vivid scenes. Take the chimney episode, for example. I was holding my breath there.


Overall, despite a choppy investigation, I really loved this book. It was original, refreshing and superbly atmospheric, so I hope to read more from A.J. Hartley soon. Recommended.

For a Young Adult a restrained coming of age

I bought this book because of the reader' s voice. For a YA book it was a well written coming of age story. Author love unique elements into a believable story. It held my attention, and warrants a second listen. Recommend