Charlie Fenton’s Reviews > The Alchemist of Lost Souls > Status Update

“Some men have privileges that you and I will never enjoy. We did not choose to be born to a farmer or to an alchemist. The monied nobility and merchants have the advantage of wealth and influence to protect themselves and their families. But I have only my wits to take care of mine.”

‘He could not apologise for being angry, for being scared, and he knew that she didn’t expect him to. He raised her hands to his lips and kissed her fingers, stained from plants. “I would slay a thousand French in a day if I knew that it would bring me speedily home. But I am not my own man in this world. I am the king’s pawn. I can never know otherwise.”’

“Of course it is important to include the barbs of a goose feather in the brew.”
“Pray you?”
“To help with padding your womb so the fetus doesn’t rock.”
“Mother, your logic confounds me.”
“This is sensible advice and I have found it effective. The softness lines your womb much like a bird lines its nest with plucked feathers. It is the fitful sleep of the child inside of you that unsettles your stomach so.”

‘The king’s law required that every man between sixteen and sixty years must possess a warbow and practice his archery skills (though if a man were to achieve that ripe age he would need a cart to haul him to a field of battle). One never knew when their foe (namely, the French) might invade and try to seize their fair isle. No matter that Henry was the more likely instigator of any clash’