Rebecca Stott

A captivating novel about two sisters fighting for survival in male-dominated Dark Ages Britain that weaves a thrilling spell of magic and myth—from a bestselling author and historian. In Dark Ages Britain, sisters Isla and Blue live in the shadows of the Ghost City, the abandoned ruins of the once-glorious, mile-wide Roman settlement Londinium on the north bank of the Thames. The native Britons and the new migrants from the East who scratch out a living in small wooden camps in its hinterland fear that the crumbling stone ruins are haunted by vengeful spirits. But the small island they call home is also a place of exile for Isla, Blue, and their father, a legendary blacksmith accused of using dark magic to make his firetongue swords. The local warlord, Osric, has put the Great Smith under close guard and ruled that he make his magnificent swords only for him so that he can use them to build alliances and extend his kingdom. For years, the sisters have been running wild, Blue communing with animals and plants and Isla secretly learning her father’s trade, which is forbidden to women. But when their father suddenly dies, they find themselves facing enslavement by Osric and his cruel, power-hungry son Vort. Their only option is to escape to the Ghost City, where they discover an underworld of rebel women living secretly amid the ruins. As Blue and Isla settle into their new life, they find both refuge and community with the women around them. But it is all too fragile. With the ruins collapsing all around them, Blue and Isla realize they can’t elude the men who hunt them forever. If they are to survive, they will need to use all their skill and ingenuity—as well as the magic of their foremothers—to fight back. With cinematic intimacy, Rebecca Stott skillfully recreates an ancient world steeped in myth and folklore, and the vibrant women who fight back against their patriarchal society. A heart-in-mouth adventure full of moments of tenderness, this is a beautiful, profound novel about oppression and power that puts a female perspective on a historical period dominated by men’s stories.

A Novel

Dark Earth

"Rebecca Stott both adored and feared her father, Roger Stott, a high-ranking minister in the Brighton, England, branch of the Exclusive Brethren, a separatist fundamentalist Christian sect. A man of contradictions, he preached that the Brethren should shun the outside world, which was ruled by Satan, yet he kept a radio in the trunk of his car and read Shakespeare and Yeats. Years later, when the Stotts broke with the Brethren after a scandal involving the cult's leader, Roger became an actor and compulsive gambler who left the family penniless and ended up in jail ... In the Days of Rain is Rebecca Stott's attempt to make sense of her childhood in the Exclusive Brethren, to understand her father's role in the cult and in the breaking apart of her family, and to come to be at peace with her relationship with a larger-than-life figure whose faults were matched by a passion for life, a thirst for knowledge, and a love of literature and beauty. A father-daughter story as well as a memoir of growing up in a closed-off community and then finding a way out of it, this is an inspiring and beautiful account of the bonds of family and the power of self-invention."--Jacket.

A Daughter, a Father, a Cult

In the Days of Rain

the secret history of evolution

Darwin's ghosts

A “superb” (The Guardian) novel about two sisters fighting for survival in Dark Ages Britain that weaves “a dazzling blend of history and fantasy” (BuzzFeed) “Rich in history and folklore . . . Stott is astute on the use of stories to control others and maintain power. . . . Female defiance blazes through as her women reclaim this brutal period from the men.”—The Telegraph The year is 500 AD. Sisters Isla and Blue live in the shadows of the Ghost City, the abandoned ruins of the once-glorious mile-wide Roman settlement Londinium on the bank of the River Thames. But the small island they call home is also a place of exile for Isla, Blue, and their father, a legendary blacksmith accused of using dark magic to make his firetongue swords—formidable blades that cannot be broken—and cast out from the community. When he dies suddenly, the sisters find themselves facing enslavement by the local warlord and his cruel, power-hungry son. Their only option is to escape to the Ghost City, where they discover an underworld of rebel women living secretly amid the ruins. But if Isla and Blue are to survive the men who hunt them, and protect their new community, they will need to use all their skill and ingenuity—as well as the magic of their foremothers—to fight back. With an intimate yet cinematic scope, Dark Earth re-creates an ancient world steeped in myth and folklore, and introduces us to unforgettable women who come to vibrant life on the page. A heart-in-mouth adventure full of moments of tenderness, this is a beautiful, profound novel about oppression and power that puts a female perspective on a historical period dominated by men’s stories.

When the death of a Cambridge historian leaves her opus on Sir Isaac Newton and his alchemy unfinished, Lydia Brooke is called in to finish the book, only to find herself embroiled in a mystery in which the present becomes entangled with a past based on Newton's life and an investigation into four suspicious deaths that took place in seventeenth-century Cambridge. A first novel. 75,000 first printing.

Ghostwalk

‘Magical and evocative’ Imogen Hermes Gowar, author of The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock ‘Heartachingly poignant’ Lucy Holland, author of Sistersong

Ilk Evrimcilerin Izinde

Darwinin Hayaletleri

In 1815 France, a young medical student discovers that the beauty who shared his coach has stolen the rare coral specimens he carried and soon he encounters a ring of philosopher thieves determined to sabotage pre-Darwinian theories of evolution.

The Coral Thief

A powerful and gripping historical thriller for fans of The Essex Serpernt and The Miniaturist. 'Original and evocative ... a mesmerising thriller' Daily Telegraph 'Full of twists and turns' Scotsman 'An enthralling exploration of revolutionary science in post-revolutionary France' Guardian 'A book of penetrating humanity and a vivid evocation of Paris' Financial Times Paris, 1815. Daniel Connor, a young medical student from Edinburgh, has just arrived in Paris to study anatomy at the Jardin des Plantes - only to realise that his letters of introduction and a gift of precious coral specimens, on which his tenure depends, have been stolen by the beautiful woman with whom he shared a stagecoach. In the fervour and tumult of post revolutionary Paris, nothing is quite as it seems. In trying to recover his lost valuables, Daniel discovers that his beautiful adversary is in fact a philosopher-thief who lives in a shadowy world of outlaws and émigrés. As Daniel embark on a passionate love affair with the Coral Thief, he is drawn to join her salon of thieves to execute one last breathtakingly bold robbery...

