|
|
|
|
|
|
|
HELP | |
|
  $8.95 List price:
HARDCOVER, USED
Ships in 1 to 3 days
More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:
Ghostwalk: A Novelby Rebecca Stott
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A Cambridge historian, Elizabeth Vogelsang, is found drowned, clutching a glass prism in her hand. The book she was writing about Isaac Newton's involvement with alchemy — the culmination of her lifelong obsession with the seventeenth century — remains unfinished. When her son, Cameron, asks his former lover, Lydia Brooke, to ghostwrite the missing final chapters of his mother's book, Lydia agrees and moves into Elizabeth's house — a studio in an orchard where the light moves restlessly across the walls. Soon Lydia discovers that the shadow of violence that has fallen across present-day Cambridge, which escalates to a series of murders, may have its origins in the troubling evidence that Elizabeth's research has unearthed. As Lydia becomes ensnared in a dangerous conspiracy that reawakens ghosts of the past, the seventeenth century slowly seeps into the twenty-first, with the city of Cambridge the bridge between them.
Filled with evocative descriptions of Cambridge, past and present, of seventeenth-century glassmaking, alchemy, the Great Plague, and Newton's scientific innovations, Ghostwalk centers around a real historical mystery that Rebecca Stott has uncovered involving Newton's alchemy. In it, time and relationships are entangled — the present with the seventeenth century, and figures from the past with the love-torn twenty-first century woman who is trying to discover their secrets. A stunningly original display of scholarship and imagination, and a gripping story of desire and obsession, Ghostwalk is a rare debut that will change the way most of us think about scientific innovation, the force of history, and time itself. Review:"To concoct this cerebral thriller about 17th-century alchemy, Rebecca Stott grinds two parts of historical research into a fine powder, folds in some human blood, adds a pinch of the occult, and heats the mixture over an open flame. By the time 'Ghostwalk' begins to boil, it's a hypnotic brew of speculation, intrigue and murder. Stott teaches English at Cambridge University, where 'Ghostwalk'... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review) Review:"Stott's compelling style acts as a counterpoint to the scientific and historical components of this haunting literary mystery/thriller. Stott skillfully binds fact with fiction in an insightful story that surprises and intrigues." Kirkus Reviews Review:"A beautifully written book, mixing a compelling contemporary love story and a fascinating historical investigation, with Isaac Newton and alchemy playing a crucial role. The mystery at the novel's center is audacious, convincing, and will make readers think anew about what history is." Iain Pears, author of An Instance of the Fingerpost Review:"Stott moves between past and present with the page-turning dexterity of a literary alchemist — a novel of intrigue as cleverly imagined as it is entertaining." Joseph Kanon, author of The Good German, The Prodigal Spy, and Los Alamos Review:"A dangerous love story and mystery, where after a time neither the reader nor the heroine can tell what is true. You slip through the shimmering prose and fall into the alchemy of Newton and certain unsolved crimes of his time until you begin to wonder if what happened then can affect what might happen now. Blending contemporary quantum physics with the winding streets of ancient Cambridge, Ghostwalk is a highly intelligent and original novel." Stephanie Cowell, author of Nicholas Cooke and The Physician of London Review:"An amazing work — a highly intelligent thriller that combines the supernatural with modern quantum theory, the current war on terror with Isaac Newton's work on light and gravity, and his delving into alchemy in the seventeenth century. At once mind-boggling and mind-expanding." Nicholas Mosley, author of Hopeful Monsters and Time at War Review:"Ghostwalk works beautifully...leaving a lingering impression of a world richer, and more precarious, than we imagine." Los Angeles Times Review:"[Rebecca Stott] manages to invoke both the non-causal entanglements of quantum physics and the paranoid conspiracies of Pynchon and DeLillo." New York Times Synopsis:A stunningly original display of scholarship and imagination, and a gripping story of desire and obsession, Stott's novel is a rare debut that will change the way many readers think about scientific innovation, the force of history, and time itself. About the AuthorRebecca Stott is a professor at Anglia Ruskin University and is affiliated with the Cambridge Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. She is the author of several books, including a biography, Darwin and the Barnacle, and is a regular contributor to BBC radio. She lives in Cambridge, England. This is her first novel. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 3 comments: | ||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Don't Miss
