The Bedlam Stacks

Readers probably know Pulley best through her amazing best seller, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street. That’s how I first encountered her work too, but she became my favorite writer with Bedlam Stacks.

It is the story of Merrick Tremayne, an experienced wilderness traveler whom British colonial authorities hope can help discover new troves of quinine, a material essential for the British colonization of India. Set in the mid-nineteenth century, the story follows Tremayne as he reluctantly journeys into Peru’s distant and remote forests. 

Once there, he enters a magical world that retains just enough realism to make the truths of… show more.

Having lived, in my youth, high in the Bolivian Andes, I was drawn to this tale, set mainly in the Peruvian cordilleras. And who can resist a book with “bedlam” in the title? Pulley invents an extraordinary world, rooted in ancient lore, but in detail invented, strange, magical, and compelling. Loving wordcraft sweeps you into a reality where you are just as confused as the protagonist, Merrick, stumbling his way through a dreamlike, unforgiving realm. Like Merrick, who is living in a culture he knows little of, we often aren’t sure what happened or why. And all the time, a… show more.