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Search - The Alchemist's Daughter
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The Alchemist's Daughter Author: |
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Book Information
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Book Description:
There are long-held secrets at the manor house in Buckinghamshire, England, where Emilie Selden has been raised in near isolation by her father. A student of Isaac Newton, John Selden believes he can turn his daughter into a brilliant natural philosopher and alchemist. Secluded in their ancient house, with only two servants for company, he fills Emilie with knowledge and records her progress obsessively.
In the spring of 1725, father and daughter begin their most daring alchemical experiment to date—they will attempt to breathe life into dead matter. But their work is interrupted by the arrival of two strangers: one a researcher, the other a dazzling young merchant. During the course of a sultry August, while her father is away, Emilie experiences the passion of first love. Listening to her heart rather than her head, she makes a choice.
Banished to London and plunged headlong into a society that is both glamorous and ruthless, Emilie discovers that for all her extraordinary education she has no insight into the workings of the human heart. When she tries to return to the world of books and study, she instead unravels a shocking secret that sets her on her true journey to enlightenment.
The Alchemist's Daughter is a gripping, evocative tale. Set against the backdrop of eighteenth-century London society, it is an unforgettable story of one woman's journey through a world of mystery, passion, and obsession.
Selden Manor was the crucible in which my father, the Gills, and I lived together. I peer into it now with the respectful caution with which I was taught to approach any volatile experiment. I am searching for a day to illustrate our life before 1725, the year when everything changed. And unlike the blacksmith's daughter, I am an expert in observation. I know what I am looking for—bubbles of gas, a rise in temperature, an alteration in texture—small indications of chemical change that mean something significant is happening. —from The Alchemist's Daughter
In the spring of 1725, father and daughter begin their most daring alchemical experiment to date—they will attempt to breathe life into dead matter. But their work is interrupted by the arrival of two strangers: one a researcher, the other a dazzling young merchant. During the course of a sultry August, while her father is away, Emilie experiences the passion of first love. Listening to her heart rather than her head, she makes a choice.
Banished to London and plunged headlong into a society that is both glamorous and ruthless, Emilie discovers that for all her extraordinary education she has no insight into the workings of the human heart. When she tries to return to the world of books and study, she instead unravels a shocking secret that sets her on her true journey to enlightenment.
The Alchemist's Daughter is a gripping, evocative tale. Set against the backdrop of eighteenth-century London society, it is an unforgettable story of one woman's journey through a world of mystery, passion, and obsession.
Selden Manor was the crucible in which my father, the Gills, and I lived together. I peer into it now with the respectful caution with which I was taught to approach any volatile experiment. I am searching for a day to illustrate our life before 1725, the year when everything changed. And unlike the blacksmith's daughter, I am an expert in observation. I know what I am looking for—bubbles of gas, a rise in temperature, an alteration in texture—small indications of chemical change that mean something significant is happening. —from The Alchemist's Daughter
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Top Member Book Reviews
Kathy B. (
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
The girl followed the Alchemist from the time she was a child, her only wish was to please him and make him proud. She studied, she learned, she could speak and read several languages. She knew the Latin names of all the plants, trees and animals on the estate. She knew the properties of water and fire. She was Emilie Selden, the Alchemist’s daughter. He wrote of her each night in the Emilie Notebooks. She was his most interesting experiment, his crowning achievement and he loved her dearly. Her mother was a mystery to her. Her only inheritance from her mother, a bit of ribbon and the stark, isolated room in one of the unused portions of the manor. The region of England they lived in was very isolated and she was so naïve. Falling in love too easily, giving herself too freely, she found herself with child by a man she loved. His power over her was sensual and easily bought. Her father turned her away, banishing Emilie, her husband and her future child from Selden. She traveled to London where she strived to be the great lady her husband wished her to be. She loved him, trusted him, and was betrayed. The story is of her journey from childhood to woman she was to become. This is not the sort of book I usually read. To be honest, I saw it more as a high level romance novel. Though I enjoyed it, it didn’t grab me and hold my attention like I thought it would. The blurb on the back cover talked of how she and her father were attempting to breathe live into dead matter. That was the story line that caught my attention. It was a great disappointment to me that so little of the book was actually about the experiment unless you see it in the symbolic sense.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
I like this writer's style and will definately try another book by her but I felt the story never developed fully. Almost as if it was leading up to something but never got there. A decent read but not one of my favorites.
Jennifer L. (
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
a woman sheltered since birth learns that knowledge is no substitute for experience. very well written
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