I’m giving the Alphabet of Heart’s Desire a 2/5 stars. I had such high hopes going into this book. It had piqued my interest, and I truly did think that I would like it. The book itself was not terrible. I found that having the three POV’s from entirely different walks of life was very interesting. I enjoyed reading from their vastly different perspectives and seeing how their stories intertwined. The story is also somewhat based on history, which I thought was an interesting touch and is not something I knew going into the book. The writing itself was also pretty good. However, the plot of the book really had no substance. I found it to be rather boring and lackluster. It just didn’t have purpose, and when things did happen, I couldn’t feel for the characters. This book had a lot of potential, but it simply did not live up to my expectations.

Tells you masses about the period without belabouring the research

I loved this novel. It vibrantly recreates life in the Romantic era. All London life is here and you can almost smell it. It’s a work of a vivid imagination based on hard facts. As someone who has studied this period, I enjoyed reading ‘the backstory’, and loved the way that the author clearly knows his stuff without adopting the common "I've researched it, so I'll jolly well include it" approach.

How, I wondered as I read it, would three such different lives – a would-be writer, a girl from the dregs of society and a freed slave interconnect?

Yet, as we read, we understand that the three have more in common than one might think, as each does a delicate balancing act the thin line between respectable poverty and prostitution (Anne), needy failure and self-determination (Thomas) and, perhaps most strikingly, slavery and liberty (Tuah). None can afford to rest on his/her laurels. Every day is a battle to protect hard-won victories.

Like many other reviewers, I can only wish that this story had been longer and I will certainly look at the author’s other works.

The Alphabet of Heart’s Desire is about an incident in the early life of Thomas De Quincey, best known as the author of Confessions of an Opium Eater. The bare bones of fact are that De Quincey, as a young man, was given an allowance to use in his travels around the country, which he stopped getting when he fell out of touch with his family. Destitute, he was rescued by Anne, a prostitute. This novel tells their stories, along with that of Tuah, a Malay slave who is taken in by Archie, who sells used clothing.

I had a lot of trouble reading this novel and kept putting it aside to read other books. I almost decided to quit reading it when I realized I was 80% done, so I finished it. My problem was that I didn’t find any of the three major characters, De Quincey, Anne, and Tuah, particularly interesting. Here is a situation where the author tries to invoke interest in his characters by making bad things happen to them, trying to raise our sympathy from these unfortunate events rather than from the characters’ own personalities.

I also found this fictionalized interpretation of a short period in De Quincey’s life to be relatively pointless. All it serves is to wrap up Anne’s fate in a pretty bow. In reality, she disappeared into the London stews.

This novel is set, for the most part, in eighteenth century London and Brian Keaney’s use of historical detail is very well judged. Almost a character in its own right, Keaney present the capital as a tough squalid world where life is cheap, women are regarded as chattels and men wield all the power. Keaney doesn’t spare the reader; child exploitation is rife; prostitution is commonplace, alcohol flows freely, violence is endemic and laudanum is an easily available relief from the cruelty of everyday life. And yet, through the voices of his three central characters, Keaney explores convincingly the idea that faithful, selfless love is not just possible, even in the worst of circumstances, but at the centre of the ‘heart’s desire’.
With a nod to the writer Thomas de Quincey’s biographical details, Keaney creates a young man who is curious, naïve, vulnerable yet determined to live a fully creative life. His meeting with a young prostitute, Anne, allows him to look past social status and the accepted mores of the day and see a girl who is genuine in her care for him. However, this is not a ‘fairy tale’ relationship. Both habitual laudanum users, it is clear that there will be no happy ever after. Alongside this couple, we also follow the life of Tuah, a rescued slave who lives opposite the brothel in which Anne works. His outsider’s take on London adds another aspect to the presentation of the city and his relationship with the McKerras brothers is finely delineated over the course of the novel so that his fate in the final chapter is entirely plausible.
This is a very enjoyable historical novel. Not only does the author judge his use of social and cultural detail very well but he also creates the individual voices of his three narrators most convincingly, as well as all with whom they interact. Thought-provoking, shocking, moving and even uplifting at times, this is an immersive read. On finishing the story it’s difficult to wipe away the London grime, and that’s not a bad thing.
My thanks to NetGalley and Holland House Books for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I can’t say enough about this fantastic example of historical fiction! See my review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2368360392

Thank you Netgalley and Holland House for the ARC

Oh Joy! This is historical fiction how I like it!
There are three main characters: Anne, a survivor from London's East End who has a witty way with words and made me laugh out loud many times. Then we have Tuah, captured by the Dutch, keeping his stamina as he sails the seas as a slave, eventually making a life for himself in London. And last but not least there's Thomas, born into a well-off family somewhere in England's countryside, a curious intelligent boy with a private tutor. They each have their own chapters, keeping the reader in suspense on how such different characters are ever going to end up together. As we follow them from childhood into adults the three of them are close enough to touch several times. Their seperate stories are beautiful and entwined without them knowing, yet life keeps throwing them in different directions. The end is quite predictable but did not take away the pleasure.
This is a well crafted story full of indepth characters in a great setting. Superb writing.

