Tells you masses about the period without belabouring the research

I loved this novel. It vibrantly recreates life in the Romantic era. All London life is here and you can almost smell it. It’s a work of a vivid imagination based on hard facts. As someone who has studied this period, I enjoyed reading ‘the backstory’, and loved the way that the author clearly knows his stuff without adopting the common "I've researched it, so I'll jolly well include it" approach.

How, I wondered as I read it, would three such different lives – a would-be writer, a girl from the dregs of society and a freed slave interconnect?

Yet, as we read, we understand that the three have more in common than one might think, as each does a delicate balancing act the thin line between respectable poverty and prostitution (Anne), needy failure and self-determination (Thomas) and, perhaps most strikingly, slavery and liberty (Tuah). None can afford to rest on his/her laurels. Every day is a battle to protect hard-won victories.

Like many other reviewers, I can only wish that this story had been longer and I will certainly look at the author’s other works.

The Alphabet of Heart’s Desire is about an incident in the early life of Thomas De Quincey, best known as the author of Confessions of an Opium Eater. The bare bones of fact are that De Quincey, as a young man, was given an allowance to use in his travels around the country, which he stopped getting when he fell out of touch with his family. Destitute, he was rescued by Anne, a prostitute. This novel tells their stories, along with that of Tuah, a Malay slave who is taken in by Archie, who sells used clothing.

I had a lot of trouble reading this novel and kept putting it aside to read other books. I almost decided to quit reading it when I realized I was 80% done, so I finished it. My problem was that I didn’t find any of the three major characters, De Quincey, Anne, and Tuah, particularly interesting. Here is a situation where the author tries to invoke interest in his characters by making bad things happen to them, trying to raise our sympathy from these unfortunate events rather than from the characters’ own personalities.

I also found this fictionalized interpretation of a short period in De Quincey’s life to be relatively pointless. All it serves is to wrap up Anne’s fate in a pretty bow. In reality, she disappeared into the London stews.

This novel is set, for the most part, in eighteenth century London and Brian Keaney’s use of historical detail is very well judged. Almost a character in its own right, Keaney present the capital as a tough squalid world where life is cheap, women are regarded as chattels and men wield all the power. Keaney doesn’t spare the reader; child exploitation is rife; prostitution is commonplace, alcohol flows freely, violence is endemic and laudanum is an easily available relief from the cruelty of everyday life. And yet, through the voices of his three central characters, Keaney explores convincingly the idea that faithful, selfless love is not just possible, even in the worst of circumstances, but at the centre of the ‘heart’s desire’.
With a nod to the writer Thomas de Quincey’s biographical details, Keaney creates a young man who is curious, naïve, vulnerable yet determined to live a fully creative life. His meeting with a young prostitute, Anne, allows him to look past social status and the accepted mores of the day and see a girl who is genuine in her care for him. However, this is not a ‘fairy tale’ relationship. Both habitual laudanum users, it is clear that there will be no happy ever after. Alongside this couple, we also follow the life of Tuah, a rescued slave who lives opposite the brothel in which Anne works. His outsider’s take on London adds another aspect to the presentation of the city and his relationship with the McKerras brothers is finely delineated over the course of the novel so that his fate in the final chapter is entirely plausible.
This is a very enjoyable historical novel. Not only does the author judge his use of social and cultural detail very well but he also creates the individual voices of his three narrators most convincingly, as well as all with whom they interact. Thought-provoking, shocking, moving and even uplifting at times, this is an immersive read. On finishing the story it’s difficult to wipe away the London grime, and that’s not a bad thing.
My thanks to NetGalley and Holland House Books for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I can’t say enough about this fantastic example of historical fiction! See my review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2368360392

Thank you Netgalley and Holland House for the ARC

Oh Joy! This is historical fiction how I like it!
There are three main characters: Anne, a survivor from London's East End who has a witty way with words and made me laugh out loud many times. Then we have Tuah, captured by the Dutch, keeping his stamina as he sails the seas as a slave, eventually making a life for himself in London. And last but not least there's Thomas, born into a well-off family somewhere in England's countryside, a curious intelligent boy with a private tutor. They each have their own chapters, keeping the reader in suspense on how such different characters are ever going to end up together. As we follow them from childhood into adults the three of them are close enough to touch several times. Their seperate stories are beautiful and entwined without them knowing, yet life keeps throwing them in different directions. The end is quite predictable but did not take away the pleasure.
This is a well crafted story full of indepth characters in a great setting. Superb writing.

Thanks to Holland House and NetGalley for my free ARC.

Meet Anna, from a dark and dirty world of poverty and depravity, who resurfaces as a child prostitute in 1802 London just in time to meet Thomas De Quincey.

Although this is a fictional work, most people are familiar with Thomas De Quincey’sThe Confessions of an Opium Eater first published in 1821. This type of historical fiction brings history to life by weaving a tale of pure speculation in such glorious colour soas to reveal and illuminate the social society of the nineteenth century.

This author has gasped air into De Quincey’s story and provided the reader with a window into the addiction, passion and pleasure of the Romantic era.

Three characters take turns to progress the tale in which their lives become increasingly entwined in the same landscape of hopes and love. We start with Thomas de Quincey in a state when a stranger arrives with a silver locket. When you read to the end, you will realise the significance of this.
So who are the three main characters? We have Anne who has a pretty rough time after her father dies. She eventually becomes a prostitute through circumstance and bad choice. She made me laugh with the various jobs her and her mother did to earn money though I was also sad for her since there were some experiences which happened to her which she did not deserve. I loved her dry sense of humour and the way she got through things.
Then there is Thomas of course, he craves a scholarly life which is denied to him over and over. He ends up in London, a gentleman with little money and eventually succumbs to the oblivion of opium but not before meeting Anne. They fall in love and have dreams of a place in the country until family intervenes. I was drawn to Thomas’ world of family wealth though it was hard for him since he was not allowed to follow his dreams outright.
Finally there is Tuah who comes from a completely different landscape. There are some graphic disturbing scenes which I found difficult when he is taken from his homeland. Sold as a slave, he sails to London where he is looked after well. In the end he is given the chance to make something of himself. He is an interesting one – at first I was given the impression that he is deeply religious but it is more something learnt for a reason.
Thoroughly recommended.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing when used in moderation. When it comes to literary fiction, however, hindsight can prove to be a very fickle thing.
The subject of my MA, Erast Fandorin (Boris Akunin’s creation) was created out of hindsight and literary kaleidoscope of recognizable characters, events and places. He, Erast, was wonderful, marvelous, interesting. He spoke the language of the times and he dressed accordingly. He contemplated inwardly and mediated silently.
Thomas, Anne and Adbul of The Alphabet all speak the same language, the language of the author. A street girl can not speak and think the same way as genteel young man or slave from unknown island. They can not all reminisce and contemplate in the same words, tone and thought structure.
A street girl can look for love, can ache for love and can even find it but there is not way she will be talking about it as if she is Jane Austen re-incarnate.
Personally, I found this of-putting. Also, the story itself feels too thought through and made up. It is as if somebody just tried to make ‘olden times’ out of what he or she thought would be appropriate. All the ingredients were there but the dish turned out badly.
The whole time I had to push myself to finish this book for the sake of NetGalley and my commitment to writing reviews. I found the whole story too much, too old, too predictable and too badly piled together. There is no ending. There is no point.
Two stars at the most.

I enjoyed the wit of the author's writing. While much of the book is hard to read due to the subject it is a wonderful historical fiction novel. Told from tbe perspective of three different people it gives you a look at London during troubling times.

An engrossing story of loss, struggle, love and sacrifice told from the point of view of 3 very different characters whose lives finally and inevitably converge. The plot moves a little slowly at first but the back stories of the characters are well written and enjoyable in themselves. When it finally gets going, I felt it was a little late in the story and too brief. I found the ending a little contrived and some scenes seemed gratuitously graphic. But on the whole it was very entertaining and the fact it was based around essayist Thomas De Quincy added an extra layer of interest and intrigue. If you enjoyed Laura Carlin's The Wicked Cometh you will definitely want to read this.

The Alphabet of Heart's Desire is a beautifully written historical fiction novel. I really enjoyed reading it.
The book is about poverty, human's cruelty to each other. It displays how the powerful people of society holds the power through abuse, violence, addiction, etc. I'm glad we had Anne to brighten up the mood a little with her humorous character.
The characters were well built and it was a character driven book. We had Anne, the child prostitute, Tuah who was enslaved in his youth, and the writer Thomas de Quincey. As we have really different characters, there was a good variety in tone of voice.
I really want to warn the readers about the graphic violence in this book. It's not for everyone. For sure, it felt quite uncomfortable from time to time for me.
If you're ready for the challenge, it's a very well written book.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for granting an ARC of this book.

This is a beautiful piece of historical fiction that revolves around three characters, Tuah, Annie and Thomas de Quincey. Brian Keaney has managed to paint such a vivid and well researched picture of erstwhile London. All in all, well worth a read !

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me access to this prior to publication.
In this delightful historical fiction, we are given some thoughts as to what might have happened to Thomas de Quincey in the times explored in his autobiography.
For those who know anything of this writer, it will fascinate you. There are, it seems, some events rooted in fact and in others the author imagines what might have been. For those who know nothing of de Quincey, it is a thoroughly entertaining read exploring a point in time.
Having three characters on which we focus kept me entertained. It was good to see events from the view of our young girl forced into prostitution, and through the eyes of Tuah, a man captured by Dutch traders and sold into slavery. Perhaps a little glossy in terms of the positive sin on some events, but a good starting point to learn a little more of this time.

I started this book being aware who Thomas de Quincey was and the infamy around Confessions of an English Opium Eater so i was naturally drawn to this novel. I've read very few historical fiction set in this period and i liked how Keaney brought that alive in this book. The way the three main character were presented was interesting as they were present in each other lives when they needed to be and had a fleeting connection with the other one they were not as close. I liked how Anne's arc went and wanted to see her in her new environment at the end of the novel. She was my favourite character throughout as she seemed the most, whilst Thomas seemed an eternal man-child who would never grow up and that was the point of the way he was written but at times i was over his "woe is me! attitude.

Brian Keaney's The Alphabet of Heart's Desire takes readers on a journey to London in the Victorian era. It tells three separate, but intertwined, coming of age stories. Thomas De Quincey, a middle class, well-educated chap who longs to attend Oxford and become a poet. Thomas's uncle and mother cast him out of the family home, and he finds himself downtrodden in the heart of London. Tuah, a "savage" from an unnamed island, enslaved by the Dutch and sold at auction in Cape Town to an English shipping captain. The captain takes Tuah under his wing, teaches him, and eventually brings him to live in London. Anne, a woman on the brink of adolescence who flees an abusive stepfather and finds herself having to resort to prostitution to survive.

Keaney is a talented storyteller whose story will appeal to historical fictionistas. The book is based on the life of Thomas De Quincey, the author most notably known for his work, "Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. The chapters rotating between the perspectives of each narrator. The intersection of the characters only happens in the last quarter of the book. Tuah's story, which was my favorite, doesn't get fully woven in until the final chapters. I hadn't heard of De Quincey before reading the book. Surprisingly, I found his sections the least interesting of the three.

Thank you to NetGalley and Holland House for an ARC of The Alphabet of Heart's Desire in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing historical fiction with strong characters and a story-line that will make you laugh, cringe and gasp as the lives of the very different characters weave together in a surprising tale of a slave, a doxy and an upper class opium addict. The colorful descriptions bring to life a time in Victorian London and kept me engrossed until the very end. A great read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thomas de Quincy is living a comfortable, middle class existence when we meet him in the early 1800's, and eventually he will go on to become a writer of some renown. However, much will take place on his life's journey before he's lauded as one of the best writers of his day.

After a disagreement with his family, Thomas finds himself destitute on the streets of London. He's discovered by Anne,( a young prostitute ) malnourished and close to collapse. Anne takes pity on him and takes him back to her lodgings where she feeds and tends to him until he slowly begins to regain his strength. Though these two are from very different backgrounds, they find the love and affection that so far has evaded them.

Tuah is a victim of the slave trade, taken from his island by Dutch traders, he is bought by the Captain of an English ship. The Captain treats him fairly and begins the slow process of educating Tuah, and after some years sailing the seas, they eventually return to the Captain's London home.

How the lives of a future writer from a middle class background, a prostitute, and a freed slave come together, it would be difficult to imagine, but the author has managed to do this beautifully, seamlessly weaving the threads of their lives together in a most pleasing way. From the drawing rooms of the wealthy middle classes, to the brothels and opium dens in the filthy London slums, all of life is here!

1800's London is brought perfectly to life, the smells, sights and sounds jump out from the pages. This was a time of extreme poverty for the majority of people, and it wasn't difficult to see how the young Anne turned to the world's oldest profession just to put a little food on the table. For Thomas, used to the better things in life, it appeared to be something of a comedown to be living in the slums of London, but he's clearly never been happier, and seems to relate to these people more than he ever did amongst his middle class acquaintances. For Tuah, he doesn't think London will ever be his real home, but he's well looked after, and content, even though others think he's beneath them, preferring to ignore his existence.

