Title: The Quickening Maze
Author: Adam Foulds
First published May 7, 2009
261 pages, Hardcover
Rating: 3.13
Overview
The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds is a gripping historical novel based on true events that took place in Epping Forest, London in the mid-19th century. The story follows the life of John Clare, a renowned nature poet who is admitted to High Beach Private Asylum due to his struggles with alcohol, depression, and critical neglect.
The asylum, run on reformist principles, becomes a turning point in Clare’s life as he encounters the peculiar and charismatic Dr. Matthew Allen and the young poet Alfred Tennyson, who moves nearby. Foulds’ lyrical prose takes readers on a journey through Clare’s descent into madness, filled with hallucinations and a loss of identity.
The novel is historically accurate but creatively imagined, and the characters of High Beach, including the doctor, his daughter who is in love with Tennyson, and the brutish staff, are brought vividly to life. Amid the closed walls of the asylum, Clare yearns for the freedom of nature, where he finds solace in the birds, animals, and gypsies living in the forest.
Foulds’ exquisite writing style is rapturous yet precise, and the novel is rich in character and detail. The Quickening Maze is a remarkable and deeply affecting book that offers readers a visionary novel containing a world.
About the Author
Adam Foulds is a British novelist and poet who was born in 1974. He attended Bancroft’s School and then studied English at St Catherine’s College, Oxford under Craig Raine.
He later graduated from the University of East Anglia with an MA in creative writing in 2001. Foulds published his novel, The Truth About These Strange Times, in 2007, which won a Betty Trask Award.
The novel is set in the present day and explores the World Memory Championships. This earned him the title of Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year.
In the same article, it was revealed that Foulds had previously worked as a fork-lift truck driver.
In 2008, Foulds published The Broken Word, a substantial narrative poem that was described by the critic Peter Kemp as a “verse novella.” It’s a fictional account of events during the Mau Mau Uprising. David Wheatley of The Guardian praised the work as a moving and pitiless depiction of the world, saying it captures the terrible things we do to defend our place in it.
The book was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, and it won the poetry prize in the Costa Book Awards. Foulds was once again shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 2009, and he won a Somerset Maugham Award.
Foulds’ novel, The Quickening Maze, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2009. Novelist Julian Barnes recommended the work, saying it was the “real thing” and that it offered a rich understanding of the mad, the sane, and everything in between.
Foulds was also published on the Guardian Website’s “Over by Over” (OBO) coverage of day five of the Third Test of the South Africa v England series at Newlands, Cape Town, on January 7, 2010. In his published email, Foulds corrected an OBO writer who had quoted lines by Donne in reference to Ian Ronald Bell in verse form, stating that the Donne quote was, in fact, from a prose meditation and that the line breaks shouldn’t be there.
Editoral Review
In The Quickening Maze, Adam Foulds tells a haunting story of madness, nature, and the fickleness of fame. Published on May 7, 2009, the novel is a gripping work of historical fiction that blends fact and imagination to create a vivid picture of 19th-century England.
Foulds is a master storyteller, and he brings his considerable talent to bear in this novel. From the opening pages, he conjures a sense of unease that builds in intensity until it reaches a fever pitch.
His writing style is lush and evocative, using language to create a sense of place and atmosphere that immerses the reader in the world of the novel. The prose is reminiscent of the work of other great English writers of the 19th century, such as Thomas Hardy and Charles Dickens.
The Quickening Maze is centered around the lives of three men: John Clare, Alfred Tennyson, and Dr. Matthew Allen. Clare, a poet, has been committed to an asylum after suffering a breakdown, and Tennyson is a young writer who wants to achieve fame like his friend Arthur Hallam, who has just died.
Allen is the superintendent of the asylum and is struggling to keep it afloat amid financial troubles. As the novel progresses, the lives of these three men become increasingly intertwined.
Foulds skillfully weaves together their stories, creating a complex tapestry of ambition, desire, and despair. The characters are richly drawn, and the reader comes to care deeply about their fates.
The setting of The Quickening Maze is also an important element of the novel. Foulds vividly describes the natural world that surrounds the asylum, using it as a mirror for the inner turmoil of the characters.
The woods and fields are both beautiful and menacing, filled with secrets and mysteries that are slowly uncovered over the course of the story. One of the novel’s most significant themes is the relationship between madness and creativity.
Both Clare and Tennyson are struggling with the pressure to be creative and to achieve success, and their mental states are deeply affected by this. Foulds explores the idea that madness can be a source of inspiration, but that it can also be a curse that destroys those who suffer from it.
Overall, The Quickening Maze is a stunning literary achievement. Foulds crafts a rich and layered story that explores some of the most enduring themes in literature.
His prose is exquisite, his characters are unforgettable, and his vision of 19th-century England is both vivid and compelling. This novel is a must-read for anyone who loves historical fiction or great literature.
That being said, The Quickening Maze is not without its flaws. The pacing of the novel can be slow at times, and some readers may find it difficult to engage with the story in the early chapters.
Additionally, while Foulds’ prose is beautiful, it can be dense and difficult to follow in places. Despite these minor quibbles, The Quickening Maze is a masterpiece of historical fiction.
Foulds has created a work that is both timeless and timely, exploring themes that are just as relevant today as they were in the 19th century. This novel is highly recommended for anyone who loves great literature and wants to be transported to another time and place.
On a scale of 1 to 10, it receives a solid 9.5.