Thanks to Holland House and NetGalley for my free ARC.

Meet Anna, from a dark and dirty world of poverty and depravity, who resurfaces as a child prostitute in 1802 London just in time to meet Thomas De Quincey.

Although this is a fictional work, most people are familiar with Thomas De Quincey’sThe Confessions of an Opium Eater first published in 1821. This type of historical fiction brings history to life by weaving a tale of pure speculation in such glorious colour soas to reveal and illuminate the social society of the nineteenth century.

This author has gasped air into De Quincey’s story and provided the reader with a window into the addiction, passion and pleasure of the Romantic era.

Three characters take turns to progress the tale in which their lives become increasingly entwined in the same landscape of hopes and love. We start with Thomas de Quincey in a state when a stranger arrives with a silver locket. When you read to the end, you will realise the significance of this.
So who are the three main characters? We have Anne who has a pretty rough time after her father dies. She eventually becomes a prostitute through circumstance and bad choice. She made me laugh with the various jobs her and her mother did to earn money though I was also sad for her since there were some experiences which happened to her which she did not deserve. I loved her dry sense of humour and the way she got through things.
Then there is Thomas of course, he craves a scholarly life which is denied to him over and over. He ends up in London, a gentleman with little money and eventually succumbs to the oblivion of opium but not before meeting Anne. They fall in love and have dreams of a place in the country until family intervenes. I was drawn to Thomas’ world of family wealth though it was hard for him since he was not allowed to follow his dreams outright.
Finally there is Tuah who comes from a completely different landscape. There are some graphic disturbing scenes which I found difficult when he is taken from his homeland. Sold as a slave, he sails to London where he is looked after well. In the end he is given the chance to make something of himself. He is an interesting one – at first I was given the impression that he is deeply religious but it is more something learnt for a reason.
Thoroughly recommended.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing when used in moderation. When it comes to literary fiction, however, hindsight can prove to be a very fickle thing.
The subject of my MA, Erast Fandorin (Boris Akunin’s creation) was created out of hindsight and literary kaleidoscope of recognizable characters, events and places. He, Erast, was wonderful, marvelous, interesting. He spoke the language of the times and he dressed accordingly. He contemplated inwardly and mediated silently.
Thomas, Anne and Adbul of The Alphabet all speak the same language, the language of the author. A street girl can not speak and think the same way as genteel young man or slave from unknown island. They can not all reminisce and contemplate in the same words, tone and thought structure.
A street girl can look for love, can ache for love and can even find it but there is not way she will be talking about it as if she is Jane Austen re-incarnate.
Personally, I found this of-putting. Also, the story itself feels too thought through and made up. It is as if somebody just tried to make ‘olden times’ out of what he or she thought would be appropriate. All the ingredients were there but the dish turned out badly.
The whole time I had to push myself to finish this book for the sake of NetGalley and my commitment to writing reviews. I found the whole story too much, too old, too predictable and too badly piled together. There is no ending. There is no point.
Two stars at the most.

I enjoyed the wit of the author's writing. While much of the book is hard to read due to the subject it is a wonderful historical fiction novel. Told from tbe perspective of three different people it gives you a look at London during troubling times.

An engrossing story of loss, struggle, love and sacrifice told from the point of view of 3 very different characters whose lives finally and inevitably converge. The plot moves a little slowly at first but the back stories of the characters are well written and enjoyable in themselves. When it finally gets going, I felt it was a little late in the story and too brief. I found the ending a little contrived and some scenes seemed gratuitously graphic. But on the whole it was very entertaining and the fact it was based around essayist Thomas De Quincy added an extra layer of interest and intrigue. If you enjoyed Laura Carlin's The Wicked Cometh you will definitely want to read this.

The Alphabet of Heart's Desire is a beautifully written historical fiction novel. I really enjoyed reading it.
The book is about poverty, human's cruelty to each other. It displays how the powerful people of society holds the power through abuse, violence, addiction, etc. I'm glad we had Anne to brighten up the mood a little with her humorous character.
The characters were well built and it was a character driven book. We had Anne, the child prostitute, Tuah who was enslaved in his youth, and the writer Thomas de Quincey. As we have really different characters, there was a good variety in tone of voice.
I really want to warn the readers about the graphic violence in this book. It's not for everyone. For sure, it felt quite uncomfortable from time to time for me.
If you're ready for the challenge, it's a very well written book.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for granting an ARC of this book.

This is a beautiful piece of historical fiction that revolves around three characters, Tuah, Annie and Thomas de Quincey. Brian Keaney has managed to paint such a vivid and well researched picture of erstwhile London. All in all, well worth a read !

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me access to this prior to publication.
In this delightful historical fiction, we are given some thoughts as to what might have happened to Thomas de Quincey in the times explored in his autobiography.
For those who know anything of this writer, it will fascinate you. There are, it seems, some events rooted in fact and in others the author imagines what might have been. For those who know nothing of de Quincey, it is a thoroughly entertaining read exploring a point in time.
Having three characters on which we focus kept me entertained. It was good to see events from the view of our young girl forced into prostitution, and through the eyes of Tuah, a man captured by Dutch traders and sold into slavery. Perhaps a little glossy in terms of the positive sin on some events, but a good starting point to learn a little more of this time.

I started this book being aware who Thomas de Quincey was and the infamy around Confessions of an English Opium Eater so i was naturally drawn to this novel. I've read very few historical fiction set in this period and i liked how Keaney brought that alive in this book. The way the three main character were presented was interesting as they were present in each other lives when they needed to be and had a fleeting connection with the other one they were not as close. I liked how Anne's arc went and wanted to see her in her new environment at the end of the novel. She was my favourite character throughout as she seemed the most, whilst Thomas seemed an eternal man-child who would never grow up and that was the point of the way he was written but at times i was over his "woe is me! attitude.

I have to admit, I almost put the book down after the first few chapters. It tells a very harsh and coarse tale. But I kept on and I am glad I did. It gave such a vivid picture of life back then! I enjoyed the weaving of stories together, and how it did come together at the end.

Historical fiction, written with a lot of style and wit. A dedicated reader of this genre would get the most out of the book. The evocation of time and place is transportive, to say the least, though I didn't find myself engaged enough with the characters or their interactions. Lovers of historical fiction might find this an otherwise wonderful, mind-opening read.

A tale of destiny, tragedy, kindness and hope, involving three main characters which are all interwoven and set in London during the early years of the 19th century. The story is set loosely on the life of the poet and essayist Thomas De Quincey who wrote Confessions of an English Opium-Eater and who became a friend of William and Dorothy Wordsworth and lived for a time at Dove Cottage in the Lake District.
The story revolves around the three main protagonists, firstly Thomas De Quincey, a man from a wealthy background who is a dreamer and desires to find fame as a poet but instead falls on hard times when his family throws him out into the real world. In London he meets Anne a teenager who has come from a harsh and violent background and who falls into a life of prostitution. Finally Tuah who arrives in London after being taken captive from his island home by slave traders ( we never learn exactly where this is) and bought by an old sea captain. Eventually these three lives collide with each other and the story unfolds as to how they meet.
It is the simple act of kindness that happen throughout this book and the repercussions that happen afterwards to each of the characters ,which i particularly loved and really helped to move the story on and tie up loose ends.
A book about destiny and never giving up on hope and a really great read that would appeal to readers who love historical novels based on detail and fact of that period in time.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the book's publisher Holland House for giving me the chance to read and review

Brian Keaney's The Alphabet of Heart's Desire takes readers on a journey to London in the Victorian era. It tells three separate, but intertwined, coming of age stories. Thomas De Quincey, a middle class, well-educated chap who longs to attend Oxford and become a poet. Thomas's uncle and mother cast him out of the family home, and he finds himself downtrodden in the heart of London. Tuah, a "savage" from an unnamed island, enslaved by the Dutch and sold at auction in Cape Town to an English shipping captain. The captain takes Tuah under his wing, teaches him, and eventually brings him to live in London. Anne, a woman on the brink of adolescence who flees an abusive stepfather and finds herself having to resort to prostitution to survive.

Keaney is a talented storyteller whose story will appeal to historical fictionistas. The book is based on the life of Thomas De Quincey, the author most notably known for his work, "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. The chapters rotating between the perspectives of each narrator. The intersection of the characters only happens in the last quarter of the book. Tuah's story, which was my favorite, doesn't get fully woven in until the final chapters. I hadn't heard of De Quincey before reading the book. Surprisingly, I found his sections the least interesting of the three.

Thank you to NetGalley and Holland House for an ARC of The Alphabet of Heart's Desire in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing historical fiction with strong characters and a story-line that will make you laugh, cringe and gasp as the lives of the very different characters weave together in a surprising tale of a slave, a doxy and an upper class opium addict. The colorful descriptions bring to life a time in Victorian London and kept me engrossed until the very end. A great read that I thoroughly enjoyed.