'The Alphabet of Heart's Desire' is a well-written piece of historical fiction. The outline of this book is drawn with facts taken from the life of Thomas De Quincy, an essayist from 19th century famously known for his work 'Confessions of an Opium-eater', and colored in with the fictional world of Anne and Tuah created by Brian Keaney.

Summary:

Thomas is the prodigal son of De Quincy household and is a scholar but naive at dealings of life. He wants to be a poet. The inability of his family to understand his potential though leaves him to find his own path in life. He ends up sick and miserable.

Anne is a street girl who is abused at the hands of life. One day while looking for customers she finds Thomas collapsed on Oxford street. She takes him in and nurses him back to health. For the first time in their lives, they both find happiness in the love and the laudanum(Opium) they share, no matter the squalor that surrounds them.

Tuah is a freed slave who fails to belong as an Englishman even after adopting the language, the culture and the religion of England.

Beautiful Writing:

The book interleaves the story of these three people and they appear to be as separate from each other as possible. But then the thread of their lives start to entangle and entwine each time their paths cross and create the web in which they find themselves enmeshed.

The narration is beautiful and atmospheric. I found not a single dull moment. It reads so well as fiction, I did not realize until half the book in, that it was about a real person.

The characters are very well developed and I found myself completely vested in their lives, lost in the setting of early 19th century England. I wanted to scream at Thomas at times to man up and do something instead of seething and raging silently.

One particular detail that stood out for me was how the language differed for the three narrations. It was fancy and sophisticated in Thomas’s sections while full of slangs and easy grammar in Anne’s. Phrases from Bible in Tuah’s sections were aptly used.

Misunderstood Genius:

The only thing that Thomas ever wanted was to be a poet and study at Oxford. I wonder, what if his family had understood him better, what if they had let the facade of royalty not interfere with his simple desires? We might have had many more great creations. A genius might not have gotten lost to Opium. It pained me to see such misfortunes could befall a scholar of such caliber.

Wish to Read More:

I wanted to read more of it, especially on following points.

The relation Tuan and Captain McKerrars shared or what drove the captain to opium.
Thomas’s mother, why she was so stern etc.
What really happened to Thomas’s sister and what about his other siblings. Like his brother whom he meets. Could they never help Thomas?

Recommendations:

I recommend this to all fans of Historical Fiction who enjoy traveling back in time to claim a piece of history for themselves or to learn something new, something buried underneath dust and rubble of time.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an ARC of this book.

Thomas De Quincey became an overnight sensation with the publication of his autobiography, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, released in 1821. Wildly received in his day for this racy, seductive thriller, De Quincey was well-connected with friends like Coleridge and Wordsworth, and his life is the basis for Brian Keaney's historical fiction The Alphabet of Heart's Desire. This story is delivered by three young narrators: Tom De Quincey himself, Anne the teenage doxy (prostitute) he credits with saving his life, and Tuah an eventually freed slave. These three characters undergo varying degrees of tumult and tragedy, all equally entertaining and with story arcs that share a very similar pacing.

Keaney is an excellent, imaginative British writer, his descriptions and historic terminology are captivating and witty. I think the entire premise of this book is brilliant, filling in the unknown bits of a scandalous literary hero's shadowy life - but I wish Keaney would have further exploited his artistic license here and come up with more answers to numerous mysteries: what actually killed Thomas's beloved sister? What did their sinister brother allude to when he said "the basis of taxation in Greenhay is obedience, and the chief industry of our little kingdom is death." Why was Thomas kicked out exactly? Who was the letter in French from, was it intended for Thomas or for a different Thomas De Quincey? Who were Mrs. Sedgwick and Mr. Patterson, who got rid of Anne? Why would Thomas never venture back to Archie's, and simply find Anne there? Also what exactly is the Alphabet of Heart's Desire supposed to be? I enjoyed reading this book, I was thoroughly entertained while reading it, but I'm left feeling frustrated afterwards. Apropos of a book about laudanum, I suppose.

This is beautifully written historical fiction with three captivating protagonists and some engaging minor characters. The book is very descriptive and there is a real sense of the period and atmosphere. It is loosely based on the early life of the British author Thomas De Quincey and the story is told in alternating chapters by Thomas, Anne (his first love) and Tuah (who was invented by the author for this book). The three characters are about the same age and the author follows them from their childhoods. The characters are linked by opium, literature and the fact that each has been cast adrift. My only problem with this book is the title, which makes sense in context but unfortunately sounds vaguely like a cheesy romance novel. There is love in this book but it is not a romance novel.

Thomas was an aspiring poet from a wealthy family but, after being sent to a series of dreary households, he wound up on his own and destitute in London. "...Thomas De Quincey was singularly unprepared for the teeming, villainous, bustling, cunning barbarity that was the nation of London."

Anne and her widowed mother lived in a run down room that they couldn't afford. "Down in the basement there was a collection of thieves that would have taken the steam off your piss and sold it back to you as a cure for scurvy." And then their landlord offered them someplace even lower, provided that they worked as washerwomen. Life kept going from bad to worse for Anne and she wound up in a brothel. Eventually she rescued Thomas and they shared love and laudanum.

