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    A Burnable Book: A Novel
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    A Burnable Book: A Novel
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    A Burnable Book: A Novel
    Ebook555 pages9 hours

    A Burnable Book: A Novel

    By Bruce Holsinger

    3.5/5

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    In Chaucer's London, betrayal, murder, royal intrigue, mystery, and dangerous politics swirl around the existence of a prophetic book that foretells the deaths of England's kings. Bruce Holsinger's A Burnable Book is an irresistible historical thriller reminiscent of the classics An Instance of the Fingerpost, The Name of the Rose, and The Crimson Petal and the White.

    London, 1385. Surrounded by ruthless courtiers—including his powerful uncle, John of Gaunt, and Gaunt's artful mistress, Katherine Swynford—England's young, still untested king, Richard II, is in mortal peril, and the danger is only beginning. Songs are heard across London—catchy verses said to originate from an ancient book that prophesies the end of England's kings—and among the book's predictions is Richard's assassination.

    Only a few powerful men know that the cryptic lines derive from a "burnable book," a seditious work that threatens the stability of the realm. To find the manuscript, wily bureaucrat Geoffrey Chaucer turns to fellow poet John Gower, a professional trader in information with connections high and low. Gower discovers that the book and incriminating evidence about its author have fallen into the unwitting hands of innocents, who will be drawn into a labyrinthine conspiracy that reaches from the king's court to London's slums and stews—and potentially implicates his own son. As the intrigue deepens, it becomes clear that Gower, a man with secrets of his own, may be the last hope to save a king from a terrible fate.

    Medieval scholar Bruce Holsinger draws on his vast knowledge of the period to add colorful, authentic detail—on everything from poetry and bookbinding to court intrigues and brothels—to this highly entertaining and brilliantly constructed epic literary mystery that brings medieval England gloriously to life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateFeb 18, 2014
    ISBN9780062240347
    Author

    Bruce Holsinger

    Bruce Holsinger is a professor of English Language and literature whose books on medieval culture have won major prizes from the Modern Language Association and the Medieval Academy of America. Bruce is also a Guggenheim fellow and the recipient of many prestigious research fellowships. He lives in Virginia with his wife and sons. His debut novel, A Burnable Book,was published to critical acclaim in 2014 and is the first to feature John Gower. The Invention of Fire is his second novel.

    Read more from Bruce Holsinger

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    Reviews for A Burnable Book

    3.5/5

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    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed this - can't wait to queue up volume 2!
    • 2/5
      This historical novel is set in post-plague London during the reign of Richard II.  The key character in this novel is John Gower, a real life poet who Holsinger has also earning his keep by trading in information and intrigue.  The events of the novel kick off when Gower's friend Geoffrey Chaucer (Gower and Chaucer were friends in real life too) asks Gower to find a book that has prophecies of the deaths of English kings that would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands.  Gower's investigations take him into brothels and the criminal underworld of London which Holsinger describes in all their gritty details.  Too often Holsinger tells instead of shows, so the narrative gets paused while a character explains exactly what has happened. The plot gets too complicated as loose threads are tied off too soon and new contrivances are added to keep the narrative moving.  Holsinger is good at getting the feel of medieval London and has a few good ideas, but the book never lives up to its ambition.  
    • 5/5
      Puzzles, enigmas, lies, spies, schemes and riddles - what a juicy story. This terrific book is about the search for a missing tome that contains a treasonous prophesy about the murder of King Richard II and is thus a "burnable book". Geoffrey Chaucer is one of many people searching for this book and he has enlisted the aid of his friend, a lawyer/poet/fixer named John Gower. Gower is a trader in secret information that he buys or obtains through blackmail or as payment for previous favors. It seems that everyone in London is in his debt. Gower is proud of his ability to control situations but the intrigues surrounding the burnable book are beyond his control. He is also unable to control his estranged son Simon who has been banished.This is the first work of fiction by the author, a medieval scholar, and the book is full of vivid period details. They lend atmosphere to the plot but do not overwhelm it. I never got the feeling that the author was forcing his research notes into the story. I am not an English history buff, so I appreciated the inclusion of a cast of characters, both real and fictional, in the beginning of the book. Sections of the book are separated by pages of a letter from a mysterious correspondent to an unknown lover. This letter gradually reveals the history if the burnable book. The burnable book is stolen several times during the course of this story. It's seekers have complex political, theological and personal motives for wanting the book or wanting to keep it from being found, including old grudges and new affronts.This book has a complex plot and a large group of characters including royalty and clergy in England, a group of mercenaries in Italy, and the prostitutes, butchers and merchants in the impoverished parts of London. Ultimately it is the powerless people who show their nobility by trying to do the right thing to protect the King and each other and who lose the most in doing so. Not everyone survives the search for the burnable book. The mystery surrounding the missing book (who wrote it, what does it mean, why does everyone want it, how did it get to England) is fascinating. This was a really good story, excitingly told and well written. I'll be happy to read the author's next book.I received a free copy of the advance reader's edition of this book from the publisher.
    • 4/5
      This one takes a while to get into, but is worth the effort. Setting his story in 1385, during the reign of Richard II of England (son of "The Black Prince" Edward), Holsinger provides us with a huge cast of characters (44 are listed in the front matter) spanning all classes from royals and aristocrats to poets and bureaucrats to prostitutes and apprentices. In this sprawling mystery, a dangerous book prophesying the death of the king is circulating in London. People high and low are looking for it--for their own political and profitable reasons--and the bodies are piling up. Holsinger cycles through points of view (POV), providing more clues and building his story layer by layer, keeping the reader guessing. I particularly liked the recurring interludes that tell a continuing story in a bardic voice, that--at first--seem to have nothing to do with the book. Because they are printed on grayscale background (and easy to find by flipping through the book), I was tempted to read this story-within-a-story first. I'm glad I resisted the temptation. That thread gets woven into Holsinger's complicated tapestry and is particularly satisfying. I appreciated the obvious research that establishes this story firmly in its time and place. Holsinger (a professor of Medieval Literature) does his homework and provides meticulous details about food, clothing, architecture, court manners, religious ritual, and societal attitudes which enrich the story. I found the dialects and slang of the lower classes a bit rough going at first, but it was obvious from the context what the characters were saying and my reader's ear soon caught up. The weakest of the writing trilogy (character, plot and setting), in this book, is character. Because Holsinger has such a wide cast, it is difficult to go too deep. His supporting characters are expertly differentiated with a few interesting details. Of his POV characters, the most vivid and admirable is a transvestite prostitute Edgar/Eleanor. His only first person POV character is the historical figure John Gower, poet and life-long friend of Chaucer. I found him opaque. He is supposed to be amoral, a spider with a web of coerced informants; but he seemed to be the hapless dupe, manipulated by his friends and son, and constantly in the dark. It's only at the end, he pulls all the threads together, which made him feel more like a plot device (and stand-in for the reader) than a fully-fleshed character.Altogether, I enjoyed this read, both the craft and the story. I received this book, through an Early Reader program, from the publisher. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
    • 4/5
      Book was an ARC copy from the publisher in exchange for a honest review. Received through GoodReads. Thanks for the book!The book was a little hard for me to get into at first. Told from multiple points of view, there's a lot of world building and story foundation being laid in the first, I'd say, fourth of the book. And while I did become engaged with the characters and their struggles (I mean, the book starts with a murder so yeah, excitement is present!), I found myself more than once with my attention wondering. But once the mystery really hit its stride, it was a break neck ride to the end.The story in this novel is something else. Extremely complex and vivid, the narrative transports the reader into a maelstrom of intrigue, mystery, prophecies, and regicide. I found myself surprised more than once at where the story went. Twists and turns presented themselves throughout the entire work, right up until the very end. The reader can tell that the writer is a medieval scholar; every street, bishop's palace, hovel, aristocrat, and prostitute comes to vivid life. The reader can literally hear the roar of the London masses, see the glitter of royal processions, smell the ink used by the poets and scribes of the era, and experience the hardship of a prostitute's life right with the girls themselves.Despite a somewhat rocky start, this novel is a stand out for historical fiction. Once the action really starts flowing, the reader is kept on the edge of their seat and guessing about where the story is really going to go. A historical setting that literally breathes with life doesn't hurt either. If you enjoy historical fiction and mystery, definitely check this one out.
    • 3/5
      Whispers about a book of prophesies are circulating throughout London… how is it connected to the death of a woman on the Moorfields?London 1385: Geoffrey Chaucer turns to fellow poet John Gower to help him find a mysterious, ancient book-- a treasonous work that puts everyone in danger who comes in contact with it. Unfortunately, it falls into innocent hands and those who possess the book do not know the danger they face. Who can they trust? It is an intricate plot that starts and ends with a bang but the middle…. the middle drags, unfortunately. The ending would have made more sense if more bits were included or hinted at earlier story, seemed disjointed and almost like a separate story on its own. So much detail and information about a time that fascinates me however it failed to keep my interest, 300 pages in and the story really starts but by that point I was no longer invested in the characters or story and took me longer to finish it.
    • 4/5
      Although I'm not usually a reader of mysteries, historical or otherwise, I was intrigued by the appearance of poet John Gower as the main character and his friend, Geoffrey Chaucer, as a secondary character. Holsinger creates a detailed and fascinating portrait at medieval London (or, as he would have it, three cities: London, Westminster, and Southwark), from the court of Richard II to the stews of Gropecunt Lane. The first chapter is designed to draw the reader in, and that it did. A young woman, Agnes Fonteyn, is hiding in the bushes, watching a horrific scene. Another young woman, this one dressed in rich attire, has just shoved a book into Agnes's hands as her pursuer approaches. Viciously beating the stranger, he keeps asking a question that Agnes does not understand--"Doovray libroo?"--before brutally killing her with a hammer. And thus the mystery begins.Gower, a lawyer as well as a part-time poet, hears rumors of a mysterious book full of cryptic prophecies that describe the deaths of thirteen kings of England, the last being the current young king, Richard II. The book, and cloth that covers it, point towards the king's uncle, John of Gaunt, as the mastermind of the assassination plot. Gower's search for the book and his efforts to unravel its secrets take him from the Inns of Court to the remote libraries of Oxford, from the royal court to the brothels of Southwark. And he is not the only one interested in the book. His friend Chaucer has asked him to find it, and Agnes, her sister Millicent, and their friend, a transvestite prostitute named Edgar/Elinor, at first ponder its mysteries but then decide to seek a buyer. And there are many interested in this burnable book.Along the way, Holsinger provides plenty of subplots. There's Gower's relationship with his estranged son Simon; Elinor's attempts to save her butcher's apprentice brother Gerald from his brutal master; the power and pull of Kathryn Swynford, Gaunt's mistress; Simon's service to an English mercenary in Italy; and the sad story of the murdered young woman. So with all this going on, why did my interest start to wain about 2/3 through the book? I can only attribute it to my lack of interest in the mystery genre. Regular readers of historical mysteries will undoubtedly find it more appealing. The book is very well written and the world it creates fully fleshed out; the characters are each, in their own ways, fascinating and sympathetic; and the books structure, a series of short chapters moving amongst the various characters, works well. But I'm just not a fan of the genre and will likely pass on the sequel.
