(submission to be reviewed by Echo...)
THEME:
Finding out what's important in life.
PLOT:
Young Jack loses his apprenticeship to a blacksmith. Wandering dejectedly through the streets of London he finds a 'philosopher's egg', the container used by alchemists to create gold. He journeys to find the owner, and when he meets the alchemist, becomes his apprentice. The alchemist wastes no time in sending him out again in search of the 'prima materia' (the material uniquely special to Jack that will become the basis for his future transmuting of base metals into gold) with the one clue..."It is found in dark places."
Thus Jack begins his search. Along the way many things happen to him, the most notable being that after returning a prize horse to the Duke of York, he gains the Duke's daughter's hand in marriage, and much wealth. He falls in love but is rejected and flees from his mansion. On his way he is robbed by thieves who replace the money in his pockets with stones....He returns to the alchemist with bitter cynicism as to the reasons why he was sent as the guest, and discovers that the stones left by the robbers had freed him from the stagnant wealth trapping him in his on 'prima materia'.
After some study with the alchemist, he is sent to the alchemical workshop and begins the process of alchemy. This is the most important part of the book, where Jack realises the need to free himself from his feelings of greed and longing...that all he needs is within himself.
I feel the turning point in this book is when after he finishes the process he chooses not to open the philosopher's egg to see if he's succeeded in transmuting gold. Instead, he casts it into the mines.
The words, "What is worth more, gold in the hand or gold in the spirit?", help to explain this.
OVERALL IMPRESSION:
A lovely novel with a good message behind it, and clever alchemical metaphors throughout.
Echo McNally, 2C
Carndonagh CS
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