The Baroque Cycle

10 primary works

Quicksilver

by Neal Stephenson

Published 23 September 2003

As extraordinary an achievement as Cryptonomicon, Neal Stephenson's new novel is set in the 17th century, in another world of secrets, codes and conflict. Having challenged Robert Harris in his previous book, Stephenson now sets his sights on Patrick O'Brien...Neal Stephenson follows his international bestseller, the WWII thriller Cryptonomicon, with a novel set in the 16th and 17th centuries, as he tells the stories of Daniel Waterhouse and Enoch Root, the ancestors of his central characters in the previous book, following them from their childhoods in London, to education at Cambridge amidst the political and religious fervour and tensions of the Reformation, through the English Civil War, and travels as far as afield as Poland and the American colonies. With a cast of characters that includes Newton, Leibniz, Christopher Wren, Charles II, Cromwell and the young Benjamin Franklin, Stephenson again shows his extraordinary ability to get inside a place and time; as he did for the futures of his science fiction (Snowcrash, The Diamond Age) and for WWII (Cryptonomicon), here he does for the England of the Civil War and the Europe of the Wars of Religion and the Scientific Revolution.
Quicksilver is yet another tour-de-force from a writer who is simply unique.

Quicksilver Ltd

by Neal Stephenson

Published 1 June 2004

The Confusion

by Neal Stephenson

Published 1 April 2004

Thrown back into a web of international intrigue, Eliza must contend with all manner of characters, including buccaneers, poisoners, Jesuits, financial manipulators, and ever the stray cryptographer or two.-In this hugely ambitious, profoundly compelling adventure, Neal Stephenson brings to life a cast of unforgettable characters in a time of breathtaking genius and discovery - men and women whose exploits defined an age known as the Baroque.

King of the Vagabonds

by Neal Stephenson

Published 28 February 2006

Kings of the Vagabonds

by Neal Stephenson

Published 13 September 2010

Kings of Vagabonds

by Neal Stephenson

Published 13 September 2010

System of the World

by Neal Stephenson

Published 21 September 2004

Neal Stephenson follows his highly-praised historical novels, Quicksilver and The Confusion, with the extraordinary third and final volume of the Baroque Cycle.

The year is 1714. Daniel Waterhouse has returned to England, where he joins forces with his friend Isaac Newton to hunt down a shadowy group attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers with 'Infernal Devices' - time bombs. As Daniel and Newton conspire, an increasingly vicious struggle is waged for England's Crown: who will take control when the ailing queen dies?

Tories and Whigs clash as one faction jockeys to replace Queen Anne with 'The Pretender' James Stuart, and the other promotes the Hanoverian dynasty of Princess Caroline. Meanwhile, a long-simmering dispute between Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz comes to a head, with potentially cataclysmic consequences.

Wildly inventive, brilliantly conceived, The System of the World is the final volume in Neal Stephenson's hugely ambitious and compelling saga. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters in a time of genius, discovery and change, the Baroque Cycle is a magnificent and unique achievement.

Odalisque

by Neal Stephenson

Published 28 March 2006

Solomon's Gold

by Neal Stephenson

Published 1 October 2006

Currency

by Neal Stephenson

Published 31 October 2006