A surreal adventure novel set in 18th-century Europe from debut author Rogers.

Dr. Jackson “Jack” Predinger is a Jewish physician who lives in Sweden during the time of Frederick the Great. Jack not only has an intimate knowledge of several religious texts, he also understands advanced, anachronistic concepts of psychology. High society women flock to his practice to see what aid he can provide. One such person is a beautiful woman named Loretta Vandermeer, distraught following the death of her husband. If only there were a way to contact him. Jack believes this may be possible through a Russian medium, who belongs to a particularly severe, self-mutilating religious sect (they remove their genitals as a means for purification) known as the Skoptsy. But if Loretta and Jack want to benefit from this Skoptsy’s abilities, they’ll need to venture into the unknown. A journey is organized even as “travel in those days was irregular. Yet regular enough.” Soon the duo encounters an unsavory figure named Sammy, who is, in short, evil. Sammy, who joins them on their journey, does nothing to improve their prospects. Things get stranger and stranger as the characters travel on. Aspects of a Western develop when Sammy is pursued by a posse, and Dr. Jack makes comments like “You know they hang horse thieves, don’t you, Loretta!” At just over 100 pages, the story moves quickly with aspects that are historical (the Skoptsy were a real sect) and bizarre (a castle resembling something from a Bosch painting). It all amounts to a truly wild narrative that is occasionally bogged down by backstory. For instance, that Sammy was the youngest of three children doesn’t add much to the fact that he will later ride a horse with a “large decaying man” behind him. The more pressing issue is where the horse ride is ultimately going to end, something readers will want to see for themselves.

A dark, invitingly whimsical tale that grows more mysterious as the pages go by.