The Burning Library
A Novel
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4.2 • 19 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
From the internationally bestselling author of The Nanny and What She Knew comes a thrilling dark academic tale of murder, obsession and ruthless ambition, set in remote St Andrews, Scotland.
A deadly rivalry.
A chilling secret.
One woman who can decipher the truth.
On a frigid, windswept day in Scotland’s Western Isles, Eleanor Bruton’s body is discovered on the shore. To her family Eleanor was an ordinary middle-aged woman. She did flower arrangements and plumped kneeler cushions at church. Little did they know she was harboring a dark and all-consuming secret. A scrap of fraying embroidery that seems worthless at first glance.
For over a century, two rival organizations of women have gone to deadly lengths to secure the valuable artifact in the hopes of finding the original medieval manuscript from which it was torn. The Order of St. Katherine: devoted to the belief that women must pull strings in the shadows to exercise control. And the Fellowship of the Larks, determined to amass as many overt positions of power for women as possible…so long as their methods of doing so never come to light.
When Dr. Anya Brown garners international attention for her translation of the cryptic Folio 9, she is handpicked by Diana Cornish, a professor and high-ranking member of the Fellowship, to join the exclusive Institute of Manuscript Studies in St. Andrews. Unbeknownst to Anya she’s been recruited at great personal danger to translate ancient texts that the Fellowship believes critical to their mission.
Meanwhile at Scotland Yard, Detective Constable Clio Spicer begins a private investigation into the death of Eleanor Bruton.
As all the women grow further entangled in this ancient web, circumstances spin wildly out of control and their lives may be in grave danger.
Perfect for fans of Alex Michaelides and Ruth Ware, The Burning Library is the story of a centuries-old secret set to divide and consume those who seek to unearth it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
MacMillan (The Manor House) pivots from psychological thrillers to dark academia in this overstuffed Dan Brown riff. After translating a rare medieval manuscript as part of her PhD, Anya Brown has her pick of jobs, but her boyfriend and sick mother tether her to the U.K. When she gets an offer from the Institute of Manuscript Studies in St. Andrews, Scotland, complete with a cottage for two within traveling distance of London, it's almost too good to be true. Anya immediately hits it off with her boss, Diana Cornish, who fails to mention her affinity with the Fellowship of the Larks, a shadowy group searching for an ancient manuscript that believes Anya is their best chance of finding it. They're not the only ones looking. As bodies start to pile up, Anya and her boyfriend go on the run, seeking to evade the Fellowship and a rival gang with the help of a rogue detective. Tantalizing tidbits of medieval history aren't enough to outweigh the book's crowded cast of undermotivated characters or its frustrating refusal to tie up its core mysteries. This has more atmosphere than substance.
