Thomas Reed has spent twenty years exploring, teaching, and writing about the life and times of Robert Louis Stevenson. His non-fiction book, The Transforming Draught: Jekyll and Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the Victorian Alcohol Debate (McFarland, 2006), examines the outsized role of Drink in Stevenson’s career and culture. In the course of his research, Reed stumbled across a profound historical irony rooted in the social impact of Stevenson’s famous novel. Only by stepping into the realm of fiction could he explore the strange turnings of the author’s fate in a way they positively cried out for. Thomas Reed studied at Yale, the University of Virginia, and Oxford, and spent three decades teaching Victorian and medieval literature at Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He recently moved to Sarasota, Florida, to take up writing full time, where he lives with his wife Dorothy and writes each day at his grandfather’s antique
An addictive read, Seeking Hyde pulls us into the life and work of
Robert Louis Stevenson and his writing process, entertaining
friendships, fiery marriage, and complex, brilliant mind. A perfect
novel for anyone with a passion for books and love of literary
thrillers, Seeking Hyde entertains as it unmasks the man behind
some of the greatest works of British literature. -- Virginia Pye,
author of Dreams of the Red Phoenix & River of Dust
Seeking Hyde is a stunning debut, rich beyond measure in wit and
wisdom, truth and tenderness. Every passage is a gem, every chapter
a page-turner. -- Robert Olmstead, author of Savage Country
One part literary portrait, and one part thriller, Thomas Reed's
debut novel deftly reconstructs the very origins of Robert Louis
Stevenson's singular imagination, his memories and his dreams, his
demons and his longings. You don't need to be a Stevenson
aficionado to become totally absorbed by the encounters Reed
creates between the famous author of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and a
trio of intimate interlocutors: the sexologist, John Addington
Symonds, the novelist, Henry James, and Stevenson's outspoken and
stalwart soul-mate, wife, and nurse, the American-born, Fanny. Like
the book by Stevenson that inspires it, Reed's novel dares to
entertain 'the abysmal deeps of personality' and the 'ambiguities
of life itself.' -- Mary Cappello, author of "Life Breaks In: A
Mood Almanack"
An author in his prime trying to write another classic, the
liveliest of 1880s marriages, bar room brawls, sharp words,
sleuthing among friends and to top it all off: Jack the Ripper.
What Thomas Reed has gone and done with Robert Louis Stevenson-real
and imagined-is a romping good read. -- Mary Murphy, New York Times
Best-Selling author of "Scout Atticus & Boo: A celebration of "To
Kill a Mockingbird" "
Seeking Hydeis a riveting convergence of fact and fiction. Reed
reveals a compelling and complex Robert Louis Stevensonâthe writer
he was, the man he wanted to be, and the detective he might have
been. -- Susan Perabo, author of "The Fall of Lisa Bellow"
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