Abacus Books

6 total works

Great Fire of London

by Peter Ackroyd

Published 28 January 1982

Chatterton

by Peter Ackroyd

Published 7 September 1987

What is the mystery of Thomas Chatterton? A young poet and elderly female novelist try to decode the clues found within an eighteenth-century manuscript, only to discover that their investigation is disclosing other secrets for which there is no solution. But they are not alone in their quest: the mystery is being revived in an earlier age, as in the mid-nineteenth century, Henry Wallis paints his celebrated portrait of Chatterton lying dead in an attic room. And Chatterton himself, the young man who was described as the originator and inspiration of the Romantic movement, steps forward with his own story of the events that happened in August 1770.

Hawksmoor

by Peter Ackroyd

Published 23 September 1985

'There is no Light without Darknesse
and no Substance without Shaddowe'

So proclaims Nicholas Dyer, assistant to Sir Christopher Wren and the man with a commission to build seven London churches to stand as beacons of the enlightenment. But Dyer plans to conceal a dark secret at the heart of each church - to create a forbidding architecture that will survive for eternity. Two hundred and fifty years later, London detective Nicholas Hawksmoor is investigating a series of gruesome murders on the sites of certain eighteenth-century churches - crimes that make no sense to the modern mind . . .

'Chillingly brilliant . . . sinister and stunningly well executed' Independent on Sunday

Peter Ackroyd was born in London in 1949. A novelist, biographer and historian, he has been the literary editor of The Spectator and chief book reviewer for the The Times, as well as writing several highly acclaimed books including a biography of Dickens and London: The Biography. He lives in London.

First Light

by Peter Ackroyd

Published 17 April 1989

First Light begins with an ominous coincidence: the reappearance of the ancient night sky during the excavation of an astronomically aligned Neolithic grave in Dorset. A group of eccentrics archaeologists, astronomers, local rustics, a civil servant, and a stand-up comic converge on the site, disturbing the quiet seclusion of Pilgrin Valley. Someone (or something) is trying to sabotage the best efforts of the excavators, headed by Mark Clare, to unearth the dormant secrets of the burial ground. Meanwhile, at the nearby observatory, astronomer Damien Fall, his telescope focused on the red star Aldebaran, is unnerved by the deeper significance he imputes to the celestial sophistication of the region's ancient inhabitants. And Joey Hanover, a retired music hall and TV entertainer searching for his own past, has learned secrets from Farmer Mint and his son, Boy, the weirdly cryptic guardians of their ancestral home in the valley. All is masterfully woven into an immensely engaging and entertaining novel, a suspenseful reflection on life, nature, and the cosmos, and above all an illuminating and enchanting story.

The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde

by Peter Ackroyd

Published April 1983

Oscar Wilde never wrote a last testament during his isolation in Paris. This book takes the known facts about Oscar Wilde and converts them into a fictional portrait of the artist and memoir of a life of great contrast - a career which ended with a catastrophic fall from public favour.

T.S.Eliot

by Peter Ackroyd

Published 24 September 1984

'THIS BRILLIANT ACCOUNT OF ELIOT'S LIFE TURNS A WEALTH OF DETAILED RESEARCH INTO A FLUENT NARRATIVE THAT IS CONSISTENTLY ENGROSSING AND CONTAINS INSIGHTS INTO EVERY ASPECT OF THE MAN'S LITERARY OUTPUT' - IAN HISLOP, BOOKS & BOOKMEN 17/8/87--7000X107PX$5.95(10000X86P). B FORMAT.400PP+32PP INSET.TEXT ON TAMBELLE.