Relaunching her architectural history career by tracking down several long-missing pieces of ancient Judaica, recovering alcoholic Annie Kendall accepts the help of reporter Geoff Harris in an investigation with ties to a sixteenth-century Carthusian monk. - (Baker & Taylor)
Relaunching her architectural history career by tracking down several long-missing pieces of ancient Judaica, recovering alcoholic Annie Kendall accepts the help of smitten reporter Geoff Harris in an investigation with ties to a 16th-century Carthusian monk and a Jewish goldsmith who struggled for survival in a shadowy world marked by Thomas Cromwell, sexual secrets and religious treasure. - (Baker & Taylor)
In the tradition of Kate Mosse, a swiftly-paced mystery that stretches from modern London to Tudor England
In modern-day London, architectural historian and recovering alcoholic Annie Kendall hopes to turn her life around and restart her career by locating several long-missing pieces of ancient Judaica. Geoff Harris, an investigative reporter, is soon drawn into her quest, both by romantic interest and suspicions about the head of the Shalom Foundation, the organization sponsoring her work. He’s also a dead ringer for the ghost of a monk Annie believes she has seen at the flat she is subletting in Bristol House.
In 1535, Tudor London is a very different city, one in which monks are being executed by Henry VIII and Jews are banished. In this treacherous environment of religious persecution, Dom Justin, a Carthusian monk, and a goldsmith known as the Jew of Holborn must navigate a shadowy world of intrigue involving Thomas Cromwell, Jewish treasure, and sexual secrets. Their struggles shed light on the mysteries Annie and Geoff aim to puzzle out—at their own peril.
This riveting dual-period narrative seamlessly blends a haunting supernatural thriller with vivid historical fiction. Beverly Swerling, widely acclaimed for her City of Dreams series, delivers a bewitching and epic story of a historian and a monk, half a millennium apart, whose destinies are on a collision course. - (Penguin Putnam)
Beverly Swerling is the author of five previous novels, including the City of Dreams series, a four-volume historical saga set in old New York. She is also a consultant to other authors and an amateur historian. She lives in Philadelphia. - (Penguin Putnam)
Booklist Reviews
Swerling, best known for her City of Dreams quartet, adds a paranormal dimension to her latest novel, interweaving narratives set in contemporary and Tudor London. Commissioned by the Shalom Foundation to unearth some ancient artifacts from the Holy Land, recovering alcoholic and architectural historian Annie Kendall arrives in London determined to resurrect more than her career. After subletting a flat in Bristol House, Annie begins receiving disturbing visits by the ghost of a Carthusian monk. Initially fearing that she is hallucinating, she eventually joins forces with investigative reporter Geoffrey Harris—who coincidentally looks just like the ghost—and together they attempt to solve a present-day mystery that is firmly rooted in the past. Elements of romance, religious mythology, cultism, and the supernatural abound as this genre-blending thriller stretches back and forth through time to a suitably dramatic denouement. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.
