She insists throughout that it is seen as a true science and not (as others in this universe insist) “charlatanry or magic”. I really liked the point of view of the main character, Thea, when it came to thinking about the nature of alchemy and what it should(n’t) be used for. The cover is pretty eyecatching, isn’t it? This seemed like an excellent choice for a book to read in the run-up to spooky season It’s mostly set in England – I’ve spent time in Oxford and London, so it’s interesting to see them in fictional works! (Don’t worry fellow British readers, the author is American but doesn’t write about our rainy little island in a jarringly inaccurate or cringey way) I love the mix of science and fantasy that comes along with any book about alchemy But Thea can only run for so long, and soon she will have to choose: create the Stone and sacrifice her sanity, or let the people she loves die.

With the threat of the French Revolution looming, Thea is sent to Oxford for her safety, to live with the father who doesn’t know she exists.īut in Oxford, there are alchemists after the Stone who don’t believe Thea’s warning about the curse-instead, they’ll stop at nothing to steal Thea’s knowledge of how to create the Stone. While combing through her mother’s notes, Thea learns that there’s a curse on the Stone that causes anyone who tries to make it to lose their sanity. The two of them are close to creating the legendary Philosopher’s Stone-whose properties include immortality and can turn any metal into gold-but just when the promise of the Stone’s riches is in their grasp, Thea’s mother destroys the Stone in a sudden fit of violent madness. Thea Hope longs to be an alchemist out of the shadow of her famous mother. In her debut novel A Golden Fury, Samantha Cohoe weaves a story of magic and danger, where the streets of Oxford and London come to life, and the curse of the Philosopher’s Stone will haunt you long after the final chapter.

A Golden Fury by Samantha Cohoe