The author, Rebecca Stott, is a professor of English Literature and Creative Writing.  Her novel, “Ghostwalk,” is set in her historic hometown of Cambridge, England.  British suspense novels tend to be more cerebral and less emotional than American novels, and this is no exception.  Its intelligence lies in the way the author ties together Isaac Newton’s life in the seventeenth century with the present.  This is not a James Patterson novel, quick and smooth with a clean ending (they are great beach reads).   This story is complicated and needs your attention. 

 

            I did not suggest this to my book club.  I had previously suggested another British suspense story, “The Thirteenth Tale,” by Diane Setterfield, which involved a lonely young woman writing an autobiography about a famous author, who brings with her a haunted ruin of a house and a dark secret.  My book club was not as enamored with this book as I was, so I did not suggest “Ghostwalk.”

 

            “Ghostwalk,” opens with Cameron Brown finding his mother, Elizabeth Vogelsang, floating in the river that traverses her property.   Elizabeth had drowned with her red coat on and a prism tucked securely in her hand.  The red coat and the prism are key allusions hinting to events to come.

 

               Lydia Brooke narrates the story in an assumed letter to Cameron Brown.  She takes us from the funeral of Elizabeth Vogelsang, and her perchance meeting with an elderly woman named Dilys Kite.  Lydia initially stays with her friend Kit Anderson, who represents normalcy – in stark contrast to Kite’s mystical fancies. 

 

            Lydia had done research work for Elizabeth, so Cameron requests that she finish Elizabeth’s book on the seventeenth century.     Lydia’s friend Kit opposes Cameron’s offer because she thinks he is trying to finagle his way back into Lydia’s life.  Cameron and Lydia had an ill-fated affair while Lydia was helping his mother.  Cameron was married at the time and still is.  

 

            The story starts to navigate down two streams.  The first stream is the present time and the second stream is the seventeenth century and Isaac Newton.  Both streams intersect often with deadly results.  The author takes us to Stourbridge Fair in the seventeenth century, where vendors are selling all sorts of items from around the world.   The Fair was extremely important to the commerce of England, as well as its traders around Europe.  It was a chance to get items from all over Europe and to trade in secret knowledge.  Alchemists received information from other alchemists through these trade endeavors.    Often linked to witchcraft, alchemy was underground, and was maintained by a strong secret society.  Elizabeth’s book claimed that Isaac Newton belonged to this society and was very active in its experiments.  This information would set the scientific world into a dither.

 

            Lydia realizes that Elizabeth’s book will start trouble, but she can’t find the last chapter of the book.  As she recreates Elizabeth’s research she eventually begins to believe in the supernatural elements of the events occurring around her, while the story jumps back and forth between centuries.   

 

            There is a lot going on in this novel and at times you may have to go back a few sentences to fully understand what just happened.  The historical aspects of this book would hold lively discussions for book clubs, along with Newton’s quest for the unobtainable Lucasion Chair of Mathematics of Trinity College.  Other discussions could center on the “supernatural” element to the story.  Who would have thought that alchemy and science would be very interesting?   The story held my interest, but mainly because of the historical aspects.

 

Rating: 6.5