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The Music of the Spheres
In 1795 London, Jonathan Absey of the Home Office pursues dual investigations into French espionage in Britain and the still unsolved murder of his teenage daughter, a pursuit that leads to a bizarre society of astronomers called the Company of Titius whose quest for a long-lost star leads ever closer to his own probe. A first novel. 75,000 first printing.
420 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
24 people are currently reading
1211 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Redfern
7 books21 followersElizabeth Redfern was born on October 29, 1950 in Cheshire, England and attended the University of Nottingham, where she earned a BA in English. She then earned a post graduate degree as a Chartered Librarian at Ealing College and a post-graduate certificate in teaching at the University of Derby.
Redfern trained and worked as a chartered librarian, first in London and then in Nottingham. She moved to Derbyshire with her husband, a solicitor. And after her daughter was born, Redfern re-trained as a teacher and began work as an adult education lecturer - main subject, English - with the Derbyshire County Council.
Since then, she's been involved in various projects in nearby towns, including working with the unemployed and skills training in the workplace. She lives with her husband and her daughter, who attends a local school, in a village in the Derbyshire Peak District. In her spare time Redfern plays the violin with a local orchestra, the Chesterfield Symphony Orchestra.
Redfern trained and worked as a chartered librarian, first in London and then in Nottingham. She moved to Derbyshire with her husband, a solicitor. And after her daughter was born, Redfern re-trained as a teacher and began work as an adult education lecturer - main subject, English - with the Derbyshire County Council.
Since then, she's been involved in various projects in nearby towns, including working with the unemployed and skills training in the workplace. She lives with her husband and her daughter, who attends a local school, in a village in the Derbyshire Peak District. In her spare time Redfern plays the violin with a local orchestra, the Chesterfield Symphony Orchestra.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 156 reviews
April 26, 2024
TRIGGER WARNING FOR THOSE WITH SEXUAL ASSAULT OR CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE EXPERIENCES! SPOILER
This book contains depictions of pedophilia and grooming, and the gang-rape of a male child.
Like most of us, I have a particularly graphic imagination, and had these images burned into my mind for months. This is the only book I have thrown away because of it's contents. Sorry I can't tell you more, I've tried to forget this book.
This book contains depictions of pedophilia and grooming, and the gang-rape of a male child.
Like most of us, I have a particularly graphic imagination, and had these images burned into my mind for months. This is the only book I have thrown away because of it's contents. Sorry I can't tell you more, I've tried to forget this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2011
Elizabeth Redfern has crafted a thinking person's historical thriller in this vivid account of a man's search for his daughter's killer and the quest for a lost planet among refugees from the French Revolution. The sights, sounds and smells of 18th century London permeate the tale of Jonathan Absey, a calcifying civil servant whose family and personal life have crumbled following the death of his daughter, who was strangled by a serial killer preying on red-haired prostitutes.
While the premise sounds reminiscent of countless other thrillers, echoing the later horrors and panic of the infamous Ripper spree, this is where the similarities end. Rather than settle for the usual stop-the-murderer-before-he-kills-again scenario, Ms Redfern instead has crafted a fascinating rumination on the forces that our beliefs exert on us, and the effects of one seemingly random event on an entire life. She adds to her lead character a fascinating cast of supporting roles, including Jonathan’s sensitive homosexual brother, Alexander, an amateur astronomy aficionado who falls in thrall to a tormented French refugee brother and sister. In a time when being gay was both persecuted and dangerous, Redfern’s choice to tell part of her story through Alexander’s eyes is a bold one, elevating the narrative into one of eloquent complexity. As Alexander becomes increasingly involved with the mysterious and glamorous Auguste and her terminally ill brother— who may, in fact, be the very killer Jonathan Absey seeks— the world around them is being shaken by the ongoing war in France and ruthless suspicions of the English government, which is avidly hunting down French spies. The descriptions of France’s struggles and the suffering of those forced to leave are poignant; rarely do we read about those who fled abroad only to encounter another country’s hostility.
While the occasional digressions into battles abroad dilute the immediate plot, this is still a book rich in atmosphere and suspense— a heady excursion to an era when astronomy was a burgeoning science; war was as haunting a presence as the murderer in London’s midst; and one man’s dogged search to bring a killer to justice unravels a myriad of deadly secrets.
While the premise sounds reminiscent of countless other thrillers, echoing the later horrors and panic of the infamous Ripper spree, this is where the similarities end. Rather than settle for the usual stop-the-murderer-before-he-kills-again scenario, Ms Redfern instead has crafted a fascinating rumination on the forces that our beliefs exert on us, and the effects of one seemingly random event on an entire life. She adds to her lead character a fascinating cast of supporting roles, including Jonathan’s sensitive homosexual brother, Alexander, an amateur astronomy aficionado who falls in thrall to a tormented French refugee brother and sister. In a time when being gay was both persecuted and dangerous, Redfern’s choice to tell part of her story through Alexander’s eyes is a bold one, elevating the narrative into one of eloquent complexity. As Alexander becomes increasingly involved with the mysterious and glamorous Auguste and her terminally ill brother— who may, in fact, be the very killer Jonathan Absey seeks— the world around them is being shaken by the ongoing war in France and ruthless suspicions of the English government, which is avidly hunting down French spies. The descriptions of France’s struggles and the suffering of those forced to leave are poignant; rarely do we read about those who fled abroad only to encounter another country’s hostility.
While the occasional digressions into battles abroad dilute the immediate plot, this is still a book rich in atmosphere and suspense— a heady excursion to an era when astronomy was a burgeoning science; war was as haunting a presence as the murderer in London’s midst; and one man’s dogged search to bring a killer to justice unravels a myriad of deadly secrets.
September 21, 2018
This story takes place in London in 1795, just after the French Revolution.
To avoid persecution many French Royalists fled to England for safety.
During this time many Red-haired prostitutes are murdered and one gentleman of The English Home Office becomes especially involved.
The back streets of London, the teeming life there, the poverty with the desire to survive are all richly described.
The intrigue, mystery and plot is unimaginable as corruption seems to stem not only from the French escapees but also from the Britsh who harbour them.
All under the disguise of the stars.
A prelude to Jack-the-Ripper and the Scarlet Pimpernel all wrapped up in one.
Hard to put down,
To avoid persecution many French Royalists fled to England for safety.
During this time many Red-haired prostitutes are murdered and one gentleman of The English Home Office becomes especially involved.
The back streets of London, the teeming life there, the poverty with the desire to survive are all richly described.
The intrigue, mystery and plot is unimaginable as corruption seems to stem not only from the French escapees but also from the Britsh who harbour them.
All under the disguise of the stars.
A prelude to Jack-the-Ripper and the Scarlet Pimpernel all wrapped up in one.
Hard to put down,
December 31, 2014
Much as I wanted to love this novel it just lacked something to rate more than three stars, despite the allure of its well depicted period setting, a range of characters that felt more authentic than is often the case in historical fiction, reasonably gripping serial killer plotline mixed with spies, astronomy and political intrigue in late 18th C London, portrayed with messy, smelly realism, a dark and dangerous place. A good edit would have improved the novel by tightening up the narrative- less digression, not quite so much detail, though I appreciate a lot of research clearly went into the writing, but in places there was simply too much information, to the detriment of narrative pace and holding the reader's attention.
I enjoyed the main character Jonathan Absey, a spy master who comes unstuck following the brutal murder of his young daughter by a Jack the Ripper style killer, and his older half-brother Alexander, a gay man in a harsh world where homosexuals risk public execution by hanging. The "voices" of these men are very well done indeed, though sometimes uncomfortable reading: the novel certainly goes for a warts & all approach that I found very refreshing, though other reviewers here have been put off by its spare-no-details take on sexuality and violence. I applaud any writer who goes against current orthodoxy that historical characters must think and act as though they have somehow anticipated 21st C attitudes so as not to 'offend' modern readers with outdated prejudices.
However, I guessed the identity of the killer early on, worked out who the mysterious Selene was, and then it all got a bit melodramatic towards the end. It was predictable, though I did enjoy parts of the novel very much. The exiled French aristocrat characters engaged in astronomy and espionage did not rise much above stereotype, and their part of the story failed to convince me.
Poor Jonathan Absey suffers a deal of misfortune as the story unfolds, his brother, too...and assorted red-headed young women who exist only to be victims, as required. Though the ending is predictable, or perhaps inevitable is a more accurate description, it also leaves unanswered questions, and I wondered if Redfern had hoped to write a sequel?
So, not a bad historical crime novel if you have a stomach for graphic detail and sexual violence (there are abusive relationships that could upset some readers). There is much to like in the shape of well realised time & place, flawed characters, and a dark, gritty story of love, obsession, intrigue, spies, secret messages and political skulduggery.
I enjoyed the main character Jonathan Absey, a spy master who comes unstuck following the brutal murder of his young daughter by a Jack the Ripper style killer, and his older half-brother Alexander, a gay man in a harsh world where homosexuals risk public execution by hanging. The "voices" of these men are very well done indeed, though sometimes uncomfortable reading: the novel certainly goes for a warts & all approach that I found very refreshing, though other reviewers here have been put off by its spare-no-details take on sexuality and violence. I applaud any writer who goes against current orthodoxy that historical characters must think and act as though they have somehow anticipated 21st C attitudes so as not to 'offend' modern readers with outdated prejudices.
However, I guessed the identity of the killer early on, worked out who the mysterious Selene was, and then it all got a bit melodramatic towards the end. It was predictable, though I did enjoy parts of the novel very much. The exiled French aristocrat characters engaged in astronomy and espionage did not rise much above stereotype, and their part of the story failed to convince me.
Poor Jonathan Absey suffers a deal of misfortune as the story unfolds, his brother, too...and assorted red-headed young women who exist only to be victims, as required. Though the ending is predictable, or perhaps inevitable is a more accurate description, it also leaves unanswered questions, and I wondered if Redfern had hoped to write a sequel?
So, not a bad historical crime novel if you have a stomach for graphic detail and sexual violence (there are abusive relationships that could upset some readers). There is much to like in the shape of well realised time & place, flawed characters, and a dark, gritty story of love, obsession, intrigue, spies, secret messages and political skulduggery.
July 18, 2015
I think my prevarication towards actually reading this is seen in how I enjoyed and struggled with this novel. There are pockets throughout the book that are truly engaging and fascinating but there are also parts where the story stalls out. This book was a fun read, but wasn't the brilliant work I was hoping for. There are a ton of flaws throughout. I felt that the author tried to tie together far too many things into less than 500 pages, which is ridiculously difficult. There are too many characters, many of them just mere side characters that lack both full development or are discarded and forgotten before the end of the novel. Additionally, the ending is very abrupt. I usually believe that if the ending is too fast, it's because I want to the book to go on but in this case it's just over but happily so. I really wanted to like this one but there are just too many problems that limit it's score.
Spoilers:
We never find out what happens to Jonathan and Alexander after the house burns down and the enemies are all dead. Does Jonathan get reinstated in his government work because now he knows what happened and needs to be kept quiet? Does the government find out about Crawford? Who exactly sent the hit team to him? What about Lucket? There are so many loose ends in this novel, so many questions left unanswered that it simply underscores the weaknesses that are present throughout the novel at the expense of it's positives.
