The Music Of The Spheres - Softcover

Redfern, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099406373 ISBN 13: 9780099406372

Publisher: Arrow, 2002

Synopsis

London, the summer of 1795: a season of revolutionary fervour, scientific discovery and vicious murders. The British government is in disarray, unable to stem the flood of secrets to Paris; betrayals that doom her war efforts to failure. In rural Kensington a group of French emigr-s are pursuing a scientific dream, the discovery of a planet they call Selene. The group has fallen under the spell of a beautiful and amoral woman - Auguste de Montpellier who is at once their muse and dark angel. Meanwhile a killer lurks in the back streets of the capital: the victims are all prostitutes and have been paid in French Louis d'Or, the currency of France's spies. Jonathan Absey is a Home Office clerk whose official task is to smash the French spy ring. Privately however, he has become obsessed with the murders. These interests intersect when he finds himself drawn into the Montpellier circle, yet his pursuit for truth remains obscured through coded letters, opium and conspiracy. Absey must uncover the mystery before the summer dies; an invasion fleet is being prepared to set sail across the channel and the lives of those on board now rest on his discoveries.

About this title

Review:

"Unputdownable" (Guardian)

"Remarkable, a glittering tale of London in 1795, full of science, intrigue, war, revolution and obsessive passion" (Guardian)

"An engrossing read and a rich, pungent evocation of the period" (Observer)

"Unputdownable...brilliantly handled to keep the reader guessing right to the end" (Charles Palliser)

"Striking and original...a star is born" (Literary Review)

From the Publisher:

Review from Charles Palliser
'I found this novel unputdownable. The complex narrative is brilliantly handled to keep the reader guessing right to the end. There are some ingenious surprises along the way. The colourful background is an atmospheric and evocative recreation of London in the 1790s, with all the complex political and diplomatic intrigues of that wartime era. The novel is well-researched, but the author's historical knowledge never slows the story down.

Elizabeth Redfern has discovered some fascinating by-ways in the history of the period and the novel brings together astronomy, espionage, criminal investigation, prostitution, and other absorbing 'worlds'.

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0099406373
• ISBN 13: 9780099406372
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432