Natasha Pulley | THE BEDLAM STACKS

'A sheer fantastical delight. Exploding "whitewood" trees, lamps made of glowing pollen, moving statues and rock formations of pure glass ... Pulley writes elegantly and plots like a pro' The Times Deep 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. By 1859 the hunt for a reliable source of quinine is critical and the India Office searches out its last qualified expeditionary, Merrick Tremayne. Against his own better judgement, Merrick finds himself dispatched to Bedlam under orders to bring back cinchona cuttings. As he travels into hostile territory, Merrick meets Raphael, a priest around whom the villagers spin impossible stories, and through him Merrick finally discovers a legacy that will prove more dangerous and valuable than the India Office could ever have imagined.