Ghostwalk
A New York Times bestseller and voted one of the ten best literary ghost stories by the Independent in 2010, Ghostwalk is a novel about entanglement and obsession; ambition and betrayal - set in present-day Cambridge, but entangled with the seventeenth century.
In 2002, a Cambridge historian is found dead, floating down the river Cam, a glass prism in her hand. For decades she has been researching a book about a series of suspicious circumstances surrounding Newton's appointment as a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1667. That year, two Fellows had died by falling down staircases, apparently drunk; another had died in a field, apparently drunk; and a fourth had been expelled, having gone mad–leaving vacancies for new appointments and paving the way for Newton’s extraordinary scientific discoveries.
When Lydia Brooke, at the request of her ex-lover, the historian’s son, steps in to finish the book, strange shows of light begin to play on the walls, and papers disappear only to reappear elsewhere. And when events escalate to murder, and Lydia’s rekindled romance appears increasingly implicated in the danger, the present becomes entangled with the seventeenth century, with Isaac Newton at the centre of the mystery.
Filled with evocative descriptions of Cambridge, past and present, of seventeenth-century glassmaking, alchemy, the Great Plague, and Newton’s scientific innovations, Ghostwalk turns on a real historical mystery that Rebecca Stott has uncovered, involving Newton’s alchemy. A riveting literary thriller, Ghostwalk is a rare debut that will change the way most of us think about scientific innovation, our perception of time, and the force of history.
Praise for Ghostwalk
‘A beautifully written book, mixing a compelling contemporary love story and a fascinating historical investigation, with Isaac Newton and alchemy playing a crucial role. The mystery at the novel’s centre is audacious, convincing, and will make readers think anew about what history is.’
- Iain Pears, author of An Instance of the Fingerpost
‘Stott moves between past and present with the page-turning dexterity of a literary alchemist—a novel of intrigue as cleverly imagined as it is entertaining.’
- Joseph Kanon, author of The Good German, The Prodigal Spy, and Los Alamos
‘A dangerous love story and mystery, where after a time neither the reader nor the heroine can tell what is true. You slip through the shimmering prose and fall into the alchemy of Newton and certain unsolved crimes of his time until you begin to wonder if what happened then can affect what might happen now. Blending contemporary quantum physics with the winding streets of ancient Cambridge, Ghostwalk is a highly intelligent and original novel.’
- Stephanie Cowell, author of Nicholas Cooke and The Physician of London
‘An amazing work—a highly intelligent thriller that combines the supernatural with modern quantum theory, the current war on terror with Isaac Newton’s work on light and gravity, and his delving into alchemy in the seventeenth century. At once mind-boggling and mind-expanding.’
- Nicholas Mosley, author of Hopeful Monsters and Time at War
‘This daring mystery tangles occult and scientific knowledge with obsessive love and hidden world events. It is wonderfully down to earth, and genuinely eerie. Once in, you are not likely to leave off reading until after the very last twist.’
- Dame Gillian Beer
'Mesmerizing.'
– Booklist
'Ambitious.'
– New Yorker
'Truly haunting.'
– New York Daily News
'Most impressive.'
– The Observer (London)
'Wonderfully written.'
– USA Today
'Eerily compelling.’
– Time Out (London)
'Fiercely intelligent.'
– The Los Angeles Times
'Spellbinding.'
– Kirkus Reviews
Behind the book: Ghostwalk
Two interviews about the making of Ghostwalk - they follow an interview about The Coral Thief so you’ll need to scroll down…