Quicksilver
Subtitle: Volume One of The Baroque Cycle
By: Neal Stephenson
Edition: 1st Perennial ed.
Series: The Baroque cycle -- v. 1
Publisher: Perennial
Published: 2004
Place of publication: New York, USA
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 927
ISBN-13: 9780060593087
Copyright date: 2003
Subjects: Eighteenth century; Adventure stories; Scientists; Seventeenth century; Alchemists; Fiction
Description: Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, pursuing knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.

It is a chronicle of the breathtaking exploits of "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe--London street urchin turned swashbuckling adventurer and legendary King of the Vagabonds--risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox.

And it is the tale of Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent Europe through the newborn power of finance.

A gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive novel that brings a remarkable age and its momentous events to vivid life, Quicksilver is an extraordinary achievement from one of the most original and important literary talents of our time.

And it's just the beginning...

(back cover)
Notes: Previously published: New York : William Morrow, ©2003.
Includes "P.S. Insights, interviews & more" (16 p. following p. 927).