{"product_id":"the-trial-of-katterfelto","title":"The Trial of Katterfelto","description":"In the last jittery years of the eighteenth century, England is hungry for marvels. In rides Doctor Gustavus Katterfelto, a celebrity conjurer who once performed for Kings and now lives by his wits, with his battered stage gear and his black cat Cleo.   He is joined by Roger Gossage, a young Moroccan Jew stranded in Britain. When a river accident leaves Katterfelto injured and Roger combing the Severn for lost property, he finds a dented silver horn, cold as a grave coin. When breathed into, it answers with a woman’s voice - she speaks of far-off cities, strange machines and in riddles, and soon “the Oracle of Clevelode” is the sensation of the Midlands. Crowds pack Duvernet’s theatre and fields at dusk. Doom-preachers chant her phrases. Rival magicians and zealots circle. But then a shadowy Constable of the Night sets a trap.   As hysteria rises, Roger begins to suspect the horn is not a trick at all. In Nottingham a scientific committee is formed to test the oracle. What begins as theatre becomes obsession, and ends in a public trial for “pretending to sorcery”, with Roger fighting to save Katterfelto and the voice inside the horn.   Told as a breathless 'true account', The Trial of Katterfelto is a darkly comic historical fever dream about spectacle, belief, and the price of hearing the future.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57502314758517,"sku":"9780857303288","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780857303288.jpg?v=1786781140","url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/products\/the-trial-of-katterfelto","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}