Spoilers:
We never find out what happens to Jonathan and Alexander after the house burns down and the enemies are all dead. Does Jonathan get reinstated in his government work because now he knows what happened and needs to be kept quiet? Does the government find out about Crawford? Who exactly sent the hit team to him? What about Lucket? There are so many loose ends in this novel, so many questions left unanswered that it simply underscores the weaknesses that are present throughout the novel at the expense of it's positives.
July 21, 2009
I loved this book and found it a powerful evocation of late 18th century Britain with a compelling mystery involving a French spies and a series of murders of young red-haired women.
This was quite a complex and literary book and demanded a lot of attention, yet it was written in a style that I enjoyed and found myself caught up in the story.
It may have helped that I've been quite interested in the history of science and astronomy and have studied the cultural history of the period and so could relate well to the sense of excitement experienced by the star gazers as well as appreciate the wealth of detail in its historical setting.
From the reviews and ratings here it seems to be one that divides readers but I find myself firmly in the 'loved it' camp.
March 5, 2009
I worked very hard to read this book and like it, at least a little. I tend to agree with many of the other reviews - the author seemed intent on including as much sex (illicit sex at that - incest, child molestation, rape, etc.) as she could. Sex may sell, to some degree, but this was largely irrelevant to most of the story. I found my mind wandering on more than one occasion because it just didn't hold my attention.
January 14, 2008
I was in the mood for a historical novel, and this was a pretty decent mystery to boot. I enjoyed it. My only complaint was that the astronomical bits could get a little tedious at times. Also, it made me feel like I should brush up on my French revolutionary history- I kept getting Republicans and Royalists confused. A good quick read- I'd recommend it.
May 10, 2017
A book I picked up despite knowing nothing about the writer - this was an enjoyable and fairly complex historical novel.
March 10, 2018
This is an interesting book. I almost gave it up around a quarter through; the plot was advancing in such inch by inch increments that I thought it would never actually get anywhere. But the story opens in 1795 when such was the norm - everything was slow - travel, communication, the flow of information. I persisted because I found the two main characters so realistic: unheroic, damaged by loss and hopelessness, struggling with hard, precarious lives on the edge of real poverty in a time when poverty was a death sentence, and deeply flawed. Even the most appealing, gentle and empathetic character - the protagonist's gay brother - is willfully blind to his own exploitation and abuse of a vulnerable other.
The plot elements having to do with the French revolution and Britain's role in supporting the Royalists attempting to return to power is labyrinthine. I got lost a few times, forgetting who was who and on which side they seemed to be operating, but that wasn't actually critical to the story, which is really about obsession, loss, and moral dilemmas.
Some of the other characters are rather over-the-top melodramatic with madness and rapacious sexuality playing a large part. And there is a jarring section that is totally out of place - the entire story to that point having been told from the POV of the two main London characters we are suddenly in a conversation between two generals on a battlefield in France, and following their maneuvers.
The ending, too, is melodramatic. Still, I think this is worth reading, with all its flaws.
On edit: After I review a book sometimes I like to read around and see what published reviews say about it. On this one, the Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote: "part of the problem with the book is that it is so unremittingly downbeat, with no glimmer of hope that anything will improve..." I think there's a lot to criticize in this novel, but this irritated me. Since when is "downbeat" unequivocally a problem in literature? Methinks this reviewer has been spending too much time at Ophra's Book Club.
The plot elements having to do with the French revolution and Britain's role in supporting the Royalists attempting to return to power is labyrinthine. I got lost a few times, forgetting who was who and on which side they seemed to be operating, but that wasn't actually critical to the story, which is really about obsession, loss, and moral dilemmas.
Some of the other characters are rather over-the-top melodramatic with madness and rapacious sexuality playing a large part. And there is a jarring section that is totally out of place - the entire story to that point having been told from the POV of the two main London characters we are suddenly in a conversation between two generals on a battlefield in France, and following their maneuvers.
The ending, too, is melodramatic. Still, I think this is worth reading, with all its flaws.
On edit: After I review a book sometimes I like to read around and see what published reviews say about it. On this one, the Publishers Weekly reviewer wrote: "part of the problem with the book is that it is so unremittingly downbeat, with no glimmer of hope that anything will improve..." I think there's a lot to criticize in this novel, but this irritated me. Since when is "downbeat" unequivocally a problem in literature? Methinks this reviewer has been spending too much time at Ophra's Book Club.
November 1, 2022
i'm not interested in astronomy, so maybe i would have given it an extra star if i was interested in it. that said, it didn't take away from the story too much. it had a great plot and it was unpredictable.
July 28, 2012
This novel was one of the best murder mysteries that I've read in a very long time. For once I didn't have the killer figured out until three quarters of the way through. I had believed that it was the wrong person for so long that I began doubting many of the clues in the same fashion that the Master Absey was.
Placed in the 1790s, The Music of the Spheres is a suspenseful murder mystery novel that follows Master Jonathon Absey on this quest to find his daughter's killer, who he thinks is still on the lose. There have been numerous other girls throughout the city that have been killed with the same physical description as her: young, pale, and with red hair. His obsession with finding her causes him to be a disgrace at his job, eventually getting himself fired, creates disorder amongst what few friends that remain loyal to him, and puts his estranged wife and mentally ill child in danger. Perhaps worse of all, it leads to him brother Alexander Wilmot to be tangled up with the wrong people.
