{"product_id":"buy-in-the-garden-of-iden-the-company-1-kage-baker-conf20260209034","title":"In the Garden of Iden (The Company, #1) (Kage Baker)","description":"\u003ch1\u003eIn the Garden of Iden (The Company, #1)\u003c\/h1\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Author: Kage Baker \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Series: The Company \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Volume: 1 \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e About Book \u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Publisher: Tor Books \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e GoodReads Rating: 3.8 \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e Condition \u0026amp; Size \u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Size: Format B (12.9 x 19.8 \/ 13.2 x 20.3 cm) \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e Book Type: Paperback \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e Condition: Good \u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e Summary\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003e\nIn 16th-century Spain, everybody expects the Spanish Inquisition, as they have a well-known tendency to cart people off to their dungeons on trumped-up charges. What 5-year-old Mendoza, on the brink of being tortured as a Jew, is totally unprepared for is to be rescued by the Company--the ultimate bureaucracy of the 24th century--and made immortal. In return, all she has to do is travel through time on a series of assignments for the Company and collect endangered botanical specimens. The wisecracking, mildly misanthropic Mendoza wants nothing to do with historical humans, but her first assignment is to travel to England in 1553--uncomfortably close to those damn Inquisitors--with Joseph and Nefer, two other Company operatives. Their intent is to gather herb samples from the garden of Sir Walter Iden, a foolish though generous country squire. (Kage Baker knows her Shakespeare: Sir Walter is the descendant of Alexander Iden, loyal subject of Henry IV, who slew the hungry rebel Jack Cade in that very garden in Kent.)\n\n\nThe cyborg trio poses as Doctor Ruy Lopez, his daughter Rosa (the irrepressible Mendoza, now grown), and her duenna, Do��a Marguerita; Sir Walter's hospitality and discretion are bought for the promise of restored youth. (There are hilarious moments that call to mind the Coneheads, who claimed to be from France when caught doing anything peculiar.) Sir Walter's secretary, Nicholas Harpole, is immediately suspicious of and hostile towards the stra\"Spanish\" visitors, which prompts Mendoza to fall in love with him. Nicholas has his own badly kept secret: he's proudly Protestant at a time when Queen Mary and Philip of Spain are on a Catholicizing rampage. Mendoza knows Nicholas is probably doomed, and that as a Company operative she cannot meddle with his fate, but love makes people do desperate things. Baker surpasses even Connie Willis in humor and precision of period detail in this fresh, ingenious first novel.--Barrie Trinkle \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Baker, Kage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42661583978573,"sku":"CONF20260209034","price":85.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0557\/3856\/4685\/files\/9780765314574_20vol10_5.jpg?v=1770645287","url":"https:\/\/readmatter.co.za\/products\/buy-in-the-garden-of-iden-the-company-1-kage-baker-conf20260209034","provider":"Readmatter","version":"1.0","type":"link"}