The Bedlam Stacks

為了逃離怪事連連的老家，昔日的走私者莫瑞克．特雷曼(Merrick Tremayne)選擇踏上前途凶險的遠征隊，意圖尋找生長在祕魯森林深處的金雞納樹。國際暢銷小說《菲力格理街的鐘錶製造者》作者娜塔莎．璞莉(Natasha Pulley)，這一次打造出充滿魔法、超自然、文化衝突、密謀與冒險的歷史小說。1859年的印度飽受瘧疾蹂躪，大英帝國的印度事務部找上了昔日為東印度公司走私鴉片的莫瑞克．特雷曼，他因為上一次的行動差點失去了腿，正在康瓦爾老家養傷。他在祖先留下的地產上，因為目睹雕像移動，松木林爆炸等超自然的現象，而面臨精神崩潰的邊緣。當印度事務部網羅他前往秘魯尋找金雞納樹時，儘管他已行動不便，且前幾次的遠征隊員無一人生還，所有客觀條件都告訴他，這可能是個有去無回的旅程，特雷曼還是接受了這項任務。在亞馬遜森林邊緣，有一座名為｢白冷｣(Bedlam)的小鎮，森林與小鎮之間橫亙著鹽帶，凡是越過鹽帶的居民，都會無緣無故地消失。當特雷曼來到白冷，遇見了年輕的神父拉斐爾(Raphael)，此人竟然認識數十年前來過白冷的特雷曼祖父，且拉斐爾竟可以自由來回白冷與禁忌森林之間，他的神祕感引起了特雷曼的好奇，他有可能透過拉斐爾找到金雞納樹嗎？是否可以藉由拉斐爾解開數十年前祖父與父親相繼遠征祕魯後所留下的謎團？An astonishing historical novel set in the shadowy, magical forests of South America, which draws on the captivating world of the international bestseller The Watchmaker of Filigree StreetDeep in uncharted Peru, the holy town of Bedlam stands at the edge of a forest. The shrine statues move, and anyone who crosses the border dies. But somewhere inside are cinchona trees, whose bark yields quinine: the only known treatment for malaria.On the other side of the Pacific, it is 1859 and India is ravaged by the disease. The hunt for a reliable source of quinine is critical and in its desperation, the India Office searches out its last qualified expeditionary. Struggling with a terrible injury from his last mission and the strange occurrences at his family's ruined estate, Merrick Tremayne finds himself under orders to bring back cinchona cuttings at any cost and dispatched, against his own better judgement, to Bedlam.There he meets Raphael, a priest around whom the villagers spin unsettlingly familiar stories of impossible disappearances and living stone. Gradually, he realises that Raphael is the key to a legacy left by two generations of Tremayne explorers before him, one which will prove more dangerous and valuable than the India Office could ever have imagined.