- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: W&N (9 Feb 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0297850857
- ISBN-13: 978-0297850854
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14.4 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 609,743 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Alchemist's Daughter
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Review
'This is an intelligent portrait of England in the early 18th century, as experienced by a remarkable young woman.' (Kate Saunders THE TIMES )
'What makes The Alchemist's Daughter more than a routine entertainment is McMahon's vivid sense of both the natural world and of the smells and illuminated darkness of Selden's workroom. We believe in Emilie and come to love her for all her follies, because she is so passionate in her experience of the world around her.' (Roz Kaveney THE INDEPENDENT )
'McMahon has given us a first rate historical romance: it's hard to think it will be bettered this year.' (Lesley McDowell THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
'McMahon writes seriously and well, and conveys the disjunction between knowing something scientifically and knowing it emotionally. This is familiar material, but McMahon handles it with intelligence.' (THE DAILY TELEGRAPH )
'The Emilie we relate to is passionate and modern. The Emilie we admire is rational and less modern. It works beautifully, giving us a more complex Emilie while keeping a sense of the miraculousness of the times, an era when men - and women - challenged God.' (DUBLIN EVENING HERALD )
'What makes The Alchemist's Daughter more than a routine entertainment is McMahon's vivid sense of both the natural world and of the smells and illuminated darkness of Selden's workroom. We believe in Emilie and come to love her for all her follies, because she is so passionate in her experience of the world around her.' (Roz Kaveney THE INDEPENDENT )
'McMahon has given us a first rate historical romance: it's hard to think it will be bettered this year.' (Lesley McDowell THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
'McMahon writes seriously and well, and conveys the disjunction between knowing something scientifically and knowing it emotionally. This is familiar material, but McMahon handles it with intelligence.' (THE DAILY TELEGRAPH )
'The Emilie we relate to is passionate and modern. The Emilie we admire is rational and less modern. It works beautifully, giving us a more complex Emilie while keeping a sense of the miraculousness of the times, an era when men - and women - challenged God.' (DUBLIN EVENING HERALD )
Roz Kaveney, THE INDEPENDENT
'What makes The Alchemist's Daughter more than a routine entertainment is McMahon's vivid sense of both the natural world and of the smells and illuminated darkness of Selden's workroom. We believe in Emilie and come to love her for all her follies, because she is so passionate in her experience of the world around her.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
34 of 35 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
From the first few sentences I was gripped - the pictures of the old manor house, the alchemist's laboratory, the heroine and her father were so clear. To follow Emilie's fortunes I read the book fast and so did all the workmates I leant it to. We agreed we'd have to read it again to enjoy the writing a second time; it evokes time and place so convincingly.Some parts are very exciting - I won't give the plot away - in other parts you suspect the writer is having a quiet laugh about human foibles - as with the pair who come to knock down and improve the manor house to the very latest in Palladian villa style. Much is shown without lecturing us about it - the position of women at the time,the slave trade, as well as movements in thought and science.
Throughout we are on Emilie's side - sometimes she's foolish or naive, but she's always intelligent and strong with a passion for life. It is this, of course, that has her win through at the end.
Throughout we are on Emilie's side - sometimes she's foolish or naive, but she's always intelligent and strong with a passion for life. It is this, of course, that has her win through at the end.
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
An unusual perspective on the life of an early 18th century woman who has been brought up by her alchemist father to be an experimental scientist in the tradition of Isaac Newton. She has an independent mind but is so sheltered from the outside world that the easy charm of an ambitious suitor turns her mind from the pursuit of academic and scientific knowledge to a sudden and thrilling understanding of the possibilities of her own body. I liked the development of the emotional and sexual character of the heroine and also the thorough research that the author has clearly done to bring this very interesting period to life - one has complete confidence in the truth of the detail. It's always wonderful to approach any period in history through the eyes of a woman.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Emilie is the subject of an early 18th century experiment - her father aims to turn her into a natural philosopher and alchemist. Shut away in a secluded manor house he trains her in science and records her progress. All changes when her father is away and a young merchant arrives. Emilie is plunged into society and quickly realises that for all her knowledge she understands nothing about the working of the world and of human emotion.
The novel is beautifully written - a gripping story with crisp, evocative decsriptions. The setting reminded me of Tracy Chevalier's Girl with a Pearl Earring, but Katharine McMahon's prose approaches the standard of Ian McEwan and Pat Barker. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Alchemy-babble
Having enjoyed the Crimson Rooms by this author I thought I'd try another of her books.
Big mistake.... Read more
Big mistake.... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Scribbler
Utter drivel
The Alchemist's daughter (I think her name was Emilie) is supposed to be remarkably intelligent and well educated, but she falls in love with the first man to come along (because... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mrs. M. A. L. Lewis
Nice to read
The first pages I wasn't sure I would like this book or not. But after 20 pages I hardly put it out of my hands. A bit of science, a bit of love story, a bit of history.. Read more
Published 9 months ago by *
The Alchemists Daughter
Very disappointed with the storyline. The conduct of the heroine was considerably at odds with her character. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Malia Bi
A good read but not as strong as the others I've read
I've read two of McMahon's other novels and enjoyed them both, even though they were a bit different from my usual sort of read. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Nicola F (Nic)
Don't be fooled...
This book although reasonably well written is quite a bore. The cover, title and the blurb are clever in that they lure you into thinking this book will be an interesting read, but... Read more
Published 13 months ago by M. Grana Jimenez
I was gripped!
The length of the book was far too short for me. I was captivated from the first page; life at Selden, not knowing your mother, words I had never read/seen before - "phlogiston",... Read more
Published 18 months ago by meltow
The Alchemist's Daughter
My wife found this book a wonderful read and recommended it to me. I agree with her and would add that the way this author writes is so skillful. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. Peter Warren
The Caged Butterfly
This is a great story-the main character Emilie grows up in seclusion with just her genius alchemist father for company. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2010 by lushbug
The Alchemist's daughter
Having enjoyed Rose of Sebastapol by Katherine Mahone I was anxious to read The Alchemist's daughter and I was not disapointed!. Read more
Published on 16 Aug 2009 by D. M. Godbolt
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