- Paperback: 248 pages
- Publisher: Key Porter Books (Aug 12 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1554701015
- ISBN-13: 978-1554701018
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13.2 x 1.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 113 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #196,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
In this engrossing historical adventure, John Wilson paints a vivid picture of a bygone era involving Henry Hudson?s fateful search for the elusive Northwest Passage, an alchemist, mysterious passengers, and enigmatic maps. The Alchemist?s Dream fascinates from start to finish. In the fall of 1669, the Nonsuch returns to London with a load of fur from Hudson Bay. It brings something else, too--the lost journal from Henry Hudson?s tragic search for a passage to Cathay in 1611.
In the hands of a greedy sailor, the journal is merely an object to sell. But for Robert Bylot--a once-great maritime explorer--the book is a painful reminder of a past he?d rather forget. As Bylot relives his memories of a plague-ridden city, of the mysterious alchemist John Dee, and of mutiny in the frozen wastes of Hudson Bay, an age-old mystery is both revealed and solved. Set against the thrilling backdrop of the quest for the Northwest Passage, The Alchemist?s Dream is a riveting tale of exploration, ambition, and betrayal.
About the Author
JOHN WILSON, an ex-geologist and frustrated historian, is the award-winning author of twelve historical fictions, most recently Four Steps to Death, Flames of The Tiger, And in the Morning, and Where Soldiers Lie. He has also authored five non-fiction books for young adults, including a biography of John Rae (Discovering the Arctic) and a book about the geology of Canada (Dancing Elephants and Floating Continents), a novel for adults (North with Franklin), over thirty poems, and hundreds of freelance articles. He lives and writes in Lantzville on Vancouver Island.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating Topic,
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This review is from: The Alchemist's Dream (Hardcover)
A fresh, intriguing hypothesis to the solution of the mystery surrounding Henry Hudson's last fatal voyage. This is a story of Henry Hudson but much more so a story of Robert Bylot, an obscure explorer, and John Dee, a geographer and occultist. The tale of how these three people's lives may have intertwined is fascinating. The book does start off very slow, there is a heavy hand of history and geography to set the scene which borders on being pedantic. I think the reader would have been better served with an illustrated map on the endpapers and really am dismayed that one wasn't included. However, the author manages to provoke our interest in the characters enough until the mid-point of the novel where the plot line picks up and the reading flows much easier. This is a Young Adult novel and suitable for the upper age range as this realistic portrait of life on the high-seas includes very graphic and gory battle scenes. Overall, this is a fascinating topic and a glimpse into an era where the boundaries between science and magic were blurry. Recommended. 3.5/5
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