Aunt Sally based on a blackface doll itself inspired by a low-life character named "Black Sal", which appeared in an 1821 series of novellas entitled "Life of London" by Pierce Egan, a contemporary of Charles Dickens. The game dates back to the 17th century, although the name "Aunt Sally" may have been a later addition. It was traditionally played in central English pubs and fairgrounds. An Aunt Sally was originally the modelled head of an old woman with a clay pipe in her mouth; the object was for players to throw sticks at the head in order to break the pipe. The
In the Mouth of the Whale that the novel matched the high standards of its predecessors, noting that "[a] layer of political and emotional complexity is missing from the new novel. Maybe it is better to read it as a standalone work, completely detached from what went before." Greg L. Johnson's review was more positive, concluding "[i]n short, everything we've come to expect from Paul McAuley at his best." In the Mouth of the Whale In the Mouth of the Whale is a 2012 science fiction novel by Paul J. McAuley, the third in his "Quiet War" sequence. While "The Quiet War" and "Gardens of the