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The Bedlam Stacks

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The Bedlam Stacks

By: Natasha Pulley
Narrated by: David Thorpe
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About this listen

An astonishing historical novel set in the shadowy, magical forests of South America, which draws on the captivating world of the international best seller The Watchmaker of Filigree Street.

Deep in uncharted Peru, the holy town of Bedlam stands at the edge of a forest. The shrine statues move, and anyone who crosses the border dies. But somewhere inside are cinchona trees, whose bark yields quinine: the only known treatment for malaria.

On the other side of the Pacific, it is 1859, and India is ravaged by the disease. The hunt for a reliable source of quinine is critical, and in its desperation the India Office searches out its last qualified expeditionary. Struggling with a terrible injury from his last mission and the strange occurrences at his family's ruined estate, Merrick Tremayne finds himself under orders to bring back cinchona cuttings at any cost and dispatched, against his own better judgment, to Bedlam.

There he meets Raphael, a priest around whom the villagers spin unsettlingly familiar stories of impossible disappearances and living stone. Gradually Tremayne realises that Raphael is the key to a legacy left by two generations of Tremayne explorers before him, one which will prove more dangerous and valuable than the India Office could ever have imagined.

©2017 Natasha Pulley (P)2017 Audible, Ltd
Fantasy Historical Fiction

Critic Reviews

"Assured and absorbing...immensely pleasurable reading. Pulley's prose is strong and energetic, with a wry edge, and even the most minor characters are drawn precisely.... Intricate, charming and altogether surprising." (The New York Times book review on The Watchmaker of Filigree Street)
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Little slow to start but the characters are engaging and turned into a great read.
Narrator did an excellent job.
will definitely read another by this author.

Enjoyable

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Rich imagery of a possible world... The statues were like guardians of a hidden realm

mystical

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Oh wow I loved this! This book is so atmospheric and despite the fact that a lot actually happens in it, it feels like a quiet book. I loved the main character and the narrator did a fantastic job.

Beautiful and haunting!

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A bit slow but great characters, good story, great ending and as usual awesome universe.

Awesome universe & good story

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Beautiful mix of history novel mixed with fantasy. Great performer. One of my favourite authors

Fantastic history mixed with fantasy

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Didn't grip me, neither the story or the performance. Characters were dull and the created world, unconvincing.

Slow and tedious

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The narration is hard to follow. Perhaps that’s the writing. Very hard to listen to.

Hard to engage

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