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Torchwood: The House That Jack Built
Torchwood: The House That Jack Built
Nov 10, 2025 6:50 PM

Author:Guy Adams

Torchwood: The House That Jack Built

Jackson Leaves - an Edwardian house in Penylan.

Built 1906, semi-detached, three storeys, spacious, beautifully presented. Left in good condition to Rob and Julia by Rob's late aunt.

It's an ordinary sort of a house. Except for the way the rooms don't stay in the same places. And the strange man that turns up in the airing cupboard. And the apparitions. And the temporal surges that attract the attentions of Torchwood.

And the fact that the first owner of Jackson Leaves in 1906 was a Captain Jack Harkness...

Featuring Captain Jack Harkness as played by John Barrowman, with Gwen Cooper and Ianto Jones as played by Eve Myles and Gareth David-Lloyd, in the hit series created by Russell T Davies for BBC Television.

Reviews

A Beautiful heartwarming read

—— Cathy Rentzenbrink , Prima

Timeless.

—— Helen Dunmore , Daily Express

I try to get every girly girl to read this one because those four sisters are so real. Everybody's favourite is Jo, the tomboy who wants to be a writer

—— Jacqueline Wilson

Deals with life's big questions - love and death, war and peace, and ambition versus family responsibility - in a way that is inspiring and realistic. Use a hankie as a bookmark - tears are guaranteed

—— Marie Claire

Louisa May Alcott's Little Women is as much a part of every girl's childhood as her first pair of ballet shoes and the Brothers Grimm

—— Mail on Sunday

Six generations of readers have found in the story of the March family universal truths about girls, families and growing up

—— Guardian

A wonderful story... As a child, I strongly identified with Jo because she is a writer

—— Jacqueline Wilson

Kurkov's imagination kicks into high gear and turns Kiev into an absurdist playground. The result is a whimsical, skewed vision which can be, by turns, delightful and discomforting

—— Herald

Kurkov entices us along all the fault-lines of his bizarre world, where a young man sleepwalks through a double life and a widow notices her embalmed husband has fresh dirt on his unworn shoes

—— Jane Jakeman , Independent

Drugs, milk and a brace of cats pop up in a murky epic from Ukraine's master of the surreal conspiracy thriller

—— Metro

The separate storylines... twine into a bizarre quasi-murder mystery, featuring anti-fear medicine, human milk used as youth serum, corpse embalming, a cat that comes back from the dead and shady government practices. Ukranian author Andrey Kurkov's direct, unfussy narration is drenched in post-soviet pessimism and alcohol... readers trying to second-guess future twists will be astonished

—— Manchester Evening News

an unexpected gem and quite possibly the best novel of the year

—— Northern Echo

Outstanding and moving

—— The Irish Times

The most amazing book . . . The author handled the character wonderfully.

—— Young Writer

heartwarming

—— The Irish Times

A heart-warming story about a boy struggling to communicate with the world

—— The Good Book Guide

An intriguing, enlightening,and totally compelling read with surely the most unlikely hero in young people's literature

—— Rosalind Kerven , Northern Echo

Laugh-out-loud funny

—— TimeOut

...original, kind, disturbing and profoundly moving.

—— The Guardian

A stroke of genius, as the advantages of having a naive, literal-minded boy in the driving seat are manifold...we do learn what it might fe el like to have Asperger's Syndrome.

—— David Newnham, T.E.S.

A truly original work of fiction . . .a unique tale

—— York Evening Press

excellent

—— Claire Allfree , Metro Midlands

A wonderful first person narrative of a boy with Asperger;s Syndrome; funny, sad and extraordinarily original

—— Philip Ardagh , The Guardian

The highlight of the year

—— John Malam , Manchester Evening News

This is the magazine of the National Autistic Society: the review is written by someone with Asperger's Syndrome. "This book is a good murder mystery story but a better description of how th mind of a different person with some kind of special need looks upon how things work and come about.

—— Communication

This startlingly original story . . . Has surprised everyone-not least the author.The book is funny, gripping, sad and unstintingly entertaining.

—— The Age

So if you're interested in solving mysteries and want to learn about autism in children, you'll love this book

—— Carlisle News and Star

A triumph from first page to last . . . Haddon's prose is empathetic and you cannot help but be drawn into young Christpher's world

—— Dundee Evening Telegraph and Post

This is a unique book written from the perspective of a unique character . . . It is very easy to read and would satisfy anyone from eight to 88

—— The Teacher

I found this book highly entertaining and enthralling though it was a bit sad at times.

—— Books for Keeps
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