The Falconer's Knot: A Story of Friars, Flirtation and Foul Play - Hardcover

Hoffman, Mary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1599900564 ISBN 13: 9781599900568

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens, 2007

Synopsis

The award-winning author of the Stravaganza series has done it again with this atmospheric adventure set in Renaissance Italy. Sixteen-year-old Silvano da Montacuto has wealth, good looks, and a new hawk-but none of these can save him when his bloody dagger is found near a dead body. For his own protection, he is sent to a Franciscan House, where he poses as a novice, or a young monk. There, he lays eyes on Chiara, a lovely novice at a nearby abbey who is also living in secret. When they fall in love, their secret identities make it impossible to reveal their feelings to one another.

Murder seems to have followed Silvano, and soon several other dead bodies turn up. Who is committing the crimes? Will a young man accused of multiple murders be able to clear himself? And what about the girl he adores? Fans of Mary Hoffman's critically acclaimed Stravaganza series won't be disappointed in the romance, colorful web of intrigue, and rich, marvelous setting.

About this title

About the Author

Mary Hoffman is a bestselling author and reviewer. She is the author of the Stravaganza series, which was called "utterly fascinating" in a starred review from Booklist. She lives with her family in England.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Hoffman set her acclaimed Stravanganza novels in an alternate world that resembled sixteenth-century Italy. In this suspenseful mystery, Hoffman leaves the alternate worlds behind and locates her story in the real-world history of fourteenth-century Umbria. Sixteen-year-old Silvano, a handsome nobleman, admires Angelica, a local merchant's wife, from afar. Then Angelica's husband is murdered, and Silvano becomes the prime suspect. Until his innocence is proven, Silvano takes refuge in a Franciscan friary, where he enjoys making pigments for local artists and finds himself attracted to a lovely novice at the adjoining abbey. Then a series of mysterious deaths puts Silvano under greater suspicion, and he determines to find the murderer. The publisher has compared this novel to Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose (1983), and there are certainly similarities between the books' friary settings and central mysteries. Hoffman makes the story her own with an exciting tangle of murder suspects and romantic intrigues. The plot is crowded with characters, and the intricate details about pigment preparation and fourteenth-century art and life will slow some readers and fascinate others. Hoffman creates utterly engaging characters and vivid settings, and she skillfully turns up the suspense, wrapping her varied plot threads into a satisfying whole. Readers will race through to the satisfying, fairy-tale conclusion, which includes some empowering twists for the female characters. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1599900564
• ISBN 13: 9781599900568
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304