The Bedlam Stacks
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Bedlam Stacks |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Natasha Pulley |
| Date(s): | 2017 |
| Medium: | Novel |
| Country of Origin: | UK |
| External Links: | Goodreads page |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Bedlam Stacks is a novel by Natasha Pulley, published in 2017. It is set in the same universe as the author's first novel, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street.
Set in the 1850s, it tells the story of Merrick Tremayne, a disabled ex-East India Company employee, who is tasked with smuggling quinine trees out of Peru.
Summary
From Goodreads:
In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne is trapped at home in Cornwall after sustaining an injury that almost cost him his leg and something is wrong; a statue moves, his grandfather’s pines explode, and his brother accuses him of madness.
When the India Office recruits Merrick for an expedition to fetch quinine—essential for the treatment of malaria—from deep within Peru, he knows it’s a terrible idea. Nearly every able-bodied expeditionary who’s made the attempt has died, and he can barely walk. But Merrick is desperate to escape everything at home, so he sets off, against his better judgment, for a tiny mission colony on the edge of the Amazon where a salt line on the ground separates town from forest. Anyone who crosses is killed by something that watches from the trees, but somewhere beyond the salt are the quinine woods, and the way around is blocked.
Surrounded by local stories of lost time, cursed woods, and living rock, Merrick must separate truth from fairytale and find out what befell the last expeditions; why the villagers are forbidden to go into the forest; and what is happening to Raphael, the young priest who seems to have known Merrick’s grandfather, who visited Peru many decades before. The Bedlam Stacks is the story of a profound friendship that grows in a place that seems just this side of magical.
Main Characters
- Merrick Tremayne
- Raphael (The Bedlam Stacks), the native priest with a secret
- Clements Markham, Merrick's friend and mission companion
- Minna Markham, Markham's pregnant wife
- Harry Tremayne, Merrick's older brother
- Keita Mori (briefly), Merrick's translator/friend
Fandom
The book has a small fandom. It was nominated as a Yuletide fandom in 2017, 2018, 2019.
Shipping
Raphael/Merrick Tremayne (AO3 tag) is the logical main ship.
Tropes
Example Fanworks
Fanfiction
- folie à deux by novembersmith (2017)
- Vaster than empires by karanguni (2018)
Fanart
Podfic
Resources
References