A compelling mystery which combines rich historical narrative with the story of a woman entangled in a 21st-century witch hunt. Jade Green is a solicitor with her own practice, Lost Causes, that she runs from her London flat. She struggles to keep her business afloat, and supplements her income by delivering for the local Chinese takeaway. Her life changes with a single phonecall. Dr Gilbert has been dismissed from his post teaching the history of science at the University of Wessex. Allegations have been made that he was corrupting the students with satanism; the professor himself suspects the university to be controlled by a fundamentalist christian sect. As Jade delves into this bizarre case, she finds herself drawn into a seventeenth-century manuscript, the original of which has been stolen from the Professor's briefcase at the university. It is The Memorial of Amyntas Boston, a young woman -- raised as a boy -- who is awaiting trial for dabbling in the black arts and in alchemy. Taken into service by Mary Sidney, she had fallen in love with her mistress and ultimately found herself betrayed by her. The two stories intertwine as Jade feels her life mysteriously resonate with Amyntas's; her hidden identities and her secret love. In this sweeping novel, Maureen Duffy combines the pleasures of detection with the mysteries of fraud, alchemy, early science and witchcraft. By turns passionate and drily witty, this is a compelling tale of love and labours lost and rediscovered.
Alchemy
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Editorial Reviews
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'Maureen Duffy is one of the few British writers of fiction of real class' Financial Times * 'An experienced, prolific novelist; nothing she writes can fail.' Daily Telegraph * 'Maureen Duffy is one of Britain's foremost writers.' Guardian * 'A fine novelist, Maureen Duffy delves into the recent past to produce a riveting read.' Daily Mail * 'Vivid, moving and with Duffy's unerring eye for detail and gift for storytelling.' Shena Mackay * 'A novel that makes you think and feel at the same time.' Allan Massie, The Scotsman * 'Duffy has lost none of her fire... and she writes like a dream.' The Spectator * 'Her vivid, clear, elegant prose makes Restitution a pleasure to read.' Sunday Telegraph
About the Author
A prolific poet and playwright, Maureen Duffy published her first novel, That's How It Was, in 1962. She is the author of Wounds, Capital and Londoners: An Elegy (the Londoners trilogy) and has written biographies of Purcell and Aphra Behn. Her most recent novel was Restitution.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
There was a great book in here, struggling to get out...,
By LBM "Elbyem" (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Alchemy (Hardcover)
...past the strangely lethargic modern and Tudor heroines. What could've been two absorbing stories are dragged down by the primary characters, who never seem to progress to maturity, self-insight, nor motivation to take charge of their own lives. Their shared static quality holds back the momentum of the entire book.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
17th century glass ceiling,
By
This review is from: Alchemy (Hardcover)
Solicitor, Jade Green, accepts a case from a former lecturer at a small, private university from which he was sacked for going against the religious tenets of the Dean. The Professor feels that there was more to his sacking than meets the eye and that greed and corruption are more likely to be the answer than any invented reasons. He has a 17th century manuscript which purports to be that of a young trainee physician who impersonates a man because of the distrust of women in any other role than that of the traditional wife and mother. Jade's story and that of her 17th century counterpart, runs along parallel lines, with both yong women showing decided leanings towards lesbianism, although the story doesn't go into any great detail about their sex lives. The recipes, or receipts as they are called in earlier times, are fascinating and lead one to wonder whether they killed more than they cured, and the utter helplessness of women in those times was apalling when it only took the word of a man, any man, to condemn them out of hand to a life in jail or worse. I have long given up any romantic ideas about living in earlier times, and am only too grateful to be here in the 21st century.
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