This was a wonderful tale that allowed us to walk the streets of early 19th century London, and to see first hand the poverty and it's associated problems including opium addiction, which was a way for the poor to forget their miserable existence for a short time, but of course the addiction which overpowered them, presented it's own immense problems.

Very well written with strong characters and a wonderful storyline.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Holland House for my ARC. I have given an honest review in exchange*

Tuah was captured and sold into slavery in Cape Town however his master brought him back to London. Anne was born into poverty and became a whore after the death of her father. Thomas was born into the gentility but relations with his family were difficult and he found himself on the streets. In real life Thomas de Quincy was found on the streets of London by a prostitute called Anne and nursed back to health before being reclaimed by his family. It was at this point he became addicted to laudanum as depicted in his autobiography but he never stopped looking for Anne and the 'Malay' also makes an appearance in the story.

Here accomplished author Keaney has taken a few facts and woven a dazzling piece of historical fiction. Set mainly in the dirty streets of early Victorian London, the lives of three lost people come together and then separate again. None of the characters is allowed to dominate and, even though de Quincy is a known element, the stories are powerful and believable.

This was a historical fiction novel that contained three main characters (I later found out that Thomas and Anne were based on real people). Their three braided stories wove together and apart throughout the novel, and their lives undulated with highs and lows. The author does a great job of evoking a time and place, but I felt less connected to the characters than I did to the setting.

I appreciate the copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Thomas Penson de Quincey's Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1822) is one of the first literary works written from the point of view of an addict and, an English addict at that. Samuel Taylor Coleridge also began using opium in 1791, after suffering from both jaundice and rheumatic fever and eventually consumed 80 – 100 drops of laudanum, opium prepared in an alcoholic solution, daily. His famed poem, Kubla Khan, is about the opium experience.
I found (online) the following recipe for laudanum:
Laudanum.-Best Turkey opium, 1 oz.; slice, and pour upon it boiling water, 1 gill (1/4 pint), and work it in a bowl or mortar until it is dissolved; then pour it into the bottle, and with alcohol of 76 per cent. proof, 1/2 pt., rinse the dish, adding the alcohol to the preparation, shaking well, and in 24 hours it will be ready for use. Dose -- Form 10 to 30 drops for adults, according to the strength of the patient, or severity of the pain.

By the middle of the 19th century, morphine was invented purposefully to offset/reduce addiction to opium. In 1874 chemists created heroin, with its potency twice that of morphine. Still opium imports (into the US) peaked in 1890. In 1937, methadone was first synthesized at Germany’s IG Farben company. Meanwhile, in 2017 the illegal opium trade continues, and the opioid crisis deepens.
But, I digress. Alphabet of Heart’s Desire takes the bare outline of what is known about De Quincey’s biography, including a brief encounter with a teenage prostitute, Anne, and tells the story of Anne, Thomas and a third character, Tuah, a slave, then ex-slave in late 18th century through 1802 London. The fourth character is opium, taken for most of the characters in the form of laudanum, and it is omnipresent throughout the novel. The novel is told in split narrative form – with each of the three named characters being given largely equal time, and with somewhat different voices. Tuah’s voice is the least successful, Anne’s the most, and Thomas, in comparison, can come across whiney and privileged, from time to time; nonetheless, his misery and sense of being trapped and limited by his family and its decisions about his schooling and living situation come across believably. The three characters don’t encounter one another until well into the novel. Hence, the experience for much of the novel is one of reading three books simultaneously. It works surprisingly well.
The first half was a 5-star read – the pacing was perfect, the characters well-drawn and London detailed in an absorbing, compelling manner. A 12-year old in a whorehouse. The desparation of a single mother unable to support herself. The Dutch slave trade and capture of Tuah at a young age. The ever present risk of street attacks and violence. The descent of a character, and decline of his health, into opium addiction, with nightly visits to an opium den. From the point where Anne and Thomas meet through the end of the book, it is a 3+ reading experience. The energy and suspense present earlier are greatly reduced, and Anne and Thomas spend a fair amount of time sharing laudanum and possible happy endings.
Ultimately, Keaney’s ending is realistic, reminding me of The Miniaturist, another literary historical fiction novel I read and liked more than many others. If you liked The Miniaturist, I suspect this one’s for you. It’s not for the faint-hearted, though, what with its rawness and commitment to truth-telling, at least with respect to the poor characters.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ecopy.