The Soul of Gold

Book excerpt: The true story of a young adventurer from Famagusta – Cyprus, who, after the capture of the city by the Ottoman Empire in 1571, began wandering the noble courtyards of Europe. With a borrowed name, gumption, courage, foresight, and a ring with a red tourmaline stone, he sweeps through the big European cities of the sixteenth century, disrupting the courtyards of the nobility, sharing hopes and promises claiming that he knows the way to reach the ‘soul of gold.’ That is to say, how to convert mercury into gold. With information drawn from various Venetian and German sources, the novel closely follows the path of the Cypriot charlatan alchemist, in tandem with other nobles, some being fiction. The heroes in the novel intersect with these nobles outlining the picture of post medieval Europe at a time.