A lady ahead of her time, Theresa wants
to be a scribe. Her father, taught her to read and write. For the
past several years, she has been working as an apprentice parchment
maker. She knows as much or more about parchment than Korne, the
master parchment maker, but because she is a woman, he is reluctant
to admit her to the guild. When she takes the test to join the guild,
Korne gives her a rotten cow hide to work with. The test ends with
catastrophe. Theresa flees Wurzburg and begins a series of harrowing
adventures.
Her father, Gorgias has a secret that
is behind many of the family's trials. He is protecting a codex. When
he believes the original is lost, he starts to rewrite it from
memory. The mystery of the codex ties Theresa's father to Charlemagne
and could affect the fate of the empire.
This historical accuracy in the book is
excellent. The author manages to bring the period of Charlemagne to
life. This was the most excellent part of the book.
The characters are intriguing. Theresa
and Gorgias are talented scribes, but they must fight against
enormous odds with little to defend themselves.
My problem with the book was the
length. I like long historical novels, but I felt this one spent too
much time on Theresa's travels and left the important mystery in
which Gorgias was involved in obscurity. The solution to the mystery
came toward the end of the book. By then I'd forgotten it was
important. I think the novel could have been more cohesive by moving
back and forth the between the main characters more often.
I recommend this book if you like big,
well researched historical fiction.
I reviewed this book for the Amazon
Vine Program.
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