Sigh. I just finished a wonderful novel.
I've loved every one of Bayard's novels and feel he gets better with each one. This is my new favorite and I adored it.
Rare is the author who can write so intelligently about a scholarly subject and turn it into a compelling novel of suspense and a deeply felt love story. It's a really brilliant weaving of past and present and the way its tied up at the end without being overly sentimental is monumental.
The New York Times said he "reinvigorates historical fiction, rendering the nineteenth century as if he'd witnessed it firsthand." And they described School of Night as "Louis Bayard's fabricated account of a secret society of brilliant Elizabethan thinkers who challenge conventional 16th-century wisdom by exercising "the freedom to speak their minds." Henry Cavendish, the 21st-century scholar who narrates the story, tumbles to this academic crew when an unscrupulous collector (who would "lay down his life for a Shakespeare quarto"
Bravo Mr. Bayard. I can't wait to see what you do next. This will be a hard one to top. And yes, you had me in tears at the end. So lovely. So complete.
I have never read anything from this authour, but read this as it was reccommended by a friend. I now need to read more stuff from this very clever writer.
Posted by: WillberWillber | September 20, 2011 at 06:41 AM