The Age of Ice
An epic debut novel about a
lovelorn eighteenth-century Russian noble, cursed with longevity and an
immunity to cold, whose quest for the truth behind his condition spans two
thrilling centuries and a stunning array of historical events.
St. Petersburg, Russia,
1740. The Empress Anna Ioanovna has issued her latest eccentric order:
construct a palace out of ice blocks. Inside its walls her slaves build a
wedding chamber, a canopy bed on a dais, heavy drapes cascading to the
floor—all made of ice. Sealed inside are two jesters, one a disgraced nobleman,
the other a humpback, a performer by birthright. On the Empress’s command—for
her entertainment—these two are to be married, the relationship consummated
inside this frozen prison. In the morning guards enter to find them half-dead.
Nine months later, two boys are born.
Surrounded by servants and
animals, Prince Alexander Velitsyn and his twin brother Andrei have an idyllic
childhood on the family’s large country estate. But as they approach manhood
stark differences coalesce. Andrei is daring and ambitious; Alexander is
tentative and adrift. One frigid winter night on the road between St.
Petersburg and Moscow, as he flees his army post, Alexander comes to a
horrifying revelation: his body is immune from cold.
J. M. Sidorova's boldly
original and genre-bending novel takes readers from the grisly fields of the
Napoleonic Wars to the blazing heat of Afghanistan, from the outer reaches of
Siberia to the cacophonous streets of nineteenth-century Paris. The adventures
of its protagonist, Prince Alexander Velitsyn—on a life-long quest for the
truth behind his strange physiology—will span three continents and two
centuries, and will bring him into contact with an incredible range of real
historical figures, from Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, to the
licentious Russian Empress Elizaveta, and to English explorer Joseph Billings.
Romantic, thrilling, and
rigorously historical, The Age of Ice is one of the most inventive debut novels
of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment