Quicksilver

Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, a fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, who pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of mighty men and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight. It is the chronicle of Jack Shaftoe--street urchin turned swashbuckling adventurer and legendary king of the Vagabonds--risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox. And it is Eliza's tale: rescued from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent Europe through the newborn power of finance.