The nice thing about doing blog tours is that sometimes, an email will arrive in your inbox about a tour for a book that you’d probably otherwise never come across, and it sounds so interesting that you know this is something that you’d be really keen to read! Sparks of Bright Matter is one of those books! And can we also just take a minute to mention the gorgeous cover!?
Blurb:
In 18th century London, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. A lot of knowledge is deadly.
When ambitious apprentice chemist and secret alchemist Peter Woulfe is tasked with caring for a mysterious illustrated book, the Mutus Liber, he quickly realises that the grimy underworld of Georgian London is even more dangerous than he first believed.
Soon the book is stolen by the light-fingered Sukie and Peter finds himself being pursued by threatening men who are willing to do anything to get the book back. Where in teeming London might Sukie be found? Why is Peter so enthralled by her? And what is it about the Mutus Liber that is so enticing? As the search for the book becomes an urgent game of cat and mouse, it seems that the key to Peter’s present dilemma might only be found in half-remembered events from his childhood, and then further back still, in the mists of Irish myth.
A spell-binding and unputdownable tale about spirit and matter, love and lust, and reality and magic.
My Review:
I tend to go a bit melty at the mention of ‘Irish myth’ and the context in which it’s used in this story didn’t disappoint! There’s an atmospheric sense of the ethereal that pervades throughout – sort of like something’s hiding just behind a curtain and you’re waiting for it to appear. Sometimes it does, but other times it just doesn’t show itself in the way that you’re expecting.
Our main character is Peter Woulfe – based on a real-life Irish character known as ‘The Last True Alchemist’. The story weaves together fact and fiction, leaping between timelines, as Woulfe searches for the holy grail: that secret formula that will turn lead into gold. He receives a book known as the Mutus Liber, together with instructions of where to deliver it, but he manages to lose possession of this important item, finding himself in thrall of a prostitute by the name of Sukie. However, it’s this paramour who has stolen the book and he knows that he absolutely needs to retrieve it.
The story skips between timelines so that we understand Peter’s character in its entirety. He maintains an almost magnetic connection to his homeland, Ireland and always feels a yearning need to return. They myths and legends pull at him. But we see him at all the stages of his life too. I was particularly interested in the parts about the Jacobites, which I didn’t know a lot about.
Interestingly, there isn’t as much about alchemy as I thought there would be – it’s more about the storytelling and the characters who create the story, so it makes for absorbing reading. It has depth and a certain whimsy while still retaining the type of grit that you’d expect from that era. The writing is so well textured and has beautiful rhythm.
Thank you to Compulsive Readers for a really fascinating blog tour!
jansbookbuzz.com 
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