How long does it take to read The Quicksilver Pool?
The Quicksilver Pool by Phyllis A. Whitney takes about 5 hours 34 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 5 hours 34 minutes
A weekend read
First published 1955. 304 pages, about 83,600 words.
12 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 9 hours 17 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 5 hours 34 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 3 hours 29 minutes |
The page count is the median across 17 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
A respectful attitude towards history and a respectable feeling for people marks this story of the winter and summer of 1862-3 on Staten Island. Wade Tyler, recovering from war wounds, brings Lora home as his second wife and reverts to his old submission to his demanding mother. Lora works to win the love of Jemmy, his eight-year old son, works, too, to learn the mystery of Virginia's death and discovers the evil intent of the dead woman's sister, Morgan, who has always wanted Wade. Morgan's insistence that Wade join the Knights of the Golden Circle awakens his interest; Jemmy's yearning for a puppy mixes in with the politics; Lora, when a neighbor woos her, discovers that she is falling in love with Wade; and when the draft riots break out, learns that he has not been deceived by Vallandigham and his Circle's treason, and is working only for the Union. With the burning of Morgan's house and her confession about the truth of her sister's death, Lora finds Wade has finally turned away from his dead love and truly wants her, his living one. A spunky piece, Lora, whose many problems are resolved in believable terms and who is backgrounded by plausible characters, history and place. For that more conservative market out of patience with currently too well fleshed historical novels, this will be welcome.
Subjects: Family secrets, Fiction, History, Historical fiction, Copperhead movement, Fiction, romance, historical