Alchemy

S J Parris
7.30pm
Tuesday 21 January 2025
St Mary’s Barnes

No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller SJ Parris is the pseudonym of the author and journalist Stephanie Merritt. It was as a student at Cambridge researching a paper on the period that Stephanie first became fascinated by the rich history of Tudor England and Renaissance Europe. Since then, her interest has grown and led her to create a series of historical thrillers featuring Giordano Bruno, which has now sold over one million copies.

Stephanie has worked as a critic and feature writer for a variety of newspapers and magazines, as well as radio and television. She has also written the contemporary psychological thrillers While You Sleep and Storm under her own name. She currently writes for the Observer, and she lives in Surrey.

Alchemy, the latest Giardano Bruno thriller is set in the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolf II. His court is a haven for scientists, astrologers and alchemists and his abiding passion is the elusive hunt for the philosopher’s stone and thus immortality. The Catholic Church fears he has pushed too far – into the forbidden realm of heresy – while the greatest powers in Christendom are concerned about the imperial line of succession.

Giordano Bruno is sent to his court by Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth 1’s spymaster. His task: to contact the famous English alchemist and mystic John Dee, another of Walsingham’s spies. But Bruno’s arrival in Prague coincides with the brutal murder of a rival alchemist – and John Dee himself has disappeared…

S J Parris is being interviewed by Victoria Dowd, an ex-criminal law barrister and now an award-winning crime fiction author.