A Cambridge historian, Elizabeth Vogelsang, is found drowned, clutching a glass prism in her hand. The book she was writing about Isaac Newton’s involvement with alchemy–the culmination of her lifelong obsession with the seventeenth century–remains unfinished. When her son, Cameron, asks his former lover, Lydia Brooke, to ghostwrite the missing final chapters of his mother’s book, Lydia agrees and moves into Elizabeth’s house–a studio in an orchard where the light moves restlessly across the walls. Soon Lydia discovers that the shadow of violence that has fallen across present-day Cambridge, which escalates to a series of murders, may have its origins in the troubling evidence that Elizabeth’s research has unearthed. As Lydia becomes ensnared in a dangerous conspiracy that reawakens ghosts of the past, the seventeenth century slowly seeps into the twenty-first, with the city of Cambridge the bridge between them. Filled with evocative descriptions of Cambridge, past and present, Ghostwalk centers around a real historical mystery that Rebecca Stott has uncovered involving Newton’s alchemy. In it, time and relationships are entangled–the present with the seventeenth century, and figures from the past with the love-torn twenty-first-century woman who is trying to discover their secrets. A stunningly original display of scholarship and imagination, and a gripping story of desire and obsession, Ghostwalk is a rare debut that will change the way most of us think about scientific innovation, the force of history, and time itself.

Tout commence par une brûlante soirée de juillet 1815, quelques semaines après la reddition de Napoléon face aux armées alliées à Waterloo. Daniel Connor, brillant et ambitieux étudiant du Derbyshire, se rend à Paris par malle poste, muni de coraux et de lettres d’introduction auprès de l’illustre professeur Cuvier, du Jardin des Plantes. En chemin, il croise une brune envoûtante, dont les idées hétérodoxes sur la transformation des espèces et l’origine de la vie le fascinent. Mais quand Daniel se réveille, à l’aube, elle a disparu, lui dérobant ce qu’il possédait de plus précieux. À la poursuite de sa mystérieuse voleuse philosophe, Daniel découvre dans le dédale des rues et des tripots de Paris une ville bruissant d’émigrés et d’idées radicalement nouvelles. Quand il finit par la retrouver, elle l’entraîne au cœur des étourdissants bas-fonds parisiens où tout paraît possible. Mais les jours de la voleuse de coraux sont comptés : la police est à ses trousses. Pour lui échapper, elle enrôlera Daniel dans un cambriolage – dont la réussite tiendra du prodige. Traduit de l’anglais par Marie Boudewyn

La voleuse de corail

Simon Avery

This volume will provide students with an introduction to the poetry and life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, one of the most popular poets of her day in Britain and America and who has become one of the great icons of Victorianism for the modern age. The authors present a biographical survey, study of her poetry, its critical reception and an assessment of her influence on later poets. This book also examines the complex 'myths' which are associated with Elizabeth Barrett Browning and offers re-readings of her life and work, particularly in dispelling the myth of the ailing invalid poet-recluse and instead showing her to be one of the great intellectuals of her day, immersed in European history and politics from a very early age. The book situates Browning within broader historical,political and cultural contexts than have yet been examined enabling a better understanding of her poetry and paints the portrait of a fine and innovative poet, an intellectual and an astute political thinker.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Staza prošlosti

With its many unusual images and anecdotes, this book will appeal to oyster lovers around the world."--Jacket.

Oyster

Darwin and the Barnacle by Rebecca Stott, lavishly illustrated and superbly told, is the fascinating story of how genius sometimes proceeds through indirection - and how one small item of curiosity contributed to history's most spectacular scientific breakthrough.

Darwin and the Barnacle

Alternative approaches have emerged which have radically altered our understanding of Tennyson's poetry and his relationship to the Victorian age. This text covers the most significant areas of new work on Tennyson, effectively linking feminist and gender studies with deconstructive, psychoanalytic and linguistic attention. The Introduction discusses ways in which orthodox critical approaches have dominated readings of Tennyson's poetry and provides a critical overview of the radical reappraisal of his work. It also provides a guide to the varied ways in which these new debates have shaped and are shaping themselves, with a final discussion of the future directions which Tennyson criticism is likely to take. The essays chosen cover and reflect a range of modes of critical enquiry compelling in themselves.

Tennyson

Mein Weg aus der Sekte

Erlöst

In the winter of 1847, the cloisters of Westminster Abbey enjoyed a sudden growth in popularity, though the visitors who streamed in were not of the usual kind. They were naturalists, come to see the very first marine aquarium in England, a large collection of madrepores and sea sponges kept in glass cases in the drawing-room of Ashburnham House. The Abbey aquarium was established not by the Revered Lord John Thynne, the Sub-Dean of the Abbey, but by his extraordinary wife Anna, a great beauty and mother of 10 children, who by a process of serendipity, discovered how to keep and breed her pet sea creatures in glass tanks in central London. Anna's invention of the aquarium coincided with a major philosophical turning point in history. Married to a clergyman, she found herself working in a field which cut right through to the heart of the prevailing conflict about the origins and development of life on the planet.

Rebecca Stott

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