QUICKSILVER

Quicksilver, the second book in the Lady Tree Trilogy, is a gripping, uneasy psychological period thriller - and a new twist on the old werewolf story. Handsome, gifted singer and lute-maker Ned Malise, a rising favourite at the court of Charles I, suddenly finds, after a blow on the head, that he sometimes turns into a wolf – or so it seems to him, and everyone agrees. As a 'wolf' he experiences the world with a dog’s senses. His once-lovely voice turns to a howl. He learns at once how dangerous it is to be ‘different’. His enemies range from the priests who would save his soul at the cost of his body to an ambitious Dutch anatomist. What frightens him most, however, is that he can’t remember committing the hideous crime for which he is being pursued. Everything changes; nothing is quite as it seems. To survive, he must rely on the woman he loves, his own determination to learn the truth, and the help of an unreliable Dutch hermaphrodite. The man he blames for all his misfortunes is John Nightingale.

Quicksilver is set in London and in Amsterdam, against a background of 17th century science, alchemy, superstition and music. It explores myth to offer a real, plausible ‘werewolf’, describes a very unusual love affair and ends with a heart-stopping and moving affirmation of the truth about being human.

Anyone who has read The Lady Tree will soon recognise Ned Malise, the hero of Quicksilver as Edward Malise, the villain of the earlier book - and will begin to understand that story from a very different point of view. Each book also stands alone.



AUTHOR'S NOTES

Quicksilver is very close to my heart. It took years before I was ready to write about its true but hidden subject, Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE), which I suddenly developed in my thirties. Even in the 21st century the condition is still not well understood. (If you would like to know more, please see my note on Temporal Lobe Epilepsy at the end of Quicksilver.) Some of my own experiences – certain emotional disturbances and a heightening of my senses - made me begin to wonder. Could TLE be relevant to the messy jumbling together of supernatural werewolves with lycanthropia (the belief that you are a wolf or other animal), which in the past was blamed on either magic or madness? I had already begun writing Quicksilver when I came across an essay by Oliver Sachs, about a boy who thought he was a dog. ('The Dog Beneath the Skin') In a footnote, Sachs suggested a possible modern diagnosis of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy. Bingo! My imaginative instincts now had expert outside support. Since publication, I have had much moving correspondence with TLE sufferers or their families. As always, meticulous research underpins all leaps of imagination.

There were two special ‘writer’s treats’ for me in writing Quicksilver. One was having to listen to the music of the period. The other was the amazing chance, while researching the book, to spend several days with my sister among a pack of North American wolves at the Loki Wolf Refuge in New Hampshire. The wolves not only accepted us as alphas but also invited us to howl with them. (Did I use that experience? Of course I did! Read the book! There is also a detailed interview about my time with the wolves, on my Author's Page on the HarperCollins website.)

REVIEWS

‘…a meaty historical adventure…an exhilarating and unique experience.’

The Good Book Guide