Alexander, in owing Jonathon repayment for helping him to cover up a sordid affair, befriends a group of astronomers trying to find the mythical and mystical "Selene," a planet that is being hunted down by astronomers in the Company of Titus. Little does he know the danger that this group will put him in as key members of them are part of the French underground that has developed and is in hiding in England. . The little clique themselves don't even realized that their efforts to help support the their motherland of France via the Company is being undermined by a double agent.
War, sex, politics, drugs, murder, and astronomy combined. What an awesome ride.
Placed in the 1790s, The Music of the Spheres is a suspenseful murder mystery novel that follows Master Jonathon Absey on this quest to find his daughter's killer, who he thinks is still on the lose. There have been numerous other girls throughout the city that have been killed with the same physical description as her: young, pale, and with red hair. His obsession with finding her causes him to be a disgrace at his job, eventually getting himself fired, creates disorder amongst what few friends that remain loyal to him, and puts his estranged wife and mentally ill child in danger. Perhaps worse of all, it leads to him brother Alexander Wilmot to be tangled up with the wrong people.
Alexander, in owing Jonathon repayment for helping him to cover up a sordid affair, befriends a group of astronomers trying to find the mythical and mystical "Selene," a planet that is being hunted down by astronomers in the Company of Titus. Little does he know the danger that this group will put him in as key members of them are part of the French underground that has developed and is in hiding in England. . The little clique themselves don't even realized that their efforts to help support the their motherland of France via the Company is being undermined by a double agent.
War, sex, politics, drugs, murder, and astronomy combined. What an awesome ride.
May 13, 2018
The end of the 18th century is a fascinating era, when French spies mixed with the aristocratic emigres in London, who had fled to save their heads. The city was a dangerous place for the underclass and Jonathan Absey becomes obsessed with solving the murders of several prostitutes because he believes his daughter was the first victim.
Suspicion falls upon the household of Auguste de Montpellier and her sick brother Guy. Aided by Doctor Raultier, Guy fights his illness to prove the existence of a new planet which he calls Selene, which he believes must exist after the discovery of Uranus by Herschel in 1781. Jonathan persuades his half-brother Alexander Wilmot, a gifted musician and amateur astronomer to make contact with the Montpelliers so that he can discover their secrets, but Alexander is unwilling to betray his new friends and walks into a perilous situation.
There is a gothic quality to this novel, several characters implying languorous evil and sexual deviance. The historical content is sound, and the suspense increases with each new murder, but only Alexander earns our empathy and for this reason was the only character I could believe in. Choose this novel for revelations about post-revolutionary Europe and an insight into scientific interests at that time but do not expect to become emotionally involved with people you meet within its pages.
Suspicion falls upon the household of Auguste de Montpellier and her sick brother Guy. Aided by Doctor Raultier, Guy fights his illness to prove the existence of a new planet which he calls Selene, which he believes must exist after the discovery of Uranus by Herschel in 1781. Jonathan persuades his half-brother Alexander Wilmot, a gifted musician and amateur astronomer to make contact with the Montpelliers so that he can discover their secrets, but Alexander is unwilling to betray his new friends and walks into a perilous situation.
There is a gothic quality to this novel, several characters implying languorous evil and sexual deviance. The historical content is sound, and the suspense increases with each new murder, but only Alexander earns our empathy and for this reason was the only character I could believe in. Choose this novel for revelations about post-revolutionary Europe and an insight into scientific interests at that time but do not expect to become emotionally involved with people you meet within its pages.
May 12, 2017
I really wanted to like this book. I picked it up in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago and was drawn to it becasue the story was set in more or less the same period as my own novel and because it was by a female author. I liked the idea of a story about the stars and spies, codes and murder and was really looking forward to settling down to a good thriller. Unfortunately, the whole story became a rather slow and sordid one. Nothing and no one in the book was attractive. In fact the world the author created was so awful I was surprised that there wasn't a queue of people on London Bridge ready to throw themselves into the Thames to escape from it! I did read the book to the end which is some form of recommendation as I don't usually bother if the book bores me, so, the author must have cajoled just enough interest in the main protagonist to keep me on board but the end was ultimately unsatisfying.
November 9, 2010
This is a rich, multi-layered novel that intrigues, fascinates and irritates in turns. This was Ms Redfern's debut novel and a combination of effective writing and intriguing characters with some mystery and science blended in makes for a fascinating combination.
Irritating? Well the ending didn't 'feel right'. But I realised that this was a direct consequence of my having become attached to the characters and substituting my own preferences over the author's.
Recommended to those readers who enjoy some science and mystery in historical fiction.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Irritating? Well the ending didn't 'feel right'. But I realised that this was a direct consequence of my having become attached to the characters and substituting my own preferences over the author's.
Recommended to those readers who enjoy some science and mystery in historical fiction.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
April 20, 2012
Set in 18th c. London, this novel is a nice blend of history, mystery, astronomy, and the English-French struggle. Jonathan Absey works for the Home Office monitoring foreign correspondence when a rash of murders distracts him from his duties...or gets tangled amidst his duties! Why is he so obsessed with the murders of red-headed prostitutes in the dark alleys of London? Because his own daughter was a victim!
July 27, 2013
I took me almost two weeks to read this book, mostly because I just couldn't "get into" it. I bought it at a thrift store thinking it sounded familiar and that I must have read a review somewhere. I almost always finish a book once I've started it, but the only way I finished this one was to sit down and force myself to read until I was done. I'm not saying the book was horrible. I just didn't care for it.
March 31, 2015
I chose this book solely on the cover/title (along with the fact that it did sound semi-interesting). There were sections of the book that kept my interest, but overall it was very slow moving. I felt like it could've been told in a lot fewer pages and with less tangents. About 3/4 into the book it started to pick up for me, but then the last 50 pages went downhill again. It was just a little confusing for me.
