Elizabeth Redfern: The Music of the Spheres

By ZELA CHARLTON

Some of the main threads in this intricate tapestry of a tale are indicated in the title, with its historical, philosophical and astronomical allusions, but that does not prepare the reader for the complexity and violence of this strange story of intrigue, passion and murder.

It takes place during two months in 1795, when Europe was in upheaval in the aftermath of the French Revolution. England had defeated Holland but was facing the possibility of an invasion by the victorious forces of the French Revolution.

London was full of French emigres who had fled from the terror in France, and spies are one of the story's major threads as royalist and republican supporters seek to manipulate the English to their own ends.

All this history could be dull but it is brought to life by the fast pace, the extraordinary characters and the vivid word pictures of life in late 18th-century England. The squalid streets, crowded with drunks, robbers and prostitutes, provide the backdrop for the obsessional search by the main protagonist for a serial killer, who had murdered his red-haired sister.

Readers with even a passing acquaintance with London will be intrigued by the accounts of familiar streets and of seemingly long journeys on horseback or in a jolting carriage from Leicester Fields (now Leicester Square) to Kensington Gore through the dangerous heathlands of Hyde Park (a home to highwaymen) or a longer journey to the country charms of rural Chelsea.

The astronomical reference of the title provides another strand and makes the reader want to research more about the theories of Herschel and the Titius-Bode laws exploring the stars and the planets.

The writing is so convincing the reader becomes as involved in the period as in the dramatic events of the story. There are the descriptions of the medical treatments, the sad despairing lives of the poor and the superior attitudes of those with even modest employment.

We glimpse what life would be in a large country mansion and, for good measure, are caught up in an invasion of Brittany with an account of the brutality of warfare.

As this is above all a whodunnit, too much of the plot must not be revealed and the problem is that at times it is hard not to be distracted by fascinating details from the main story. Maybe this is one of those books which demand a second reading - even the quotations prefacing each chapter demand consideration.

Arrow

$26.95