![]() ![]() For the same reason, Peru is very keen not to let any cinchona trees, seeds or cuttings leave the country: Peru relies on this income. Merrick's erstwhile bosses at the East India Company (recently nationalised and turned into The India Office) are desperate to break Peru's monopoly so they can get quinine cheaper by growing cinchona trees themselves. Their mission is to smuggle some cuttings for cinchona trees out of Peru, as those trees are the world's only source of quinine, which is the only medication with any effect on malaria. Fortunately, an old friend, Clem, pops by to drag Merrick away to go exploring and adventuring. ![]() When Charles tries to ship him off to a parsonage and threatens him with sending him to an asylum, Merrick despairs. A tall, strong man before the injury, this experience has left him a shadow of his former self, wandering around in a dream-like fugue and letting himself be bullied by Charles. Merrick, on the other hand, was badly injured during a skirmish in China. The narrator, Merrick Tremayne, starts the story as a crippled man, physically and mentally, living in a dilapidated former mansion with his vicious, even more crippled brother Charles.Ĭharles was crippled by polio: he may be snobbish, bitter and mean, but he rules the home with confidence and an iron hand. ![]() The Bedlam Stacks is a historical fantasy novel set in Victorian Britain and Peru. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |