Bred in the Bone is much better than its predecessor, which was overwhelmed by a hyperactive facetiousness, while still be quite fun. The second has some of that seriousness to be found in the Deptford Trilogy, and indeed ‘Buggerlugs’ makes a brief appearance during the main character’s time at ‘Spook.’
There is an excellent conceit during Cornish’s stay at a German Schloß, where is ‘restoring’ paintings under the tutelage of the master art restorer and enhanced Tancredi Saracen. Tancredi is back in Rome, and the Countess and daughter of the castle are away. It is just Cornish and the governess, a jaunty young Girton woman.
She explains to Cornish that
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This attaches slightly to an observation by his dying grandfather in a letter sent to Cornish:
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as with the Deptford Trilogy there is a sense of magic pushing in from the outside, just enough pressure to feel tangible in the text, not so much that it becomes a different sort of genre piece - fantasy, mysticism or revelation.
Those slipper shod people moving in the dark, invisible, around the framework of our lives, keeping us warm, so to speak, transacting.