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“Delicious…The essence of witty intelligence.
Readers will delight [in] every element in this Swedish weave, from the brutal
winter weather to the unfurling of a lady’s fan. The plot is an urgent one, and
the characters mysterious, appealing, and memorable…I felt a real kinship with
author Karen Engelmann.”
— Sena Jeter Naslund, New York Times bestselling author of Ahab’s Wife
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“If you like novels that work on many levels at
once, read this stunning tessellation of a book, where fortune is the flip side
of intrigue and where history is the flip side of chance.”
— Charlotte Rogan, New York Times bestselling author of The Lifeboat
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“A delicious page-turner that brings eighteenth-century
Stockholm to vivid life, complete with scandal, conspiracy, mystery, and a hint
of magic. Karen Engelmann’s spectacular debut drew me in…A captivating tale, beautifully
told.”
— Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author
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“A juicy page-turner…Engelmann’s intellectually
playful take on the mathematics of love and power proves irresistible.”
— O, The Oprah Magazine
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“Deliciously sly…As we fan through the pages, we recognize the usual narrative codes,
but we can’t crack them any faster than Larsson can solve the puzzle of
his destiny. The result is an irresistible cipher between two covers—an atmospheric tale of many rogues and a few innocents gambling on
politics and romance in the cold, cruel north.”
— New York Times Book Review
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“A dizzying story of political intrigue and forbidden romance, all played
out in an array of lost arts, from the reading of cards to the language
of ladies’ fans to the healing power of plants. Each has its own
delicious vocabulary and in Engelmann’s debut, each word is savored.”
— Boston Globe
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“This is a swirling, swooping fanfare of a tale,
with an immense cast and an exhilaratingly sustained finale.”
— Guardian (London)
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“Karen Engelmann’s The Stockholm Octavo is
a bonbon box filled with treats designed to appeal to lovers of literary
historical thrillers.”
— Salon
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“The fascination of the cards' unfolding gives way to even greater narrative magic, when Emil must wield all his intelligence and resources to identify the actual persons who embody the eight figures of his Octavo. With flawless instinct, Engelmann conflates mystery and romance.”
— BookPage
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“Neatly mixing revolutionary politics with the
erotic tension and cutthroat rivalry of the female conspirators…Engelmann has
crafted a magnificent, suspenseful story set against the vibrant society of
Sweden’s zenith, with a cast of colorful characters balanced at a crux of
history.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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“Cartomancy
is divination using regular playing cards in a game called the Octavo.
This and the language and geometry of fans, as well as several other
arcane practices, form the intriguing premise of Karen Englemann’s
engrossing debut novel. Mrs. Sparrow, mistress of a gaming establishment
in late-eighteenth-century Sweden, predicts a golden future for minor
customs official Emil Larsson. Simon Vance does everything right as Emil
meets the human embodiments of the eight cards that are destined to
assist him. With characters as diverse as King Gustav, a French
fan maker, and the scheming Uzanne, Vance never misses a step. His
descriptions of several luscious young women, and of one particular fan
thought to contain magical powers, are a marvel of nuance and subtlety. A
delicious pairing of narrator and material.”
— AudioFile
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“Fantastic…This rollicking adventure story reads
at times like a fairy tale, with good guys and bad guys and obstacles to be
recognized and overcome. It’s all quite fun. As either historical novel or
adventure story, this clever first novel should appeal to a broad range of
readers.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
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“Mysterious, suspenseful, and, at times,
action packed.”
— Booklist (starred review)
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“Elegant and multifaceted, Engelmann’s debut
explores love and connection in late–eighteenth-century Sweden and delivers an unusual,
richly imagined read…The setup is wonderfully engrossingthis is stylish work by
an author of real promise.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
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“The Stockholm Octavo, Karen Engelmann’s
impressive debut, is as marvelously and intricately constructed as the
mysterious form of divination it’s named for. A true pleasure from beginning to
satisfying end.”
— Shelf Awareness