The Quincunx

by Charles Palliser

Book Overview

An extraordinary modern novel in the Victorian tradition, Charles Palliser has created something extraordinary--a plot within a plot within a plot of family secrets, mysterious clues, low-born birth, high-reaching immorality, and, always, always the fog-enshrouded, enigmatic character of 19th century--London itself. "So compulsively absorbing that reality disappears . . . One is swept along by those enduring emotions that defy modern art and a random...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345371135
• ISBN13: 9780345371133
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 800 Pages
• Weight: 1.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Way Too Long and Overly Dramatic

I rarely dislike any book, but I did not like this one. It's a bad soap opera of characters that are all related to each other. Most of the characters and their ancestors have first names that start with the letter "J" and last names that start with the letter "M", so it can get absurdly confusing.

Forget Da Vinci Code, here's a real page-turner!

Just how do you account for the outrageous audacity of a first-time novelist who seems to have set himself two awesome tasks: 1) To create a plot so intricate in design, so mind-boggling in its complexity, so inventive in its incidents, so breathtaking in its ramifications, that it would have been impossible if it hadn't actually come to have been written. 2)To recreate 19th century England in all its Dickensian sprawl and largeness, to imagine that bustling cacophony in all its glitter, dazzle, filth, sordidness and cruelty, and to do so with great aplomp so that the act of reading becomes a truly immersive experiance. That Palliser even attempted this story at all is incredible. That he has managed to pull it off is miraculous. The story follows a boy and his mother as they run for their lives trying to evade people who are out to get an important will. It follows the fortunes of five branches of the Huffam family, all out to inherit the vast Huffam estate. The boy and his mother are hounded at every corner of London by cut-throat criminals, shady lawyers, cunning relatives and the like. They are reduced to begging in the streets. As the storyline and the subplots swirl into dazzling arabesques of seeming impossibility, the reader gasps at the continual surprises, the jolting twists and the disorienting turns. Palliser is unrelenting in the miseries he hurls at his protagonists, and unremitting in the shocks he delivers to the reader.The novel is truly impossible to put down. I first read it in 1994 and re-read it recently. It is just as amazing the second time round. The story enfolds your waking hours and you free-fall vertiginously into a dreamworld that is entire and complete.

An Intelligent and Unforgettable Historical Page-Turner!

With a huge, colourful cast of characters, The Quincunx by British author Charles Palliser is, like Edward Rutherfurd's London, the kind of book that comes along all too rarely--a book wherein one loses all sense of the present as one is transported back through history to another time and place. This is a novel that is at once a family saga, an adventure, and a mystery with plenty of twists and surprises. With it, Palliser has proven himself to be a master storyteller, and it has been a long time since I have enjoyed a book as much as this. In fact, I'm not sure it didn't surpass London--another historical of epic proportions that I highly recommend--as my favourite novel by a contemporary author. (I ought to mention I've yet to read Eco's The Name of the Rose). At 781 pages, however, this historical masterpiece set in early nineteenth-century England is not for the faint of heart. At stake is a legacy--title to a huge estate of land. Though the story literally takes place during the span of several years, it is a tale about an extended family (and their relationships with one another) whose beginnings take us back five generations. Bit by bit the family history is revealed--and it is a history rife with intrigue, double dealings, scandal, and even murder. What makes the revelation of the family history so exciting and so important is its relevance to the novel's present, for not only is the identity of our young protagonist and narrator, Johnnie Mellamphy, at issue, but his very survival hangs delicately in the balance. Those for whom this engrossing, unputdownable novel will be a special treat are those who enjoy solving word or logic puzzles (I am a puzzle buff myself). To be enjoyed to its fullest, this is a book that benefits from active participation on the part of the reader; indeed, it is (in my opinion) to a certain extent mandatory. As the story unfolds, Palliser provides the reader with both outright information and clues (some of which are quite subtle) as to who's who, what really happened, and why. Palliser enjoys teasing us, and some of his subtle clues result in our drawing the wrong (though perfectly plausible) conclusions. At other times (particularly near the end), he refuses to spell things out for us, leaving us to rifle back to previous parts for a confirmation (and perhaps even an explanation) of what happened. For those with ready access to such, Palliser would even have one delving into reference books in order to find the dates when certain events occurred (like Johnnie's birth, for example), for they are all revealed by reference to other events which occurred at or around the same time. I might just mention: I found it very helpful to create a family tree (in pencil!) as the geneology unfolded--be it from village gossip, facts, or my own suppositions. I also set out who would inherit if certain conditions were met and identified these individuals on the tree. Very early on, I began to dog-ear importan

Complex, intricate, but so,so engrossing

A young boy, a will and a mystery set in Regency England.I read this book originally in the early 1990's and have just finished reading it for the second time. If I had placed a review immediately after the first reading I think that I would have shared other reviewers' relative disappointment at the ending. However after this second visit, I now think that a tidier ending with all loose ends accounted for, would not have done justice to the complexities of the rest of the book.Looking at the story now, it seems to me to be an entirely satisfactory and deeply considered work of art, one that the master of this sort of novel, Wilkie Collins would surely have approved of.Very few writers have Pallisers skill to immerse the reader so quickly in the world he describes. Once you have dipped your toe in this book (say 40 pages or so), then the rest of the 1100 pages or so swim by without your noticing its extraordinary length. Indeed I believe that you will become so engrossed that it will be with increasing irritation that you find yourself having to put the book aside for another night.If you have any feeling at all for the historical novel, or enthralling mysteries, then be good to yourself and start reading now!

You cannot put this book down!

I just read the book in Dutch for the first time and I will start all over today. Without understanding half of it at first, I found out that the mystery solved itself slowely and in the proces, the period the story takes place is coming alife. You can smell the dirt and the fog of London in what must have been about 1820 I think. Regent street was still new and "poor mister Shelley" already dead. The maps of London are very interesting. I found a map of London in 1827 on Internet, that is really a great help while reading this book. (look for Greenwood map London 1827 on the Webferret.) Is it possible to get an authograph from the author?

Enthralling, captivating, incredible - now consult Roget's!

Simply put, this is the best book I've ever read, and probably the most well written book I ever will read. I read this over 6 years ago and it still stays with me. I bought the paperback, and after finishing it, bought the hardcover as well, using the paperback for lending purposes. I have "forced" The Quincunx on many friends who, without failure, thank me for strong-arming them. If you haven't already, you NEED to read this book!I would love to see a THOROUGH mini-series - is anyone from the BBC or PBS out there?!!!