Tuah was an orphan taken when he was 9 by Dutch slave traders from his village on an unspecified island. On the slave ship he learned "... a great and terrible truth, that it matters not how bad things seem to be, there is always worse that can be for a man." He was sold to a ship captain, who taught him English, and remained on the ship for three years before they landed in London.

I loved each of these characters and enjoyed this book tremendously. I would be happy to read more by this author.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

There is a reason I love historical fiction so much. In this genre one often learns things never known before.

The time is 1802 and a young man Thomas de Quincy is coming into adulthood. He had led a comfortable life in a severe family that tolerated little deviations on what they thought Thomas' life should be. Thomas is desirous of attending Oxford but his mother and uncle feel differently and set Thomas up with a teacher of low caliber. Thomas revolts and through an error in judgement is banished from his life of comfort, literally living on the streets with one pound a month given to him by her "generous" family.

One day, from lack of food, Thomas collapses on the street. He is found by a young doxy and she takes it upon herself to nurse Thomas back to health.

Anne, the young prostitute who helps Thomas, later falls in love with him and he with her. Of course this is London in the seventeenth century and that relationship can or should never be. We also meet Tuah, a former slave saved and bought by a captain of a ship returning to London and is taken into the captain and later his brother's home and freed. All three of these characters are presented in alternate chapters each relating their experiences and portraying to the reader the differences in their upbringing, their lives, and how society sees them. The saddest one of all is Anne, left to make her way, which in reality is the only way possible for her and becomes a prostitute. She is the one that there seems no possible escape from a harsh and cruel world. Even if she does escape she knows she is doomed because of what she has become. To cope she begins using opium and introduces Thomas to the level of escapism opium provides. These three lives intertwine and present to the reader a fine glimpse of the life one experienced in Victorian England.

Thomas de Quincey later goes on to be a well respected writer and in his book Confessions of an English Opium Eater, he explored the manners, the boredom, the passion and hopelessness oftentimes presented in Victorian life.

For those who love historical fiction, this novel was a treat and gave the reader perspective, fine writing, and ultimately a greater understanding of what life was like if one was a Victorian.

Thank you to NetGalley and Holland House for an ARC of this book.

Why couldn't this book be longer?

"The Alphabet of Heart's Desire" is a splendid piece of historical fiction following the youth of Thomas de Quincey--yes, he of "Confessions of an English Opium Eater"--Anne, and Tuah, other young people living in the raw world of East London in the early 19th century. Anyone who loves finely wrought lit fic in a historical setting will be all in on this story which is completely engrossing. The last page came as a complete surprise to me--I was so ready for more!

What a treat!

Anne, a streetworker, lost her father to the waters of Thames, her mother to a drunkard lover, and her innocence to the vagaries of life that keep throwing her down. Tuah is an orphan on an island from where he is captured by Dutch sailors and brought to Cape Town to be sold. He is bought by a Captain of an English ship, who takes him under his wing, teaches him English and brings him to London to live with him and his brother. Thomas De Quincey is born into aristocracy and dreams of becoming a poet. But life throws him to the streets of London in unexpected turns of events. He suddenly finds himself sleeping in alleyways, going hungry and thirsty for days, in the slums of London.

Anne, Tuah and Thomas are very different in terms of their upbringing and life experiences. But they are quite alike when it comes to the twists and turns of fate that they are met with. On the streets of London, the paths of Anne, Tuah and Thomas cross and re-cross. They find hope, love, passion, addictions.

The story is loosely based on the life of Thomas De Quincey, an English essayist, best known for Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author is a genius when it comes to storytelling and character development. The book is written from the perspective of Anne, Tuah and Thomas, and the author has done a great job with it. Their thoughts, emotions and internal struggles are flawlessly depicted chapter after chapter. The voices of Anne, Tuah and Thomas are very distinct, as are their characters and experiences. The steady pace of the book keeps the reader engrossed and wanting to read more. There are no fallacies in the book to write about. All in all, this is a great book. I am glad I read it and would definitely recommend it.

The Alphabet of Heart's Desire is a fantastic piece of historical fiction primarily set in Victorian London. In it, author Brian Keaney paints a vivid picture of three very different lives: that of a young woman struggling to survive as a prostitute, a captured Asian slave adjusting to an entire new way of life, and an imagining of the earlier days of poet Thomas De Quincey.

The chapters rotate between these three main characters, providing a quick and even flow to the story line. As the plot progressed, the lives of the characters intersected as well as becoming inextricably linked - some with final resolution and some without.

The book had many beautifully written passages describing various sensations and sights on the streets of London - the smells, the sounds, the faces, the clothing. He brought the past to life without succumbing to the habit of over-describing, as many historical fiction writers tend to do.

Fictionalising the life of a well known literary character can often come across as amateurish, but I felt that Keaney did Thomas De Quincey justice. His treatment of laudanum as the invisible, unofficial main character of the novel showed how a well educated man such as De Quincey could develop such a strong addiction to the drug. It seems like an entirely plausible backstory to the life of the poet.

My only complaint is that the book felt a little short, although that could be attributed to the fact that I loved it so much that I couldn't put it down.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the book's publisher, Holland House, for providing me with an ARC.