New Book - The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon (Pages 1 - 91)

 First Published: 2006

It is the eighteenth century, and Emilie Selden lives with her widowed father in their cavernous house.

 Emilie never knew her mother as she died when she was born, and her father won't talk about her. John Selden is an alchemist, and Emilie has grown up, learning from her father. Emilie has never left her home, and her only companions are the servants, Gill, Mrs Gill, apart from her father.

John Selden is difficult and has very firm convictions. So when the new priest comes to the village, they meet for discussions, but when Shales, the vicar, shows an attitude John doesn't share, he refuses to see him again.

Then a new visitor comes to see John. It is Robert Aislabie, who comes to see John because he is interested in knowing about how fire originates because his business is shipping, and he has lost some ships to fire. From the first moment Emilie falls for Aislabie, but John is disapproving of Aislabie, who he considers too materialistic. 

John travesl to London, and in the month that he is away, Aislabie comes to see Emilie, and they become closer. When John returns, Emilie tells him that she and Aislabie are to marry because she is expecting a child. John punishes his daughter by stopping talking to her, and Aislabie comes to ask for her hand, but John doesn't say a word to Emilie.

Emilie and Aislabie travel to London where they marry, and Aislabie hires a maid, Sarah. Emilie miscarries the child just after the wedding, and she is bed-bound for many weeks. When she recovers, she realises that she is lacking the social skills she needs as a wife, and Sarah reluctantly helps her. Aislabie's friends find her interesting as she talks about all she knows about science, and that makes her miss her father, who has not replied to any of her letters.

Emilie tells her husband that she wants to visit her father, and he agrees but can't go with her as he is too busy with the new ship. So Emily and Sarah travel to her old home to discover that John died two days ago. Emilie is furious because she thinks someone should have written to her, and Mrs Gill tells her that the vicar, Shales, was there for her father when he died. Emilie blames Shales, so she goes to see him and the man explains that it was against his wishes that he didn't write to her. It was her father who forbid him from writing to her. He feared that if he went against his wishes, John wouldn't reconcile with Emilie and would stop talkign to him, and then he would be alone. 

The book started slow. I am not sure if Emilie's husband is trustworthy or if he married her for what riches he would get from her. Also, I think there is a mystery in who her mother was. When Emilie mentions that her mother's family were silk merchants and invented the colour De Lery Green, nobody has ever heard of the colour or the name of the family. I wonder if she might discover that her father lied to her and concealed things from her.