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The Quincunx

Published
Dec 1990
Main Genre
General Fiction General Fiction
Rating
Pages
800

About This Book

An extraordinary modern novel in the Victorian tradition, Charles Palliser has created something extraordinary—a plot within a plot within a plot of family secrets, mysterious clues, low-born birth, high-reaching immorality, and, always, always the fog-enshrouded, enigmatic character of 19th century—London itself.

"So compulsively absorbing that reality disappears . . . One is swept along by those enduring emotions that defy modern art and a random universe: hunger for revenge, longing for justice and the fantasy secretly entertained by most people that the bad will be punished and the good rewarded."The New York Times

"A virtuoso achievement . . . It is an epic, a tour de force, a staggeringly complex and tantalizingly layered tale that will keep readers engrossed in days. . . . The Quincunx will not disappoint you. It is, quite simply, superb."Chicago Sun-Times

"A bold and vivid tale that invites the reader to get lost in the intoxicating rhythms of another world. And the invitation is irresistible."San Francisco Chronicle

"A remarkable book . . . In mood, color, atmosphere and characters, this is Charles Dickens reincarnated . . . It is an immersing experience."Los Angeles Times Book Review

"To read the first pages is to be trapped for seven-hundred odd more: you cannot stop turning them."The New Yorker

"Few books, at most a dozen or two in a lifetime, affect us this way. . . . For sheer intricacy and ingenuity, for skill and clarity of storytelling, it is the kind of book readers wait for, a book to get lost in."The Philadelphia Inquirer

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Formats & Editions

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Paperback

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Trade Paperback
First Edition Dec 1990 Ballantine ISBN 0345371135
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Trade Paperback
Jul 1995 Penguin (UK) ISBN 0140177620
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Hardcover

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Hardcover
Jan 1990 Ballantine ISBN 0345364635
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Hardcover
Nov 1991 Random House ISBN 0517079054
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eBook

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eBook
Feb 2014 Random House ISBN 0804152403
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eBook
Feb 2014 Ballantine Books ISBN B00IBZ5ZL0
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