June 25, 2010
I have to thank my lucky stars for coming across with this most entertaining novel. As The Guardian claimed, it was unputdownable. Redfern did a great job evoking masterfully the late 18th century. I felt I really was back in the times of harpsichords and laudanum phials. A five stars novel (no pun intended.)
April 18, 2012
This didn't start out badly but since the murderer's identity is telegraphed less than halfway through the book, there's not a whole lot of suspense here. The spy story covers an unimportant (for me) part of history and the astronomy was mostly an old story. In short, the book was well-written but badly-plotted.
December 7, 2007
The beginning of this book really grabbed me with its mystery and detailed descriptions along with evoking vocabulary; however, the story began to drag on and lose my interest. I think more editing would have helped (too many details for me).
August 11, 2011
From the synopsis I felt this book had a lot of promise, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. The prose dragged on. I got bored part way through the book. I finished it, but I can't say that it was satisfing.
January 3, 2012
A very enjoyable read.
April 22, 2020
Lightly edited version of a review originally posted at Eve's Alexandria, 2008.
NB Some minor spoilers for the general drift of the plot, but no direct comment on the identity of the murderer.
--
Elizabeth Redfern's historical potboiler The Music of the Spheres is a masterclass in muddle: a Jack the Ripper-lite serial killer tale in the garb of something more mannered and metaphysical. The setting is late eighteenth-century London - very much to my taste, which is why I picked it up - and the plot takes in astronomy, bureaucratic spies, murder mystery, and refugees from Revolutionary France. Our protagonist is one Jonathan Absey, a Home Office official whose job it is to secretly monitor mail sent between England and France. In the paranoid climate of the 1790s, the British government does not trust the refugees, both for the effects they might have on homegrown radicals and for where their loyalties might truly lie:
"The magistrates say they have these places under surveillance; but it seems to me that too many refugees of most dubious allegiance are congregating in some of these inns. They lament their exile, and their state of poverty; but my guess is that some of them are not what they seem - they're primed with good French gold, gold of the kind that the wretched people of their own country never see: coins that fly as if by some witchery across the sea, from the secret vaults of Paris to London itself. Gold to buy secrets. I guarantee, Absey - find yourself a quantity of these golden coins, these louis d'or of the Republic, and you will have found a spy. These refugees are sending back vital knowledge of our military plans in God knows what diabolical ways, straight to their heathen masters in Paris; and we look at letters."
Each chapter is headed by a snatch of poetry or an excerpt of political theory, which - here is where my doubts began to set in - range from the stunningly obvious (Blake on the dehumanising vicissitudes of London life as a prelude to scenes of a suitably-buxom and ill-used tavern wench in the wrong place at the wrong time) to the downright out of place (Johns Locke and Milton were important writers, yes, but in a different century, and their inclusion just smacks of 'anything early modern will do').
If this creates an impression that the book is not nearly as thoughtful as its presentation would suggest, the rest of the execution bears it out. The prose is fine, but occasionally clunky in its efforts to sound formal and of the time, and prone to overstatement and/or cliche (someone's fair hair is described as being like "spun gold", fear is compared to "cold fingers", etc.). This, for example - hardly the most subtle introduction of Plot Significant Information ever - is quite representative:
An astronomer.
An innocent enough occupation, indeed, and yet it was one which for Jonathan held unwelcome associations. He happened to have a half-brother, called Alexander Wilmot, who loved to watch the stars. But Alexander had other, less acceptable preoccupations, and all in all he had brought Jonathan nothing but trouble.
Guy de Montpellier seems to be particularly guilty of overwrought phrasings in his personal writings; while I realise the character is not firing on all cylinders, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at passages like, "Ah, the bright stars of the night. Almost they obliterate the clear white pain. Yet still two-faced Medusa laughs from behind the clouds, demanding homage. Homage, Medusa, or a sword, a blade sharper than death itself." There are also slips that should have been caught by an editor, including lines like "'Yes,' nodded Ralph, his scarred face dark with anguish" coming within the point-of-view of a character who is blindfolded at the time.
We also get treated to a beautiful example of that archetypal lazy thriller plot device, whereby the scheming villain delivers carefully vague indications of his villainous scheming From The Shadows (his identity remaining plot-conveniently masked throughout the scene, despite the viewpoint character both knowing who he is and conversing with him):
"I did," said Crawford quickly, "in exactly the way you suggested. He has been thoroughly discredited, sir. No one will ever listen to anything he says again. [...] But Absey is stubborn. He's still asking questions."
"He has no actual proof of anything, though? You've taken care of that?"
"He has blundered dangerously close to the truth on more than one occasion. But I think I've dealt with almost everything..."
The man leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. "Almost?"
"There is a girl, a flower seller. She is a crucial witness."
A silence.
Then the man said, "Deal with her."
The story itself, stripped of its historical trappings, is really nothing we haven't seen before, and by the end the whole thing collapses into the sort of risible Dead Bodies Everywhere melodrama that really only works in The Duchess of Malfi. Just. After a thorough sexualisation of a major female character's death* (lingering descriptions of her white throat being unwittingly offered up and then throttled, etc.) that is not present in the men's murders, the villain is, of course, impassive and, well, evil:
"You have killed them all," whispered Alexander. [...]
"All of them," [he] agreed. There was still no flicker of emotion on his beautiful face. "Now it's your turn, master mouse. Killing you would be a pleasure."
[* Not entirely surprisingly, the women herein are all either angels or whores, and any woman who is in any way a sexual being dies as a result of it. I'm sure this was intended as a portrait of the time and of what (some) women had to do to survive, but really: a) 'what women had to do to survive' would be more convincing if some of the women actually, you know, survived, and b) how hard would it have been to give, say, Abney's wife a bigger role and more complex characterisation?]
