The Alchemist's Daughter

Locations
Call Number: Adult BOCD / Fiction / Historical / McMahon, Katharine
On Shelf At: Pittsfield Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Pittsfield Adult A/V 4-week checkout	Adult BOCD / Fiction / Historical / McMahon, Katharine	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Unabridged.
Compact disc.
Read by Justine Eyre.
A student of Isaac Newton, John Selden believes he can turn his daughter into a brilliant natural philosopher and alchemist. Secluded in their ancient house, with only two servants for company, he fills Emilie with knowledge and records her progress obsessively. In the spring of 1725, their work is interrupted by the arrival of two strangers: one a researcher, the other a dazzling young merchant. During the course of a sultry August, while her father is away, Emilie experiences the passion of first love. Listening to her heart rather than her head, she makes a choice. Banished to London and plunged headlong into a society that is both glamorous and ruthless, Emilie discovers that for all her extraordinary education she has no insight into the workings of the human heart. When she tries to return to the world of books and study, she instead unravels a shocking secret that sets her on her true journey to enlightenment.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Great narrator, not so great story submitted by doutsasl on July 12, 2014, 9:00am I gave this BOCD a three star rating because I really enjoyed listening to the lovely voice of the narrator, Justine Eyre. Would that the same could be said for the content of the story. Overall, I felt a great sense of pointlessness when listening to this book. There didn't seem to be any central, compelling story line to drive the plot along. Instead, you listen as the ridiculously naive protagonist, Emilie, ruins her life with one bad choice after another. To add to the listener's aggravation, you can easily surmise what the outcome will be each time Emilie makes one of her ill-fated choices. To cap it all off, the ending is abrupt and very unsatisfactory, leaving many loose ends that the author would have done well to tie up. This title unfortunately does not live up to the exciting summary described above.