The Secret of the Alchemist: A Novel of Literature and Magic Book

This is the first novel in the Fate of the Thaumatophane trilogy (pronounced TOW/MAY/TOW/FAIN or TOW/MAY/TOW/FAN). The Thaumatophane was a magical machine sought after by the alchemists of the Middle Ages, an all-powerful invention that not only turned lead into gold but gave omnipotence to its possessor. In this first in the trilogy, two teenagers, Jake and Helen, meet by chance at a literary festival in Florence, Italy, where the contestants have to recite passages written by Dante, the Italian renaissance poet. They soon become fast friends: Helen, daughter of a failed marriage between a somewhat seedy Irish art dealer and a Swiss heiress has been raised by her aunts in the chill and reserved world of Swiss chateaux and private schools. A loner, wary of opening herself to others, she longs for her London-based dad to pay more attention to her. Jake, from a rowdy Scottish-Italian Glasgow family, is a happy-go-lucky jack-in-the-box kind of guy, not a great intellectual but with a good solid head on his pragmatic shoulders. Together, they make a fine pair.

Very quickly they fall into a world of practitioners of black magic and the occult arts, for Helen s father has borrowed a 16th-century painting called "The Secret of the Alchemist" from her aunts private collection and thinks he can hold his buyer up for a higher price by pretending to lose it for a few weeks. He meanwhile smuggles it out of Switzerland and secretes it in Venice, leaving the key for his daughter to find in an ornate desk he ships to Florence for repairs.

The alchemist of the painting is Ruggiero de Montefeltro, an Englishman who went to Italy in the 16th century and began to learn the secrets of the occult at the hands of a magician in order to lay his hands on the Thaumatophane. His own fate is left unclear until the apocalyptic finish to this riveting novel, which takes place in an ancient house in Provence where the very Gates of Hell are opened.

School Library Journal

Gr 5-8-Scottish teenager Jake meets Helen, an English girl, in Italy when they both participate in the international contest of recitations from Dante. The first in a trilogy by Scottish author John Ward, this title is clearly another of the Harry Potter inspired fantasies but has its own merits. The mystery involves a mysterious note left by Helen's ne'er-do-well father, a somewhat shady art dealer and neglectful parent. Helen is adventurous, cynical, and upper class. Jake is practical and not terribly brave, but quite intrigued by Helen. He's drawn into the quest to find a key that has something to do with finding the greatest secret in all alchemy-the sorcerer's stone. Aurelian Pounce is an exceedingly sinister figure who seems always to be a step in front of the teens. Helen essentially shames Jake into helping her find her kidnapped father and the place where the sorcerer's stone was hidden centuries earlier. Pounce is able to summon evil spirits and demons, but the children are surprised and relieved when figures like St. Thomas Aquinas and Dante himself come to help them. While things seem to turn out for the best, the book ends with a cliffhanger; Helen is very upset that the sorcerer's stone has apparently been found and is in her father's possession. Narrator Colin Moody is excellent in his pacing and intensity, but his Scottish and American accents are not entirely convincing. However, the very human nature of the teens, the occult elements of the tale, and the sometimes deadly adventures will likely appeal to Harry Potter fans.-B. Allison Gray, John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.