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The Book of the Alchemist

Paperback / ISBN-13: 9780340899151

Price: £7.99

ON SALE: 10th June 2010

Genre: Fiction & Related Items / Historical Fiction

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Andalucía, 1938. The Spanish Civil War is drawing to its end. Desperate Republican soldiers holding hostages in a cathedral, plan a last, explosive act of death and destruction. One of their prisoners, ex government minister Professor Pinzon, has already lost his son to the war. He determines to save his grandson at any cost.

The discovery of an ancient book in a hidden space beneath the cathedral is a welcome distraction. But as Professor Pinzon reads aloud to the frightened hostages, he discovers that this tale of medieval Andaluz and the friendship between three young men – an alchemist, a mason and a prince – besides connecting two ideologically torn worlds 1000 years apart, might also offer a route to freedom . . .

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Reviews

The perfect book for curling up with at the weekend
<i>SHE</i>
Williams handles his material deftly, draws pertinent parallels and builds the tensions in his interlinked tales well
<i>Metro</i>
A terrific yarn and a moving portrait of the power of love and friendship
<i>Good Book Guide</i>
A thousand years go by in a flash as Williams spins a yarn uniting childhood camaraderie in the 11th century with the violence of the 20th-century civil war. Prepare to be captivated
<i>Stylist</i>
Rewarding novel of love and friendship connecting worlds a thousand years apart
<i>Sun</i>
Epic adventure
<i>Woman & Home</i>
An epic historical and romantic story as well as an impressive first novel.
<i>Sunday Mirror </i> on THE PALACE OF HEAVENLY PLEASURE
'This book is poetic and romantic in parts, harrowing and tragic in others' ****
<i>Heat</i> on THE EMPEROR'S BONES
A rattling good read. Full of love and loss and guts and gore and derring-do, this is as good as an adventure story gets . . . Williams is a master
<i>The Times</i> on THE PALACE OF HEAVENLY PLEASURE