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, 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.
From the Hardcover edition.
1 of 1 copy available
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
May 8, 2007 -
Formats
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780385523257
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780385523257
- File size: 1488 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Starred review from February 26, 2007
British historian Stott makes a stunning debut with this hypnotic and intelligent thriller, the first fiction release of a new Random House imprint. The mysterious drowning death of Elizabeth Vogelsang, a Cambridge University scholar who was almost finished writing a controversial biography of Isaac Newton, leads her son, Cameron Brown, to recruit Lydia Brooke, his former lover, to complete the book. That request plunges Brooke into probing two ostensibly separate series of murders: one in the 17th century claimed the lives of several who stood between Newton and the fellowship he needed to continue his studies at Cambridge; the other in the present day appears to target those who have offended a radical animal rights group. Brooke's work may be haunted by a ghost from Newton's time who guides her to a radical reinterpretation of the role of alchemy and the supernatural in Newton's life. Much more than a clever whodunit, this taut, atmospheric novel with its twisty interconnections between past and present will leave readers hoping Stott has many more stories in her future. -
April 1, 2007
Isaac Newton joins Dracula and Leonardo da Vinci as the latest historical figure to show up in an academic thriller, but will it approach the popularity of Elizabeth Kostova's "The Historian" or Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code"? In this debut novel from British historian Stott ("Darwin and the Barnacle"), screenwriter Lydia Brooke is hired by her ex-lover, Cameron Brown, to ghostwrite his recently murdered mother's biography of Isaac Newton. Lydia then becomes entangled in a mystery whose threads connect present-day animal-rights activists and the ghosts of 17th-century alchemists. Lydia herself is something of a cipher, but the minor characters are quirky and engaging. Stott clearly did a lot of research on subjects as far-ranging as optics, neuroscience, glassblowing, sleepwalking, mediums, animal testing, and the workings of outdoor markets both today and 300 years ago. Unfortunately, all this information, plus loving descriptions of everything from mushrooms to text-messaging, tends to obscure the plot until it's unclear who did what to whom and why. Still, the subject matter and excellent cover art will attract readers. Recommended for libraries where this genre is popular. [This is one of the first titles to be published by Random House's new Spiegel & Grau division.Ed.]Jenne Bergstrom, San Diego Cty. Lib.Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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