The Baroque Cycle (novel)
The Baroque Cycle is a series of books written by Neal Stephenson and published in 2003 and 2004. The cycle appears in three volumes:
The story follows the adventures of a small cast of characters who find themselves amidst the central events of late 17th and early 18thcenturies European politics. The author claims the book is science fiction, due to its style rather than its content.
The main characters are Daniel Waterhouse, an English scientist and political activist, Eliza, a British girl abducted into slavery, and later freed, who becomes a spy and a financier, and Jack Shaftoe, an adventurer/criminal of high intelligence but questionable sanity. There is also Enoch Root, a mysterious personage who flickers about Europe, who never ages, and may have certain other preternatural qualities.
Quicksilver is set mainly in the years between the Restoration of the Stuart monarchy in England and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
The Confusion follows Quicksilver without interruption.
The System of the World is set about 25 years after the events of The Confusion.
Main characters
Other characters
Louis Anglesey - Earl of Upnor.
Thomas More Anglesey - Cavalier, Duke of Gunfleet.
Duc d'Arcachon - French admiral who dabbles in slavery.
Etienne d'Arcachon - Son of the duke, most polite man in France.
Gomer Bolstrood - Dissident agitator.
Clarke - Alchemist, boards young Isaac Newton.
Charles Comstock - Son of John Comstock.
John Comstock - Earl of Epsom and Lord Chancellor.
Roger Comstock
Dappa - Nigerian sailor aboard
Minerva.
Moseh de la Cruz - galley slave, Spanish Jew.
Vrej Esphanian - galley slave
Mr. Foot - Ertswhile bar owner from Dunkirk.
Èdouard de Gex - Jesuit fanatic
Gabriel Goto - galley slave, Jesuit priest from Japan.
Lothar von Hacklheber - German banker obsessed with alchemy
Thomas Ham - Goldsmith half-brother of Daniel Waterhouse.
Otto van Hoek - Captain of the
Minerva.
Jeronimo - galley slave, a vile but high-born Spaniard.
Nyazi - galley slave, camel-trader of the Upper Nile.
Bob Shaftoe - brother of Jack Shaftoe
Danny Shaftoe - son of Jack Shaftoe
Jimmy Shaftoe - son of Jack Shaftoe
Sluys - Dutch merchant and traitor.
Drake Waterhouse - Puritan father of Daniel Waterhouse.
Faith Waterhouse - Wife of Daniel Waterhouse.
Godfrey Waterhouse - Son of Daniel Waterhouse.
Mayflower Waterhouse - Half-sister of Daniel Waterhouse, wife of Thomas Ham.
Raleigh Waterhouse - Brother of Daniel Waterhouse.
Sterling Waterhouse - Brother of Daniel Waterhouse.
Yevgeny the Raskolnik - Russian whaler.
Historical figures that appear as characters in the novel