Still, there is some excellent characterisation to combat the drag factor of the plot: Abney is a largely dislikeable man, but - vitally - he is interesting. He is haunted by the murder of his daughter, who may have fallen victim to the same killer who does for our buxom tavern wench in the Blake-headed chapter, but whose death was never properly investigated because the circumstances led her to be deemed just another whore. Abney is very convincingly both a man of his time and a man suffering considerably from frustrated grief and repression (and, as things progress, from a lack of sleep and physical punishment on a film noir level). Even when he treats everyone around him abominably, and gradually jettisons all reader sympathy, it's hard to look away from him, or to stop rooting for him. His sensitive astronomer of a brother, Alexander, also works well, even if he seems to have been written as gay primarily to give him an extra layer of vulnerability in these harsh times.
Elements of the period are used very nicely: given the mood of intense political paranoia and repression (with 'national security' concerns leading to kneejerk reactions against reformers and radicals, for neither the first nor the last time), this is an inspired setting for a murder mystery/conspiracy in which. Redfern evokes the atmosphere, and the institutional indifference to individual suffering, very well. I found the astronomical speculations in which certain characters were involved to be fascinating, a neat insight into both the individuals concerned and (aspects of) the contemporary worldview - that wonderful mixture of superstition and rationalism, fatalism and infectious curiosity:
All across Europe, ever since Herschel's discovery, astronomers had been searching the skies for another planet, united in the belief that if an undiscovered heavenly body did exist, then it had to lie in the disproportionately large gap between Mars and Jupiter. [...] [T]he mean distances of the planets from the Sun formed a remarkable numerical sequence, with one number in that sequence conspicuously missing in the gap between Mars and Jupiter.
Sadly, the novel doesn't really do anything with this, other than establish it and use it as an excuse for Alexander to get embroiled in exile household of the Montpelliers.
File under interesting but flawed, I think; despite some interesting touches, my overriding impression by the end was of a lurid sex-and-death potboiler thriller (which isn't, really, particularly explicit for all its characters' rhetoric of depravity) in wigs and corsets. Disappointing.
NB Some minor spoilers for the general drift of the plot, but no direct comment on the identity of the murderer.
--
Elizabeth Redfern's historical potboiler The Music of the Spheres is a masterclass in muddle: a Jack the Ripper-lite serial killer tale in the garb of something more mannered and metaphysical. The setting is late eighteenth-century London - very much to my taste, which is why I picked it up - and the plot takes in astronomy, bureaucratic spies, murder mystery, and refugees from Revolutionary France. Our protagonist is one Jonathan Absey, a Home Office official whose job it is to secretly monitor mail sent between England and France. In the paranoid climate of the 1790s, the British government does not trust the refugees, both for the effects they might have on homegrown radicals and for where their loyalties might truly lie:
"The magistrates say they have these places under surveillance; but it seems to me that too many refugees of most dubious allegiance are congregating in some of these inns. They lament their exile, and their state of poverty; but my guess is that some of them are not what they seem - they're primed with good French gold, gold of the kind that the wretched people of their own country never see: coins that fly as if by some witchery across the sea, from the secret vaults of Paris to London itself. Gold to buy secrets. I guarantee, Absey - find yourself a quantity of these golden coins, these louis d'or of the Republic, and you will have found a spy. These refugees are sending back vital knowledge of our military plans in God knows what diabolical ways, straight to their heathen masters in Paris; and we look at letters."
Each chapter is headed by a snatch of poetry or an excerpt of political theory, which - here is where my doubts began to set in - range from the stunningly obvious (Blake on the dehumanising vicissitudes of London life as a prelude to scenes of a suitably-buxom and ill-used tavern wench in the wrong place at the wrong time) to the downright out of place (Johns Locke and Milton were important writers, yes, but in a different century, and their inclusion just smacks of 'anything early modern will do').
If this creates an impression that the book is not nearly as thoughtful as its presentation would suggest, the rest of the execution bears it out. The prose is fine, but occasionally clunky in its efforts to sound formal and of the time, and prone to overstatement and/or cliche (someone's fair hair is described as being like "spun gold", fear is compared to "cold fingers", etc.). This, for example - hardly the most subtle introduction of Plot Significant Information ever - is quite representative:
An astronomer.
An innocent enough occupation, indeed, and yet it was one which for Jonathan held unwelcome associations. He happened to have a half-brother, called Alexander Wilmot, who loved to watch the stars. But Alexander had other, less acceptable preoccupations, and all in all he had brought Jonathan nothing but trouble.
Guy de Montpellier seems to be particularly guilty of overwrought phrasings in his personal writings; while I realise the character is not firing on all cylinders, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at passages like, "Ah, the bright stars of the night. Almost they obliterate the clear white pain. Yet still two-faced Medusa laughs from behind the clouds, demanding homage. Homage, Medusa, or a sword, a blade sharper than death itself." There are also slips that should have been caught by an editor, including lines like "'Yes,' nodded Ralph, his scarred face dark with anguish" coming within the point-of-view of a character who is blindfolded at the time.
We also get treated to a beautiful example of that archetypal lazy thriller plot device, whereby the scheming villain delivers carefully vague indications of his villainous scheming From The Shadows (his identity remaining plot-conveniently masked throughout the scene, despite the viewpoint character both knowing who he is and conversing with him):
"I did," said Crawford quickly, "in exactly the way you suggested. He has been thoroughly discredited, sir. No one will ever listen to anything he says again. [...] But Absey is stubborn. He's still asking questions."
"He has no actual proof of anything, though? You've taken care of that?"
