The Bedlam Stacks

Natasha Pulley had a lot to live up to after the runaway success of her debut novel, The Watchmaker Of Filigree Street ,but The Bedlam Stacks

is a worthy successor. Set in Peru, the book follows a crippled smuggler working for the East India Company as he – along with two companions – heads deep into uncharted territory to find cinchona trees, the only source of quinine that can cure the outbreak of Malaria that’s ravaging the Empire. It’s a fast-paced adventure story with great characters and a message about colonialism and discovering new worlds. The book, though more meditative than Pulley’s debut, is still filled with wondrous images, from moving statues to exploding trees. It stutters slightly in the middle, spending a little too long establishing the magical town of Bedlam with its natural glass towers and luminescent pollen, but once it gets back on track it rolls along at speed to a satisfying ending. ■