Bristol House
A Novel
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Judaica possibly from Second Temple times, and a claimant to the papacy known as the Speckled Egg all figure in this predictable suspense novel from Swerling (City of Dreams). The Shalom Foundation has hired historian Annie Kendall, who has come to London from New York City, to run down reports that around 1535, "a man known as the Jew of Holborn uncovered a remarkable trove of ancient Judaica" in Jerusalem and to try to locate this treasure. Soon after moving into lodgings at Bristol House near the British Museum, Annie begins seeing the ghost of a monk; to her amazement, she later discovers that the ghost is the spitting image of Geoff Harris, an investigative journalist she meets. Some readers may find it odd that Annie calls Geoff an Inspector Javert for still caring whether a sinister conspiracy arranged the killing of Rabin. Others may find aspects of the plot unintentionally funny.