"He has blundered dangerously close to the truth on more than one occasion. But I think I've dealt with almost everything..."
The man leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. "Almost?"
"There is a girl, a flower seller. She is a crucial witness."
A silence.
Then the man said, "Deal with her."
The story itself, stripped of its historical trappings, is really nothing we haven't seen before, and by the end the whole thing collapses into the sort of risible Dead Bodies Everywhere melodrama that really only works in The Duchess of Malfi. Just. After a thorough sexualisation of a major female character's death* (lingering descriptions of her white throat being unwittingly offered up and then throttled, etc.) that is not present in the men's murders, the villain is, of course, impassive and, well, evil:
"You have killed them all," whispered Alexander. [...]
"All of them," [he] agreed. There was still no flicker of emotion on his beautiful face. "Now it's your turn, master mouse. Killing you would be a pleasure."
[* Not entirely surprisingly, the women herein are all either angels or whores, and any woman who is in any way a sexual being dies as a result of it. I'm sure this was intended as a portrait of the time and of what (some) women had to do to survive, but really: a) 'what women had to do to survive' would be more convincing if some of the women actually, you know, survived, and b) how hard would it have been to give, say, Abney's wife a bigger role and more complex characterisation?]
Still, there is some excellent characterisation to combat the drag factor of the plot: Abney is a largely dislikeable man, but - vitally - he is interesting. He is haunted by the murder of his daughter, who may have fallen victim to the same killer who does for our buxom tavern wench in the Blake-headed chapter, but whose death was never properly investigated because the circumstances led her to be deemed just another whore. Abney is very convincingly both a man of his time and a man suffering considerably from frustrated grief and repression (and, as things progress, from a lack of sleep and physical punishment on a film noir level). Even when he treats everyone around him abominably, and gradually jettisons all reader sympathy, it's hard to look away from him, or to stop rooting for him. His sensitive astronomer of a brother, Alexander, also works well, even if he seems to have been written as gay primarily to give him an extra layer of vulnerability in these harsh times.
Elements of the period are used very nicely: given the mood of intense political paranoia and repression (with 'national security' concerns leading to kneejerk reactions against reformers and radicals, for neither the first nor the last time), this is an inspired setting for a murder mystery/conspiracy in which. Redfern evokes the atmosphere, and the institutional indifference to individual suffering, very well. I found the astronomical speculations in which certain characters were involved to be fascinating, a neat insight into both the individuals concerned and (aspects of) the contemporary worldview - that wonderful mixture of superstition and rationalism, fatalism and infectious curiosity:
All across Europe, ever since Herschel's discovery, astronomers had been searching the skies for another planet, united in the belief that if an undiscovered heavenly body did exist, then it had to lie in the disproportionately large gap between Mars and Jupiter. [...] [T]he mean distances of the planets from the Sun formed a remarkable numerical sequence, with one number in that sequence conspicuously missing in the gap between Mars and Jupiter.
Sadly, the novel doesn't really do anything with this, other than establish it and use it as an excuse for Alexander to get embroiled in exile household of the Montpelliers.
File under interesting but flawed, I think; despite some interesting touches, my overriding impression by the end was of a lurid sex-and-death potboiler thriller (which isn't, really, particularly explicit for all its characters' rhetoric of depravity) in wigs and corsets. Disappointing.
August 17, 2022
I'm sorry... I don't often do negative reviews, but...
Before the negative: The author has put together a very complex tale, full of secret agents, double crosses... double-double crosses, even. And has done a good job of managing the complexity.
It all feels more like real life than many novels with one good guy (or gal!), who can do no wrong, and one nefarious bad guy who is obviously going to come to a sticky end.
She also paints a picture of everyday life in London in 1795, which feels very "right", though I am not a historian.
So why the negative review?
The pace. It just goes on and on. Yes, there is a big story in the 424 pages, but some elements take forever to emerge from repeated hints about what's going on.
Also, the recommendation on the back cover talks about the book being full of science, the search for a suspected new planet in particular. And yes, that was going on at the time, and yes the book does have SOME "history of science" content... but again, the story of those elements doesn't so much develop as languish in hints... oft-repeated... for ages, and then "leap" into the "big reveal".
The same can be said of a dash of "secret codes" material.
---
But worst of all... the huge part dark obsessions and bad outcomes play in the story.
I am not a prude; I don't need my reading to be "PG". But there is so much nastiness in this that it just wore me down.
These dark elements were not presented in a juvenile, salacious manner... and were almost worse for that.
I don't want to say too much; I'm sure that some people will disagree with me and enjoy the book. Rather vaguely, I will say that the "ending" of each of the many stories that weave together in this book left me in depressed.
I don't need a Disney "and they all lived happily ever after". But... (I'll leave it there!)
Other than to say that I DO admire the author's craftsmanship in putting all that is in the book together in a cohesive manner. And she clearly MEANT to present life as a dark business. But when you add to that the way some elements were spun out very fine from not a lot of material, I'm afraid it just wasn't for me.
Before the negative: The author has put together a very complex tale, full of secret agents, double crosses... double-double crosses, even. And has done a good job of managing the complexity.
It all feels more like real life than many novels with one good guy (or gal!), who can do no wrong, and one nefarious bad guy who is obviously going to come to a sticky end.
She also paints a picture of everyday life in London in 1795, which feels very "right", though I am not a historian.
So why the negative review?
The pace. It just goes on and on. Yes, there is a big story in the 424 pages, but some elements take forever to emerge from repeated hints about what's going on.
