Against the damp shadows of 19th-century London, Clara Whitmore works as a discreet but capable clerk at the British Museum. One evening, an anonymous donation arrives: a codex written in unfamiliar symbols and languages that resist conventional interpretation.

As Clara studies the manuscript, her work draws her into London’s intellectual underground, where free-thinkers, alternative historians, and esoteric scholars gather in private salons—among them the formidable Helena Blavatsky. What begins as careful research soon suggests a challenge to accepted history itself, and to institutions invested in keeping certain ideas contained.

The Codex Arcanum 1888 is the opening novel of The Alchemical Chronicles, a richly researched Victorian historical mystery about knowledge, reputation, and the cost of uncovering ideas that refuse to remain private.