The Geographer's Library

Fasman, Jon

ISBN 10: 0143036629 / ISBN 13: 9780143036623

Published by Penguin Books, New York, 2006

About this Item

An alchemical mystery, fast-paced, absorbing. Bright clean PB 1st. 5-1/2 x 8-1/2, 372 pp, b/w i;us. VeryGood unmarked, no spine creases Trade PB in wraps w color inset.

Seller Inventory # 43989

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Geographer's Library
• Publisher: Penguin Books, New York
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0143036629
• ISBN 13: 9780143036623
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st printing.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fiction, Poetry, Literature, Criticism

About this title

Synopsis

"A brainy noir . . . [a] winningly cryptic tale . . . a cabinet of wonders written by a novelist whose surname and sensibility fit comfortably on the shelf between Umberto Eco and John Fowles." —Los Angeles Times

"One of the year’s most literate and absorbing entertainments." —Kirkus Reviews

Jon Fasman’s dizzyingly plotted intellectual thriller suggests a marriage between Dan Brown and Donna Tartt. When reporter Paul Tomm is assigned to investigate the mysterious death of a reclusive academic, he finds himself pursuing leads that date back to the twelfth century and the theft of alchemical instruments from the geographer of the Sicilian court. Now someone is trying to retrieve them. Interspersed with the present action are the stories of the men and women who came to possess those charmed—and sometimes cursed—artifacts, which have powers that go well beyond the transmutation of lead into gold. Deftly combining history, magic, suspense, and romance—and as handsomely illustrated as an ancient incunabulum—The Geographer’s Library is irresistible.

About the Author

Jon Fasman was born in Chicago in 1975 and grew up in Washington, D.C. He was educated at Brown and Oxford universities and has worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C., New York, Oxford, and Moscow. His writing has appeared in The Times Literary Supplement, Slate, Legal Affairs, the Moscow Times, and The Washington Post. He is now a writer and an editor for The Economist's Web site.