"The Quincunx" by Charles Palliser is a sprawling Victorian-style mystery novel set in 19th century London. The story follows young John Huffman as he navigates a complex web of secrets, coincidences, and revelations while trying to uncover his family history and potentially claim his inheritance. The plot is intricate and convoluted, with rich period details seamlessly woven into the narrative, making it a highly absorbing read that keeps the reader engaged till the end.
Palliser's writing style has been compared to that of Charles Dickens, with meticulous attention to detail and evocative descriptions of London and its inhabitants. The novel is dense, detailed, and rewarding, offering readers a glimpse into the hard life of the time, from hidden secrets and family mysteries to encounters with both high and low society in the bustling city of London.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings for The Quincunx include themes around poverty, trauma, body snatching, prostitution, and mental illness, making it potentially distressing for sensitive readers.
From The Publisher:
An extraordinary modern novel in the Victorian tradition, Charles Palliser has created something extraordinary-a plot within a plot within a plot of family secrets, mysterious clues, low-born birth, high-reaching immorality, and, always, always the fog-enshrouded, enigmatic character of 19th century-London itself.
"So compulsively absorbing that reality disappears . . . One is swept along by those enduring emotions that defy modern art and a random universe: hunger for revenge, longing for justice and the fantasy secretly entertained by most people that the bad will be punished and the good rewarded."-The New York Times
"A virtuoso achievement . . . It is an epic, a tour de force, a staggeringly complex and tantalizingly layered tale that will keep readers engrossed in days. . . . The Quincunx will not disappoint you. It is, quite simply, superb."-Chicago Sun-Times
"A bold and vivid tale that invites the reader to get lost in the intoxicating rhythms of another world. And the invitation is irresistible."-San Francisco Chronicle
"A remarkable book . . . In mood, color, atmosphere and characters, this is Charles Dickens reincarnated . . . It is an immersing experience."-Los Angeles Times Book Review
"To read the first pages is to be trapped for seven-hundred odd more: you cannot stop turning them."-The New Yorker
"Few books, at most a dozen or two in a lifetime, affect us this way. . . . For sheer intricacy and ingenuity, for skill and clarity of storytelling, it is the kind of book readers wait for, a book to get lost in."-The Philadelphia Inquirer
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1 comment(s)
Charles Palliser's "The Quincunx" transports the reader back to Victorian-period London and into an epic dramatic mystery tome that feels like a grittier, more labyrinthine, extra heart-rending doppelganger of Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations" co-authored by Wilkie Collins.
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The Quincunx?
About the Author:
Charles Palliser's historical novels include The Quincunx, The Unburied, and Rustication. His fiction has been translated into a dozen languages. Palliser's The Quincunx was awarded the Sue Kaufman Prize by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. He has written plays…
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