Perspective(s): A Novel - Hardcover

Binet, Laurent

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374614601 ISBN 13: 9780374614607

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2025

Synopsis

One of The Washington Post's 50 Best Novels of the Year
A finalist for the 2026 Dublin Literary Award

“As full of epic characters as the Sistine Chapel ceiling . . . Sinfully fun to read.” ―Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker

“[A] thorough success . . . A dazzling romp.” ―Steven Poole, The Guardian

“Historical fiction doesn’t get much better than this.” ―George Cochrane, The Telegraph (5/5 stars)

One of Vulture's Best Books of 2025 (So Far)

A pulse-quickening murder mystery set in Renaissance Florence by the renowned author of HHhH.

As dawn breaks over the city of Florence on New Year’s Day 1557, Jacopo da Pontormo is discovered lying on the floor of a church, stabbed through the heart. Above him are the frescoes he labored over for more than a decade―masterpieces all, rivaling the works of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. When guards search his quarters, they find an obscene painting of Venus and Cupid―with the face of Venus replaced by that of Maria de’ Medici, the Duke of Florence’s oldest daughter. The city erupts in chaos.

Who could have committed these crimes: murder and lèse-majesté? Giorgio Vasari, the great art historian, is picked to lead the investigation. Letters start to fly back and forth―between Maria and her aunt Catherine de’ Medici, the queen of France; between Catherine and the scheming Piero Strozzi; and between Vasari and Michelangelo―carrying news of political plots and speculations about the identity of Pontormo’s killer. The truth, when it comes to light, is as shocking as the bold new artworks that have made Florence the red-hot center of European art and intrigue.

Bursting with characters and historical color, Laurent Binet’s Perspective(s) is a whodunit like no other―a labyrinthine murder mystery that shows us Renaissance Florence as we’ve never seen it before. This is a dark, dazzling, unforgettable read.

About this title

About the Authors

Laurent Binet was born in Paris in 1972. His first novel, HHhH, was named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times and received the Prix Goncourt du Premier Roman. His other novels include The Seventh Function of Language and Civilizations.

Sam Taylor has written for The Guardian, Financial Times, Vogue and Esquire, and has translated such works as the award-winning HHhH by Laurent Binet, and the internationally-bestselling The Truth about the Harry Quebert Affair by Joël Dicker.

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374614601
• ISBN 13: 9780374614607
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272