First published 1992
Alex Darken arrives at a remote village in eastern England's flatlands, his marriage destroyed and his life in ruins. The early 1980s find him seeking refuge on the Easterness Estate, where he encounters Edward Nesbit, an unpredictable aging poet, and Laura, Edward's passionate young American companion who claims psychic abilities. The trio becomes obsessed with reconstructing the lost alchemical research of Sir Henry Agnew and his daughter Louisa from 1849. The Victorian pair had nearly unlocked alchemy's deepest mysteries before their work vanished. As Alex, Edward, and Laura delve deeper into the Agnew legacy, they discover the "chemical wedding" concept that promised to unite opposing forces: male and female, spirit and matter, reality and imagination. Their modern investigation begins mirroring the Victorian story in disturbing ways. Dreams blur with waking life, philosophical debates turn heated, and erotic tensions escalate. The three researchers find themselves approaching the same breakthrough that consumed the Agnews, but the closer they get to their goal, the more they risk losing their sanity and destroying each other in pursuit of spiritual transformation.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, mystery, fantasy, alchemy, occult
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Easterness Estate, Eastern England
Period: 1849, 1980s
Hardcover · Random House Value Publishing
Content warnings: mental-illness