An Instance of the Fingerpost - Iain Pears

An extraordinary intellectual thriller set in Oxford in the 1660s, AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST has been compared to both Umberto Eco's THE NAME OF THE ROSE and Rose Tremain's RESTORATION. The 1660s were a time of great ferment - intellectual, religious and political - and this is reflected in Pears's text. The novel is centred on a suspicious death, that of Robert Grove, fellow of New College. We hear about it from four witnesses, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; the son of a supposed traitor to the Royalist cause, determined to vindicate his father; John Wallis, chief cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles II, a mathematician, theologican and master spy; and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiquary. Each of the first three witnesses is unreliable - they seem convincing, but the conclusions are contradictory - and only Wood, in the final volume, reveals the truth.

ISBN: 9780224044660

Pages: 698

Hardcover with DJ

Jonathan Cape, 1997

Edition: 01

Good condition; DJ shelf-worn; ink ownership inscription inside

B151