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From Amazon.com
An Instance of the Fingerpost is that rarest of all possible literary beasts--a mystery powered as much by ideas as by suspects, autopsies, and smoking guns. Hefty, intricately plotted, and intellectually ambitious, Fingerpost has drawn the inevitable comparisons to Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose and, for once, the comparison is apt.
The year is 1663, and the setting is Oxford, England, during the height of Restoration political intrigue. When Dr. Robert Grove is found dead in his Oxford room, hands clenched and face frozen in a rictus of pain, all the signs point to poison. Rashomon-like, the narrative circles around Grove's murder as four different characters give their version of events: Marco da Cola, a visiting Italian physician--or so he would like the reader to believe; Jack Prestcott, the son of a traitor who fled the country to avoid execution; Dr. John Wallis, a mathematician and cryptographer with a predilection for conspiracy theories; and Anthony Wood, a mild-mannered Oxford antiquarian whose tale proves to be the book's "instance of the fingerpost." (The quote comes from the philosopher Bacon, who, while asserting that all evidence is ultimately fallible, allows for "one instance of a fingerpost that points in one direction only, and allows of no other possibility.")
Like The Name of the Rose, this is one whodunit in which the principal mystery is the nature of truth itself. Along the way, Pears displays a keen eye for period details as diverse as the early days of medicine, the convoluted politics of the English Civil War, and the newfangled fashion for wigs. Yet Pears never loses sight of his characters, who manage to be both utterly authentic denizens of the 17th century and utterly authentic human beings. As a mystery, An Instance of the Fingerpost is entertainment of the most intelligent sort; as a novel of ideas, it proves equally satisfying. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Pears explores the nature of truth and its dependency on the perspective of the observer in this ingenious and meticulously researched novel set in Restoration England. The vehicle for this exploration is the murder by poison of Dr. Robert Grove of Oxford's New College. Four characters in turn tell their versions of events, highlighting at various times the political, religious, medical, intellectual, and romantic contexts. Pears skillfully evokes the period in these narratives, with language, beliefs, and attitudes. The abridged program, given an able and rich reading by Paul Michael, succeeds and forms its own logical whole. A discerning listener, though, will wonder how much of Pears's subtlety and care in writing and intricacy of the interlocking narratives are lost in the abridgment. Perhaps the type of reader this book truly appeals to will not be satisfied by an abridged reading. Still, demand and use will likely be heavy. Recommended, with reservations.AKristen L. Smith, Loras Coll. Lib., Dubuque, IA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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