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Lady Tree Trilogy #2
Quicksilver
QUICKSILVER [Paperback] Dickason
592 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
60 people want to read
About the author
Christie Dickason
19 books53 followersI started to write at the age of three, long before I could spell. Understandably, I hid my poems and (very) short stories from my English professor father, who could spell words like ‘desiccate’ and also insisted on correct grammar. All the same, he passed on to me his delight in books and words as well as his joy in pursuing intellectual curiosity. Under his influence, I learned to relish research and value accuracy. (He also kick-started my interest in mountain climbing by putting his uncensored edition of Lady Chatterley’s Lover on the highest shelf of his study.)
While living abroad with my family for most of my teens, in Thailand, Mexico and Switzerland, I studied anywhere I could, from the International Children’s Centre in Bangkok, through home-tutoring, to an old-fasioned Swiss convent school. I went on to read English at Harvard University (BA, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa), then earned an MFA in Theatre at the Yale University Drama School (winning a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and the Shubert Memorial Fellowship for Best Director).
From the age of eleven, I also studied dance (and performed): ballet at the Lichine School in Lausanne, modern dance with a former member of Martha Graham’s company, Robert Cohan, and Thai classical dance with a retired member of the King of Thailand’s troupe. At the age of fifteen, I once found myself teaching Thai folk dance to the Thai Women’s Culture club in Bangkok. At the age of 23, I thought writing was far too much fun to be a serious way to earn a living, so I became a director and choreographer.
After fourteen years in the theatre (with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Rocky Horror Show, Oh! Calcutta!, and at Ronnie Scott’s, among others) illness forced me to stop . While convalescing, I read a particularly dire paperback and decided in exasperation to see if I could do any better. Bed-bound and with L-plates on, I returned to my secret passion for writing and hand-wrote my first novel. This book was never published, but it brought me a commission for my ‘official’ first novel (THE DRAGON RIDERS, published by Century), which astonished me by reaching number twelve on the best-seller list. What had seemed at first like a health disaster led me ‘home’ into a new career that not only allows time to eat and sleep but also lets me do what I love most. (My illness also, when I was ready to deal with it, fuelled my historical novel, QUICKSILVER, about a supposed 17th c. 'werewolf'.)
As well as seven internationally-published novels (most recently THE PRINCIPESSA, I also write poetry, short stories, newspaper articles and works for the theatre. I particularly enjoy collaborating with the award-winning composer Cecilia McDowall on musical works ranging from conventional songs and cantatas to the huge and indescribable, all of which have been performed.
Our most recent project was a 'green cantata', FIVE SEASONS, commissioned ‘to celebrate the organic landscape in the 21st century’ by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir. And we are currently (2007) setting up a follow-on community music project in Cumbria.
As a change from my computer, I enjoy extreme trekking and scrambling in Bolivia and the Western Highlands of Scotland, organic gardening, cooking, eating and recreational talking with friends and family. I don’t think writers take holidays.
While living abroad with my family for most of my teens, in Thailand, Mexico and Switzerland, I studied anywhere I could, from the International Children’s Centre in Bangkok, through home-tutoring, to an old-fasioned Swiss convent school. I went on to read English at Harvard University (BA, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa), then earned an MFA in Theatre at the Yale University Drama School (winning a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship and the Shubert Memorial Fellowship for Best Director).
From the age of eleven, I also studied dance (and performed): ballet at the Lichine School in Lausanne, modern dance with a former member of Martha Graham’s company, Robert Cohan, and Thai classical dance with a retired member of the King of Thailand’s troupe. At the age of fifteen, I once found myself teaching Thai folk dance to the Thai Women’s Culture club in Bangkok. At the age of 23, I thought writing was far too much fun to be a serious way to earn a living, so I became a director and choreographer.
After fourteen years in the theatre (with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Rocky Horror Show, Oh! Calcutta!, and at Ronnie Scott’s, among others) illness forced me to stop . While convalescing, I read a particularly dire paperback and decided in exasperation to see if I could do any better. Bed-bound and with L-plates on, I returned to my secret passion for writing and hand-wrote my first novel. This book was never published, but it brought me a commission for my ‘official’ first novel (THE DRAGON RIDERS, published by Century), which astonished me by reaching number twelve on the best-seller list. What had seemed at first like a health disaster led me ‘home’ into a new career that not only allows time to eat and sleep but also lets me do what I love most. (My illness also, when I was ready to deal with it, fuelled my historical novel, QUICKSILVER, about a supposed 17th c. 'werewolf'.)
As well as seven internationally-published novels (most recently THE PRINCIPESSA, I also write poetry, short stories, newspaper articles and works for the theatre. I particularly enjoy collaborating with the award-winning composer Cecilia McDowall on musical works ranging from conventional songs and cantatas to the huge and indescribable, all of which have been performed.
Our most recent project was a 'green cantata', FIVE SEASONS, commissioned ‘to celebrate the organic landscape in the 21st century’ by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta Choir. And we are currently (2007) setting up a follow-on community music project in Cumbria.
As a change from my computer, I enjoy extreme trekking and scrambling in Bolivia and the Western Highlands of Scotland, organic gardening, cooking, eating and recreational talking with friends and family. I don’t think writers take holidays.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 30, 2012
Quicksilver is the second in a series of inter-related books set during the Stuart period in England, following on after The Lady Tree. The two books are set at roughly the same time, told from different points of view. In this novel, the main protagonist is the villain of the first book. He suffers from frontal lobe epilepsy after a fall, but since this is the 17th century, he fears he is turning into a werewolf. The book is not easy to read, but rewards your patience with some beautiful passages of writing and a vivid recreation of the times in all their beauty and squalor.
May 13, 2013
A truly great book. An excellent writing style. The story flows easily and you find yourself entranced by the creation of a lute as you are by the invasion of a man by forces unknown. It appears I now need to investigate the books of Ms Dickason a bit deeper!!
January 1, 2018
I started this book half heartedly like two years ago and couldn’t really get into it but decided to have another go and I’m glad I did! A really interesting story (although the writing was a bit dense and heavy at times) but I loved the 17th century Amsterdam setting.
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July 23, 2011Hmmm some good parts in this book but unfortunately the weird parts were greater!
March 14, 2018
I hate giving books bad ratings but this was just the most lacklustre treatment of some of my most favourite historical fiction themes.
March 10, 2024
This is a very unusual ‘sequel’ to The Lady Tree, in that the man who is the villain in The Lady Tree becomes the hero in this one. We are still in the 1630s, and the action of this book overlaps with The Lady Tree,and you see things from an entirely different point of view. Given the way The Lady Tree ends, there are some surprising twists in this one, and things aren’t at all what you might have expected. The ending is particularly surprising and left me wondering what will happen next. I did miss the complete absence of the endearing Zeal of the Lady Tree, but I understand she reappears in the next book, The Memory House.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews