Ratings5
Average rating4.2
“A delicious page-turner that brings eighteenth-century Stockholm to vivid life, complete with scandal, conspiracy, mystery, and a hint of magic.” —Eleanor Brown, New York Times–bestselling author One man’s fortune holds the key to a nation’s fate in this sensational debut novel set in eighteenth-century Sweden. The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann transports readers to a colorful Scandinavian world of intrigue and magic in a dazzling golden age of high art, music, and opulent fashion. A masterwork of historical fiction in the vein of Patrick Suskind’s classic novel, Perfume, The Stockholm Octavo is mysterious and romantic—as magical and enthralling as The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern—and features a brilliant and unforgettable cast of extraordinary characters. “A juicy page-turner . . . Engelmann’s intellectually playful take on the mathematics of love and power proves irresistible.” —O, The Oprah Magazine “Neatly mixing revolutionary politics with the erotic tension and cutthroat rivalry of the female conspirators . . . Engelmann has crafted a magnificent, suspenseful story set against the vibrant society of Sweden’s zenith, with a cast of colorful characters balanced at a crux of history.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Delicious . . . the essence of witty intelligence . . . The plot is an urgent one, and the characters mysterious, appealing, and memorable.” —Sena Jeter Naslund, New York Times–bestselling author “If you like novels that work on many levels at once, read this stunning tessellation of a book, where fortune is the flip side of intrigue and where history is the flip side of chance.” —Charlotte Rogan, national bestselling author
Reviews with the most likes.
While I was immediately sucked into this book and finished it in two days, I am having great difficulty figuring out why. The main character is a bit of a non-entity, with no real distinctive personality (except perhaps a tendency towards excess) but, like the book, he's somehow endearing. The pacing was perfect, with a constant steady pace and no extraneous historical sidebars, which are often the hallmark of historical fiction and invariably disturb the narrative flow. Card playing and gambling, the art of hand fans and Sweden's political upheavals merge seamlessly with the plot, miraculously and don't feel like tacked-on details to add historical accuracy.
Highly recommended, especially to those who think they don't like historical fiction.
I REALLY enjoyed this book. The “golden path” that Emil Larsson sets out to discover does not unfold the way he expects (or the way the reader expects). The story is an adventure or a thriller in the conventional sense of those genres, but it also has mysterious depths. Read it!
Books
9 booksIf you enjoyed this book, then our algorithm says you may also enjoy these.