The story is set mainly in the mid-Victorian period and involves Merrick Tremayne, an expert plantsman and ex-East India Company fixer who is now quite disabled, who ends up being sent to Peru to try to smuggle out quinine cuttings against all sorts of opposition. It sounds like a pretty standard historical adventure, but Natasha Pulley writes so well and creates such a brilliant, slightly magical world that I found it original and gripping. The “slightly magical” aspect is often a complete turn-off for me, but again she handles it so well and creates such believable characters and situations that it worked extremely well. My one reservation is that it felt slightly over-long – but only slightly.
Enough has been said about this book for me not to go on too much. It’s probably enough to say that it’s an excellently written, enjoyable and engaging read which I can recommend warmly.
No comments:
Post a Comment