The Fiona Letters

By Ralph Bowden

In this historical re-imagination, Adam, an American graduate student, is at Cambridge University in 1967 researching the scientific career of Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, the 19th century British scientist. Kelvin, a celebrity in his time, was the embodiment of Victorian virtue. But Adam stumbles on a letter that implies an illicit affair between him and an unknown Irish woman, Fiona. Adam's wife, who is along on the dissertation fellowship, insists Adam follow up on the letter. Through archive collections in Glasgow and Belfast, Adam begins to reconstruct the wild and rebellious Fiona. His search ultimately leads him to another Fiona, a Belfast Barrister who Adam suspects is Kelvin's great granddaughter. Together, they find and steal the full correspondence that proves it, and reveals that the original Fiona was not only headstrong, but brilliant, a scientific collaborator as well as a lover, providing the key insights to some of Kelvin's early discoveries. The new Fiona seduces Adam, as the original had seduced Kelvin. Meanwhile Adam suspects his unstable wife of having an affair back in Cambridge with another Kelvin researcher.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 150618510X
• ISBN13: 9781506185101
• Release Date: January 2015
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.6" x 6.0"