Also, the recommendation on the back cover talks about the book being full of science, the search for a suspected new planet in particular. And yes, that was going on at the time, and yes the book does have SOME "history of science" content... but again, the story of those elements doesn't so much develop as languish in hints... oft-repeated... for ages, and then "leap" into the "big reveal".
The same can be said of a dash of "secret codes" material.
---
But worst of all... the huge part dark obsessions and bad outcomes play in the story.
I am not a prude; I don't need my reading to be "PG". But there is so much nastiness in this that it just wore me down.
These dark elements were not presented in a juvenile, salacious manner... and were almost worse for that.
I don't want to say too much; I'm sure that some people will disagree with me and enjoy the book. Rather vaguely, I will say that the "ending" of each of the many stories that weave together in this book left me in depressed.
I don't need a Disney "and they all lived happily ever after". But... (I'll leave it there!)
Other than to say that I DO admire the author's craftsmanship in putting all that is in the book together in a cohesive manner. And she clearly MEANT to present life as a dark business. But when you add to that the way some elements were spun out very fine from not a lot of material, I'm afraid it just wasn't for me.
November 25, 2020
Siamo nel 1795, la Rivoluzione francese è da poco terminata e molti nobili francesi hanno dovuto fuggire per salvarsi la vita. Molti si sono rifugiati in Inghilterra. Tra questi ci sono Auguste e Guy de Montpellier, fratello e sorella appassionati di astronomia. Guy ha un tumore al cervello ed è ossessionato da Selene, la donna di cui era innamorato, morta tragicamente nei tumulti della Rivoluzione. Guy vorrebbe tanto trovare il pianeta perduto che, secondo alcune teorie settecentesche, dovrebbe trovarsi tra Marte e Giove. Una volta scoperto il pianeta, lo chiamerà Selene e potrà porre fine alla sua ossessione. In preda alla follia, Guy ogni tanto fugge da casa di notte per cercare avventure con prostitute dai capelli rossi. Ma le prostitute che sono state con lui vengono trovate morte...
La prima di queste vittime era figlia di Jonathan Absey, un agente di Scotland Yard. Non appena gli giunge voce che altre ragazze sono state uccise, l'uomo si mette sulle tracce del serial killer. Ma le vicende si complicano, perché non c'è in ballo solo l'assassino delle prostitute, c'è anche una spia che lavora nell'ombra per mandare a monte un'imminente sbarco di truppe inglesi in territorio francese...
Questo romanzo è rimasto prigioniero della bookshelf da tempo immemore (https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/...), principalmente perché ero scettica, dato che l'autrice è sconosciuta e il libro non è stato tradotto in italiano.
Invece è una storia abbastanza coinvolgente, resa ulteriormente gradevole dall'ambientazione londinese e dall'atmosfera che è un misto tra i romanzi di Dickens e Jack lo Squartatore.
La prima di queste vittime era figlia di Jonathan Absey, un agente di Scotland Yard. Non appena gli giunge voce che altre ragazze sono state uccise, l'uomo si mette sulle tracce del serial killer. Ma le vicende si complicano, perché non c'è in ballo solo l'assassino delle prostitute, c'è anche una spia che lavora nell'ombra per mandare a monte un'imminente sbarco di truppe inglesi in territorio francese...
Questo romanzo è rimasto prigioniero della bookshelf da tempo immemore (https://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/...), principalmente perché ero scettica, dato che l'autrice è sconosciuta e il libro non è stato tradotto in italiano.
Invece è una storia abbastanza coinvolgente, resa ulteriormente gradevole dall'ambientazione londinese e dall'atmosfera che è un misto tra i romanzi di Dickens e Jack lo Squartatore.
December 21, 2022
I thought this was a pretty good book. I learned a bit of history and enjoyed the astronomy (I taught HS Earth Science). I was a little bit taken aback by her reference to a planet as a star and vice-versa, but other than that, the info was pretty accurate. It almost seemed like a modern day cop drama, with the twist of taking place in 1790's England. The protagonist had the look of a "rundown, depressed city cop" who was trying his best to clear his reputation and right the wrongs that had been done, some to him. There was some weird, cruel, sex stuff, but not in graphic detail, but enough to be disturbing. Well written, descriptive and quality characters. I did have a little trouble keeping people straight, but only because there jobs / offices were unfamiliar to me. A great first book!!
September 27, 2019
I just finished this book and was surprised I liked it so much! It's an 18th century crime/espionage mystery that has kept me intrigued and motivated to finish (400+ pages). There's a lot of information about the French Revolution and the attempt by the Royalists (those, that is, who escaped to England), with the backing of the English government, to re-take France from the Republicans. Actually historically quite interesting! And then there's the underlying astronomy theme that's fascinating! The way the variety of topics were intertwined kept was well done - never a dull moment!
February 15, 2023
I don't recall how this book ended up on my shelves; probably picked it up at a library book sale. Anyway, finally got around to reading it and quite liked it. I don't read a lot of historic fiction, but this one, set in 1795, was well researched and successfully avoided the temptation to force in a few recognizable figures for cameos. The novel started out slow but picked up the pace and the last quarter turned into a bona fide thriller. For my taste, the scenic descriptions could have been pared back but I offer a thumb up for Ms Redfern's debut novel.
October 31, 2024
This novel is not bad to read and quite interesting with the intertwining storylines. But all throughout I just felt there was something lacking. I just did not care about a single character's fate - least of all the main character. While of course the main character doesn't have to be a likebale person they should at least be interesting but Jonathan Absey is neither, at one point I actually came to really dislike him.
The ending is way too abrupt, the personal stories of Jonathan and Alexander aren't getting tied up and leave a lot of questions.
The ending is way too abrupt, the personal stories of Jonathan and Alexander aren't getting tied up and leave a lot of questions.
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