A Burnable Book

Starred review from January 20, 2014
MedievalistHolsinger (Neomedievalism, Neoconservatism, and the War on Terror) delivers a first novel whose zest, breadth, and color evoke The Canterbury Tales. In 1385, Geoffrey Chaucer asks fellow poet and dealer in information, John Gower, to find a cryptic manuscript that predicts specifically how the current monarch, Richard II, will be assassinated. Gower discovers that the book has been stolen from Westminster by an unidentified woman, later murdered; dying, she gave it to a common prostitute, who is now hiding it in London. As treasonous texts begin to inflame an already dissatisfied populace, Gower realizes that the king, the book’s possessor, and his friend Chaucer are in danger, and his own son is threatened as well. For the first time, he finds himself at the mercy of other men’s secrets, rather than in control of them. Though the period’s unfamiliar terms and figures can be confusing, the intricate plot, sharp characterizations, and sweeping depiction of medieval England make this a memorable fiction debut. Agent: Helen Heller, Helen Heller Agency (Canada).

December 1, 2013

Medieval historian Holsinger's first novel is an absorbing narrative exploring royal power and dissent in 14th-century England. King Richard II has many enemies beyond the borders of his kingdom and within. Factions among lords, the clergy, and commoners conspire to take the throne. Geoffrey Chaucer, at work on a series of sketches of everyday England that will become The Canterbury Tales, and an unlikely range of prostitutes, poets, butchers, and nuns are at the twisted center of this plot. With the help of poet John Gower, Chaucer seeks a treasonous book, often fatal to those who possess it, that prophesies a royal death. Multiple plotlines evolve, as noble servants and ignoble knights fight to the death to save the kingdom or bring it down. VERDICT Medieval England never tasted so rich nor smelled so foul as in this descriptive and intricately layered mystery. Holsinger is at his best describing the everyday lives and privations of the lower classes. He succeeds in elevating the missing manuscript genre to new heights that will entertain readers of both fiction and nonfiction. [See Prepub Alert, 9/9/13.]--Catherine Lantz, Morton Coll. Lib., Cicero, IL

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2013

An award-winning scholar of the medieval era, Holsinger puts his knowledge to good use in a book drawing comparison to Iain Pears's An Instance of the Fingerpost, Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White, and, of course, Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose. In 1385 London, government official Geoffrey Chaucer asks poet John Gower to track down a "burnable book," a treasonous work inspiring the dancy little tunes hinting at Richard II's assassination that resound through the streets. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2014
In 1385 London, the race is on to recover a missing book. Outside the walls of London, Agnes, a "maudlyn," or prostitute, observes the murder, by a cloaked, Italian-speaking thug, of a young woman, whose dress and accent bespeak noble birth. Agnes leaves the scene with a hidden prize: a book wrapped in a delicate tapestry. Meanwhile, John Gower, the 14th-century equivalent of a grizzled detective, has gotten wind of a conspiracy against the reigning king, Richard II, son of Edward the Black Prince and nephew of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The plot may have been fomented by the followers of the recently executed heretic Wycliffe, who are using the prophecies of one Lollius, an ancient Roman, as a blueprint. Lollius, it seems, predicted the manner of death of each English sovereign since William the Conqueror, and there is one prediction yet to be fulfilled: that on St. Dunstan's Day, near a bishop's palace, butchers--abetted by a Long Castle (Lancaster)--will lie in wait to slay the current monarch. As it happens, these prophecies are contained in Agnes' contraband volume, which has fallen into the hands of her sister Millicent, who hopes to sell it to restore herself to the middle-class existence she once attained as a knight's mistress. Trouble is, possession of a "burnable book," one that embodies heresy and/or threats to the king's person, is high treason. Gower and his friend Geoffrey Chaucer are hot on the tome's trail when Gower's sinister son, Simon, returns inopportunely from exile abroad. Enter Agnes' best friend Eleanor/Edgar, a transvestite, whose main goal is to free his brother Gerald, a butcher's apprentice, from the clutches of his cruel master, Grimes. Gerald has overheard Grimes planning just the sort of butchery envisioned by the book. Although the burgeoning web of plots and plotlines is dauntingly complex, the determined reader will be rewarded with a fascinating overview of pre-Renaissance London at its best and worst. A highly literate thriller from medievalist Holsinger.

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