The Alchemist's Apprentice - Hardcover

Jeremy Dronfield

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 074722143X ISBN 13: 9780747221432

Publisher: Review, 2001

Synopsis

Madagascar Rhodes's magical novel The Alchemist's Apprentice enchanted millions, making him the most famous author in the world. And yet you've never heard of him. Or his book. The whole thing is a little hard to explain. To unravel the tangled threads of reality you have to go back to the beginning. To a New Year's Eve party in Cambridgeshire in 1996. Or earlier, when an unsuccessful novelist called Roderick Bent embarked on a train journey that turned into a nightmare. Actually, it doesn't matter where you start from. The point is that you'll soon understand why there's never been another book like it. And, more importantly, why you can't remember that you've already read it.

About this title

About the Author

Born in 1965, Jeremy Dronfield grew up in South Wales. He was educated at the universities of Southampton and Cambridge, where he took degrees in Archaeology.

Review

BURNING BLUE: 'A page-turning thriller that combines a storyteller's gift with intellectually brilliant invention' Publishers News 'From the start, Dronfield holds the attention wtih his fluent prose and a fine descriptive eye' Crime Time PRAISE FOR RESURRECTING SALVADOR: 'It works well and the book contains some fantastic flourishes of prose...RESURRECTING SALVADOR is a long, excellent book in which characters, scenes and new thoughts come alive in the hands of a gifted and interesting writer' Express 'Dronfield's suspenseful and incisive work brilliantly creates the atmosphere of a ruined chateau resurrected on the wastes of Dartmoor' The Times 'This is a rewarding and accomplished read' Jersey Evening Post 'His second dazzling psychological thriller' South Wales Argus Praise for THE LOCUST FARM: 'A tense page-turner...dodging between serial-killer thriller, psychological suspense and full-on action drama' Val McDermid; 'Baffling terrifying and irresistible, THE LOCUST FARM will hold you in its sinister grip to the last page' Jill Paton Walsh; 'A psychological suspense novel with a tour de force ending it would take a thumb screw to make me reveal' Mark Timlin 'An intricate plot that wouldn't disgrace Iain Banks...the ending will take your breath away' The Mirror 'The Alchemist's Apprentice is a remarkable book. Philosophical yet engaging, fantastic yet rooted in a very specific place and time. The characters are well-drawn, the dry humour ever-present' -- SFX magazine 20011001 'A genuinely magical novel: funny, clever and weird' -- Michael Marshall Smith 20011001 'Funny, weird and intricate... A gifted, original writer' -- Sunday Telegraph 20011001 'Dronfield writes with a breezy good humour and insouciant flair and...offers some thought-provoking meditations on the nature of fiction and its relationship with reality. He also has a flawless control of the mechanisms of fiction, playing his literary tricks with baffling dexterity. The result is intelligent, provocative and utterly beguiling' -- The Times 20011001 'A captivating metaphysical mystery and an otherworldly love story' -- Sunday Times 20011001 'The story mixes elements of Iain Banks' wilfully perverse attitude with the absurdity of Douglas Adams at his best... A fine read' -- Scotland on Sunday 20011001 'Echoes of Dean Koontz, Wilkie Collins and Frances Hodgson Burnett' -- Independent on Sunday 20021216 'Entertaining, funny, well observed, with a wicked viciousness when observing everyday people' -- Radio Scotland 20021216 'This book is absolutely huge fun, satisfying, twisty and cool in every way. In fact, I think I liked it better than 'On a Winters night a traveller' which it resembles in some ways. Go for it- funny, clever and, in a world starved of individual voices, *different*- a story about books, alternative worlds, mysteries and the love a man can have for a large badly behaved dog.' -- Jenny Colgan, Amazon 20010819 'Pace and a breezy tone' -- Guardian 20021215 'A plot which confounds at every turn of the page... The end result is the book manages to be thought-provoking while providing an utterly compelling read' -- The Big Issue in the North 20011201 Jenny Colgan picked THE ALCHEMIST'S APPRENTICE as one of the books she loved this year. -- The Scotsman 20011129

Edition details

• Publisher: Review
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 074722143X
• ISBN 13: 9780747221432
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 342