ALDERMANNS ARVINGE – ALDERMANN’S LEGACY

By Gabriella Håkansson

London, 1799. A new era is approaching. Coal, steam and gas will soon pave the way for modern society, but right now the metropolis is shrouded in gloomy darkness. A boy is born in a neoclassical house on Harley Street known as the Temple, and is christened William Augustus Obediah Aldermann. His mother, barely sixteen years old, dies of complications soon after giving birth. The child’s father, Gideon Aldermann, an eccentric collector and antiquarian, is master of the fading Society of Dilettanti and has dedicated a lifetime to drawing up plans for his son – and for the future of the Dilettanti.

When his father dies, the upbringing and guardianship of the four-year-old boy is entrusted to old friends: Richard Payne Knight and the Baron d´Hancarville. They belong to the innermost circle of the Dilettanti and were once both passionate radicals. But where do they stand now? Times have changed and obscure societies are going out of fashion. A more pressing question is what did old Aldermann intend with his infamous will. What were his real plans for his son – and where is the secret room where those plans are kept?

Aldermann’s Legacy is an epic historical adventure novel set during one of Europe’s most turbulent eras. Parts of the tale and many of the characters are based in reality, but the novel as a wholeis mostly fiction. To step into the book’s own universe is to leave our age behind and enter a whole new world, while the big questions remain the same. What do you believe in during times of change? How do you relate to the ideals of earlier generations? And above all: how do you find your own way?