I am not sure how I feel about THE BEDLAM STACKS and found
myself
having to reread to make sure that I understood correctly
what I had read. Because of that, this was a very slow
read for me. I like how there are elements of supernatural
and historical fiction with just enough mystery to get
my attention. There is friendship, love, magic,
intrigue, and adventure in this novel. I feel that it is
slow, but it will grow on you the more you read it.
Natasha Pulley writes with an imagination that is truly
remarkable with wonderful descriptions that
make the setting so vivid and vibrant. You can close your
eyes and see exactly what the author is describing.
Pulley has done a lot of research on this time period and
it shows within the story. The characters are very well
planned out and all have backstories that help to add
depth to the story. Since the story is slow going, you get
a chance to get attached to the characters and find
yourself yearning to know what happens next with them.
There is a twist to the story, but I was not surprised by
it. Even though I saw it coming, I feel it really added to the
overall story. THE BEDLAM STACKS would be a perfect read for a
lazy afternoon.
In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne
is trapped at home in Cornwall after sustaining an injury
that almost cost him his leg. On the sprawling, crumbling
grounds of the old house, something is wrong; a statue
moves, his grandfather's pines explode, and his brother
accuses him of madness.
When the India Office recruits Merrick for an expedition
to fetch quinine--essential for the treatment of malaria-
-from deep within Peru, he knows it's a terrible idea.
Nearly every able-bodied expeditionary who's made the
attempt has died, and he can barely walk. But Merrick is
desperate to escape everything at home, so he sets off,
against his better judgment, for a tiny mission colony on
the edge of the Amazon where a salt line on the ground
separates town from forest. Anyone who crosses is killed
by something that watches from the trees, but somewhere
beyond the salt are the quinine woods, and the way around
is blocked.
Surrounded by local stories of lost time, cursed woods,
and living rock, Merrick must separate truth from
fairytale and find out what befell the last expeditions;
why the villagers are forbidden to go into the forest;
and what is happening to Raphael, the young priest who
seems to have known Merrick's grandfather, who visited
Peru many decades before. The Bedlam Stacks is the story
of a profound friendship that grows in a place that seems
just this side of magical.
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