The Rule Of Four

Ancient Civilisations

Ian Caldwell

Paperback

2nd

Third Person

Fiction

446

30

2018-06-26 16:52:09

When four Princeton seniors begin the Easter weekend, they are more concerned with their plans for the next year and an upcoming dance than with a 500-year-old literary mystery. But by the end of the holiday, two people are dead, two of the students are injured, and one has disappeared. These events, blended with Renaissance history, code breaking, acrostics, sleuthing, and personal discovery, move the story along at a rapid pace. Tom Sullivan, the narrator, tells of his late father’s and then a roommate’s obsession with the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a 15th-century ”novel” that has long puzzled scholars. Paul has built his senior thesis on an unpopular theory posited by Tom’s father-that the author was an upper-class Roman rather than a monk-and has come close to proving it. While much of the material on the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili is arcane and specialized, it is clearly explained and its puzzles are truly puzzling, while the present-day action is compelling enough to keep teens reading. There is a love interest for Tom and a lively portrayal of Princeton life.

Arrow Books

9780099451952

United States

Croydon- Surrey- UK

2005-02-01

1

English

20 Vauxhall Bridge road- London SW1V 2SA

~€2.35

2025-12-30

2018-06-26 16:52:09