The Queen's Reading Room

The Whalebone Theatre

By Joanna Quinn

This is an undeniably lovable book about three charming siblings who are determined to seek their own adventures. From Dorset to London to Paris and back again; you are never quite sure where the plot is going to take you. I was completely enchanted.
~ Her Majesty Queen Camilla
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Featured in: Season 8

Publish Date: 2022

Despite her adverse circumstances, young Cristabel Seagrave has big dreams for her life and is determined to write her own story. When a whale washes up on the Dorset shore, she plants her flag, and the inanimate carcass becomes the stage for Cristabel, Flossie and Digby’s imaginative plays, while her step-parents are distracted by an endless parade of party guests. But as the war approaches, the now grown-up children will find out that the roles they are expected to play are no longer those they hoped…

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Joanna Quinn
The Whalebone Theatre
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Jenna Bush Hager
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Dorset Coast
Inspiration For The Whalebone Theatre
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Athelhampton House
Inspiration for The Whalebone Theatre
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Zoe Curnow
On the Minack Theatre
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The Whalebone Theatre
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Boscombe Whale
Inspiration tor The Whalebone Theatre
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The Dorset Echo, 1998
Article by Joanna Quinn
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The Dorset Museum
On Flossie Seagrave and Dorset Women During the War
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US Troops in an English Village
Imperial War Museum
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Nancy Wake
Female Undercover Agent of World War II
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Théâtre de l’Atelier in Paris
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The Whalebone Theatre
Book Extract
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Joanna Quinn In Conversation With Jenna Bush Hager
On The Whalebone Theatre

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Joanna Quinn in conversation with Jenna Bush Hager
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The Dorset Museum
On the Fate of Stately Homes in Dorset

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