    • 3/5
      Definitely not a book to be read in a quick setting. Are you into literary figures? Historical fiction? Historical mystery filled with spies and intrigue? Something that takes place in the Middle Ages? All of the above in one book? Sure! Let’s take it!I’d have to say, there can be no better description of the Middle Ages than in this book. Everything was so visual and well written. The setting itself has good amounts of description, the characters definitely helped as well. They even had the mannerisms and speech of the time. Speaking of characters.Oh Chaucer. No. Just no. I don’t like you. He’s not exactly painted in the most best of light here is he? Manipulative, wife stealer, even with his supposed close friend he’s not upfront and honest with. You definitely have sympathy with Gower here. Even though he has a questionable job and past with his son Simon, he’s still a much more likable character than Chaucer in my opinion. Other characters that I liked; Edgar/Eleanor - the story arc with Millicent and Agnes was a good one. I enjoyed their side of the story with the ‘dregs’ of society. Another character I liked, Hawkwood. Yes he’s an odious villain that oozed all the horrible things you didn’t like. But he was such an awesome villain! Cold, calculating, and not one to trifle with when you get on his bad side and think you can get away with (that poor sod - those who read the book should know what I’m talking about)The plot itself was pretty good. Lots of plot twists and turns. You’re left peeling layer after layer of intrigue and mystery while you get to the bottom of it. Once you had it figured out there’s still more left to figure out. I enjoyed it! There’s something about all the layers of intrigue that makes it a more compelling read.However, a couple of things that made this read a not so easy one. The amount of characters. Quite a few to keep track of. So this isn’t the type of book that you can drop and come back to after a while (I mistakenly did that unfortunately, as life got in the way). You need to take you time, get to know the characters, the plot and how everything comes together. It sometimes can get a little confusing so some extra attention is needed while reading this book. Also, have a dictionary beside you. I suppose to keep with the medieval thing, there’s some medieval terminology that you’ll need to familiarize yourself with. It adds more to the book but I could have done without it. To be on the bright side, my vocabulary has increased with various middle age words.Overall, take the time to read the book and enjoy. The spinning and weaving of the web and trying to find the center spot is fun and always is a treat to read when figuring out a historical mystery. Greatly recommended for Hist-fic fans.
    • 4/5
      I was very excited to read this book because of the time period and that Chaucer was included. It was a pleasant book. It is a great light read. I enjoyed the character development and the plot and while it was engaging it was not engrossing. I would recommend it as a nice light read for fans of medieval mysteries.
    • 4/5
      Unlike many instances of the genre, this tale of intrigue and murder centering on a book is credible. No outlandish secret societies are required, but only the ordinary political machinations taking shape through some lines of poetry. Not a perfect fiction, but wholly engaging. Some may find the language a tad difficult at the outset, but one becomes accustomed to the fourteenth century imagery employed.
    • 4/5
      Here we have a nicely done historical / mystery / intrigue / espionage novel set in the late 14th century, with several historical personages represented. I particularly enjoyed the interchanges between John Gower and his various antagonists (Chaucer, De Vere, Katharyn Swinford, Bishop Braybrooke, and others). The book does read like an American wrote it (doesn't read with the "English Accent" of 19th century novels of Dickens, Collins, LeFanu, etc.), but that doesn't really detract from the story. I give it:
    • 4/5
      A Burnable Book, a historical mystery with Chaucer's friend and fellow poet John Gower as protagonist, is an enjoyable but not mesmerizing look into the turmoil of late 14th century London. Briefly, a maudlin of Gropecunt Lane witnesses a murder and takes possession of a little book, the same book that Chaucer has asked Gower to find for him, a book that purports to prophesy the death of kings including Richard II. The plot twists and turns upon itself, but by the end all the threads are tied up nicely, all questions answered.Bruce Holsinger is a Professor of medieval literature at UVa, and has done a massive amount of research to produce a picture of London that also reeks of the stews and sounds like the varied populace of the times. So far, so good. I was excited to receive this book from Early Reviewers, and I can't quite pin down why I didn't love it. Nothing is really wrong - I noticed only one modern turn of phrase, for example, but I could always put it down easily, and I was never particularly excited to get back to it. On the other hand, A Burnable Book provides a painless short-cut into Chaucer's world. If I couldn't find his use of "maudlin" to mean "prostitute" in the OED, Holsinger notes in an afterward that he always tells his students to use the Middle English Dictionary instead. I guardedly recommend the book.
    • 4/5
      The Burnable Book of the title, of this debut novel by Bruce Holsinger, is a collection of prophecies,one of which foretells the death of the king,a crime in the Medieval days of England. John Gower is tasked by fellow poet Geoffrey Chaucer to retrieve the stolen manuscript before it falls into the wrong hands and the desperate woman who has come across it by chance has handed the book over to her even more desperate sister Millicent,who sees it as a way to settle her mountain of debts and restore her to the rung of lower middle class comfort she has grown used to.However,the book proves to be far beyond what either party imagined it would be in terms of trouble. An engaging read and promising start for the author.
    • 2/5
      Couldn't finish it. Found it too confusing, too many characters to keep track of.
    • 4/5
      The fourteenth century is a bit fuzzy in areas - we're not quite at the Renaissance yet, but the Crusades were not quite as in the forefront as it had been in previous centuries. I'd recently seen a production of Shakespeare's Richard II, so it was curious to see how he'd be portrayed in the decade prior to his forced abdication. The plot centers around John Gower, a writer I'd never heard of, and a more well-known Geoffrey Chaucer, and a missing book that held secrets that were both ridiculous and dangerous. There's prostitues thrown in the mix, which frankly I'm tired of, and all the folks surrounding the court at the time. While reading I thought I noticed a whiff of The Time Travelers' Guide to Medieval England, and it turns out the author referred to it in his Note. I read most of the book on a weeklong trip, and it was a good companion on a 3 hour plane ride.
    • 4/5
      One of the better examples of this genre in a while, written as it is by an excellent scholar and writer who's clearly done his research. That said, there was just something about it that kept me from getting completely immersed, and it wasn't the sort of book I just wanted to read straight through without putting down for a moment. Perhaps a bit overly complicated, or something.There are utterly delightful elements, though, such as sometime-narrator John Gower's visit to Richard de Bury's library in Oxford, which I enjoyed tremendously. Overall, a perfectly fine read, and better than many of its type.
    • 2/5
      Actually 2.5. This started out as a 3 or 3.5, but as it progressed I became impatient with it. The premise of a treasonous [or 'burnable'] book, analogous to the prophecies of a Nostradamus, was interesting; gnomic verses are open to multiple interpretations. Each of thirteen prophecies tells of the death of one of England's kings, from William the Conqueror until the present Richard II. Richard II's regicide is predicted in the thirteenth prophecy. The others have already occurred. The novel is told partially from the perspective of John Gower, a poet, "trader in information", and friend of fellow poet and author Geoffrey Chaucer. Gower wishes to obtain the book, as do others, including a group of prostitutes. The women want to sell it to the man paying the most for it. Everyone wants to find out the identity of the assassin and prevent the king's death on St. Dunstan's Day. The book is wrapped in an embroidered cloth. To what extent is that connected with the book? The story spans England to Italy. After much deceit, political intrigue, treachery, more dead bodies, St. Dunstan's Day dawns, with the procession of the king and his court to hear mass. Will the assassination be prevented? For awhile, the first death, the search for the book, discovering the prophecies were written in a coded form, and the meanings were fascinating, but then explanations got tiresome and too arcane for my taste. I was irritated at the switching back and forth from Italian plot to that set in England. I absolutely did not like any of the business with the prostitutes; some of the descriptions were much too earthy for my taste. The characters were all very flat. I thought the story was poorly paced; good beginning, long, boring stretches, then a too rushed conclusion.
    • 3/5
      I was eager to read this book because I'd had a class on Chaucer in college, and it sounded like fun. But I actually found it kind of boring. I felt the writing assumed that the reader knew a lot about the time period and English history. Also, many of the period colloquial terms that were used were never explained. For instance, if I hadn't already read Chaucer, I wouldn't have known what swyvving was. Perhaps the author should have added a glossary. I'm sure some history buffs must have really enjoyed this book, but I was bored. I only finished it because I had to write a review. My rating is really more of a 2 1/2 than a 3.
    • 4/5
      A Burnable Book is a twisty, literary thriller with a wide ranging cast of characters. At first I had to make quite a bit of use of the cast of characters list at the beginning, but as it goes on it becomes easier to settle into who is who (and what I found slightly harder to follow, who's where) and to enjoy the plots within plots and the atmosphere of the dark underside of late fourteenth century London.
    • 3/5
      Starting the book was a bit rough but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it. The book starts to make more sense when all of the characters become entwined. It was a new and interesting subject.
    • 4/5
      [Originally published on my blog]A Burnable Book*, the first novel from noted medieval scholar Bruce Holsinger, is enjoyable on so many levels that it’s difficult to decide where to begin. It’s historical fiction, a mystery, a book about books, and a character study, all rolled into one.London in 1385 is dangerous and dirty, still reeling after a revolt by the commons several years earlier. Nobles jostle each other for favor at court, bishops visit the stews without charity in mind, and everyone from the butcher’s boy to a duke’s mistress tries to navigate through precarious games and ploys.John Gower, the English poet now better known primarily for his appearance in Shakespeare’s Pericles than for his writing (Mirroir de l’Omme, Vox Clamantis, and Confessio Amantis are his major works) is in Professor Holsinger’s novel a man of secrets, a dealer in information with his own shadows that he’d prefer stay hidden. When his friend Chaucer comes to him for help finding a missing book whose cryptic verses are already spreading through London, Gower, the “subterranean man,” is drawn into a web of conspiracy, murder, and lies that reaches from England’s highest nobles to the maudlyns (prostitutes) in London’s stews. The book is a “burnable book” — treasonous — and those who possess it are hunted by forces that even Gower can’t identify. As the novel approaches its climax, unraveling metaphor and mystery begin to amount to the same thing.The cast of characters in A Burnable Book is so long that Professor Holsinger includes a listing before the action begins. Gower and Chaucer are delightful to watch from this distance, especially in terms of their combative friendship. Katherine Swynford, John of Gaunt’s mistress, and Isabel Syward, prioress of St. Leonard’s Bromely are drawn with a fine brush, calculating and calm, working for their own ends. And then there are the maudlyns — so very many of them! By far the most interesting of these is Eleanor/Edgar Rykener, who switches gender presentation depending on clients’ preferences and the relative safety of different parts of London and its environs. Eleanor/Edgar is deeply caring and mightily resourceful, easily my favorite of all the author’s inventions.A Burnable Book’s meticulous attention to period detail reminded me of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, while King Richard’s cameo appearances are notable for the combination of political non-acumen and lyrical speech that characterize Shakespeare’s own Richard II. The narrative is just as earthy as Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s speech, though considerably (and understandably) less funny. And for its literary/action combination, The Name of the Rose comes to mind. In other words, there’s a little something for all kinds of readers to be found in A Burnable Book, and I hope Professor Holsinger will sally forth into the fictional fourteenth century again soon.*My thanks to the publisher for sending a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
    • 4/5
      *I received this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.*A fun, well-researched mystery set in medieval London. The poet John Glower is tasked by his friend Geoffrey Chaucer with finding a dangerous book that just may predict the demise of England's King Richard II. The story is complicated by the return of Glower's estranged son from a mercenary army in Italy and the fragile attempt to reconcile is threatened by the son's apparent involvement in a royal assignation. Overall, a rich, enjoyable tale with the potential to be the first in a series (I hope!).
    • 4/5
      You could inscribe all I know about England’s King Richard II on the head of a pin and still have room for a few hundred other words. Yeah, very unapprised. But I knew very little about Thomas Cromwell until Hilary Mantel showed up and assumed a prominent place in my life. Not that there are very many similarities between Mantel and Bruce Holsinger, the author of A Burnable Book. But the point is, it’s quite possible to come to an historical fiction book knowing very little about a topic and come away fairly well-informed. Throw in a mystery or three to solve and you’ve got yourself a humdinger of a book. And Holsinger is a respected award-winning medieval scholar to boot.In 1385, during the very young king’s reign, the body of a young woman is found on the moorfields, her head bashed in by a hammer. Witnessing it all from behind some bushes is Agnes Fonteyne, a local maudlin. (What, you don’t know what a maudlin is? Google is no help, but you’ll figure it out soon enough.) And the victim had pressed a package into Agnes’ hands. A book, wrapped in an intricately embroidered cloth that may spell extreme danger to the life of the king. This seditious book will lead the protagonist, along with a slew of other characters, on a galloping journey through the next 400 pages and keep the reader almost, but not quite, at the edge of his seat. Along the way we pick up some interesting real and fictional historical characters: Richard II, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, a medieval poet, John of Gaunt, uncle of the king, Katherine Swynford, consort to John of Gaunt, and Henry of Bolingbroke, son and heir of John of Gaunt---well you get the idea. All these and more are real historical figures. The author deftly throws in a whole passel of interesting fictional characters and finely detailed locales from the court to the slums and stews and brothels. The mystery twists and turns and grinds to a halt more than once before skidding to its final resolution.It was a book I really liked but didn’t love. There was a lot of turning back to the lengthy list of characters and I had a slight problem with the protagonist, John Gower. But I still found it to be an entertaining read and will look forward to more books from this author.
    • 4/5
      The author, a professor of medieval literature, has created a fascinating novel using John Gower, a friend and fellow poet with Geoffrey Chaucer, as protagonist. Set in 1385 London, the story revolves around a book thought to be prophetic of King Richard's death. Initially simple enough, the plot increases in complexity and ends in a page turning finale as pieces of the puzzle are revealed. Including women of the streets, the narrative at times becomes a bit bawdy as one would expect from Chaucer and his fellow poets, and the text is sprinkled with terms and terminology from medieval English history. We will be seeing this on book store shelves soon.This was an Early Reviewer copy received in exchange for an honest review.
    • 2/5
      I almost quit after 20 characters paraded through the first couple of chapters without so much as any kind of introduction. Because there isn't any background, it takes over 100 pages before you can keep track of who is doing what exactly. Once I got to the point where I could associate names with details, the miniscule plot was moving so slowly that I was bored halfway through. "Thrills" are mostly limited to arguments. The author does a fine job with describing life in the 14th century but that's nowhere near enough to enliven the proceedings.
    • 4/5
      This is a classic "good read," which I loved and put aside other books to read. It can be recommended to almost any reader, I think.However, be advised that it's historical fiction, not literary fiction. I have seen it compared to Eco's "The Name of the Rose" and Mantel's "Wolf Hall," but it's not like those works, and you might be disappointed if that's what you expect. It is fun, and illuminating, and readable, and it provides an absorbing depiction of Chaucer's medieval world. Though to be fair it's not really about Chaucer, either, or even about his contemporary John Gower, who is one of the main characters. It's more of a historical novel with a thriller component.My only criticism is the narrative style: the author shifts between first-person narration for John Gower and third-person narration for every other character. For me, it felt a bit clunky, and it interrupted the story's flow. There are also interludes from a diary or letter written by a third character, but those sections work: they fit in structurally as part of the slow reveal of the underlying story.
    • 3/5
      It's 1385 in London and King Richard II could be in mortal danger due to a mysterious book of prophecies. Honestly, I found the premise of this book to be more interesting than the actual book. There was an overwhelming amount of characters - so many that Holsinger actually includes a 'cast of characters' in the front. It was a handy reference, but many of the characters had very small roles and I don't feel they needed to be mentioned on the list. It was too much information to process. But the main characters - a poet, an Esquire, and a handful of whores - were varied and interesting. I especially liked Eleanor/Edgar, who is a transgender and switches between genders as the situation calls for it. A very unique character, especially for the time period! The villain was a little lacking in personality. He seemed to be more of a puppet master - just a general threat. The explanation of the plot at the end was a little convoluted. I had more of a 'huh?' moment at the end rather than 'oh!' I didn't want to go back and reread parts to fully understand it. There was also one character whose chapters were in first person while all others were in third. I didn't feel this added anything extra and instead felt it was an inconsistency. But if you like historical fiction, especially in this period, it's worth reading for the characters alone.
    • 3/5
      The author is a respected medieval scholar, so I feel relatively secure in accepting his portrayal of life in the 14th Century, but for me this book was perhaps a matter of too much fact and not enough fiction. I had such a difficult time keeping track of the people and politics, I couldn’t really enjoy the “thriller” aspects of the story. Also, I never really connected with any of the characters. The story begins in 1385 and involves a search for a dangerous book that contains prophecies about the deaths of English kings. Two authentic characters from the past - the poet John Gower and the author Geoffrey Chaucer - are among those searching for this seditious book. Scheming, murders, and manipulations accompany the search.It might or might not be true that Holsinger portrays this approximate time period more accurately than Connie Willis in Doomsday Book, but in the Willis book, I was absolutely absorbed in the people she limned and in their travails. A Burnable Book, on the other hand, just seemed like “too much information” or perhaps, "too much complication" at the expense of plot flow and warm characters with whom I wanted to engage.
    • 4/5
      A Burnable Book is a stunningly complex story set in Medieval London, made only more complicated by the sheer volume of characters, plot lines, and details that the reader must painstakingly keep straight. This complexity is both the book's greatest strength and most damning weakness, in my opinion. The author does us many favors by essentially dictating to us much of the information we need to know in the form of characters' dialogue, but he sacrifices some suspense in doing so. I would say that this book is less of a thriller, and more of a perplexing riddle(that's not to the books detriment, I don't happen to prefer thrillers anyway). By 50 pages in, we are already introduced to at least 3 seemingly separate stories, and 15 or more characters (among them are 3 Johns, 2 Joans, and a transvestite prostitute who is both Edgar and Eleanor, just to make the who's who more confusing). While it's frustrating at first, I think our befuddlement mirrors the similar feelings of just about all the characters in the story, as they try to work out what it all means along with us. Some things are revealed to both us and them all together in the end. However, it really does take about 100 pages to fall into the rhythm of this book and to find your place in the story. Another reviewer comments that the book seems to "slow down" at about this point---I think the reason it begins to feel slow is because by then we have quite a bit of information about the Book--who has it, where it is, what it essentially says, and so on--and we must wait for John Gower to catch up with us. It's a fun bit of irony--Gower may make his living peddling in information, but in this story even the prostitutes seem to know more than he does. However, it doesn't stay slow very long before the author introduces yet another round of puzzling information for us to chew on. In the end, we find out that there is more to the story than we ever knew. I was actually amazed he managed to tie up all the information and loose ends pretty cleanly and convincingly---although I cannot fathom how anyone begins to write a book with so much going on in it. That said, I want to commend the author of this ambitious novel on a number of other points---the insight into medieval life is fascinating, as is the realistic portrayal of real historical figures, and the inevitable realization that many of our "modern" sins aren't so modern, after all. The cryptography bit was fascinating as well. Overall, this is a splendidly written novel. It is easily read and enjoyed, evocative and interesting, and while it does take a fair amount of mental energy, it goes by quickly. While I can understand this isn't a book for everyone, it has its merits and deserves its praise. I look forward to seeing another work from the author in the future.
    • 5/5
      It is 1385, and a young woman is brutally murdered on the Moorfields outside the London walls. A young prostitute hears the victim's last words and carries a book filled with mysterious prophecies, thrust into her arms by the unfortunate young lady shortly before her encounter with her murderer, to safety. Meanwhile, Geoffrey Chaucer asks his friend, fellow poet and trader in secrets John Gower to track down a book - the selfsame tome the prostitute has in her possession, it later transpires - which might endanger him. Gower's quest takes him from his home next to the priory of St Mary Overey in Southwark to London's Guildhall, Aldgate, the custom house, Oxford and Westminster, and full circle back to the stews in Southwark, and it is about to become very personal ...Written by a medieval historian, this historical crime fiction novel was a surprising delight and page-turner, and a joy to read. The author's familiarity with the period is obvious, recreating the filth, grime, smells and way of life of the common people, as well as the contrasting splendour of the aristocracy and the king and the various political factions surrounding the sovereign, in rich detail. By using just a few unfamiliar, archaic words and infrequent alterations in sentence structure, along with a mix of historic and fictional characters, Bruce Holsinger manages to create the illusion that we are indeed witnessing life during Richard II's turbulent reign. The plot is complex without being complicated, and the narrative switches from a third-person omniscient storyteller to first-person narrator (John Gower), so that the reader is required to concentrate and pay attention; a cast of characters in the prelims is enormously helpful here at the beginning of the novel. All the characters are very well drawn, but I found myself particularly warming to the transvestite prostitute, Edgar/Eleanor Rykener. Several pages of historical notes in the appendix shed more light on this more unfamiliar period in history, and I welcomed a change from the dominant Tudor setting for this novel of murder and conspiracy.This was a very promising start to the literary year, and I wouldn't be surprised if, at the end, this book still featured in the top 5 reads for me. Bruce Holsinger is a name to watch in the historical crime fiction genre and I look forward to his next offering. Highly recommended.(This review was originally written as part of Amazon's Vine programme.)