Synopsis
A literary mystery set in 17th-century Oxford, in which a Fellow of New College is murdered, and a young woman is tried and executed as the killer. A "New York Times" Notable Book for 1998.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1998-03-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 691 pages | | Height: | 10.0 in | | Width: | 7.3 in | | Thickness: | 2.0 in | | Weight: | 39.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
We are in England in the 1660s, Charles II has been restored to the throne following years of civil war and Oliver Cromwell's short-lived republic. Oxford is the intellectual seat of the country, a place of great scientific, religious, and political ferment. A fellow of New College is found dead in suspicious circumstances. A young woman is accused of his murder. We hear the story of the death from four witnesses: an Italian physician intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; the son of an alleged Royalist traitor; a master cryptographer who has worked for both Cromwell and the king; and a renowned Oxford antiquarian. Each tells his own version of what happened. Only one reveals the extraordinary truth.
We are in England in the 1660s. Charles II has been restored to the throne following years of civil war and Cromwell's short-lived republic. Oxford is the intellectual seat of the country, a place of great scientific, religious, and political ferment. A fellow of New College is found dead in suspicious circumstances. A young woman is accused of his murder. We hear the story of the death from four witnesses: an Italian physician intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; the son of an alleged Royalist traitor; a master cryptographer who has worked for both Cromwell and the king; and a renowned Oxford antiquarian. Each tells his own version of what happened. Only one reveals the extraordinary truth. With rights sold for record-breaking sums around the world, An Instance of the Fingerpost is destined to become a major international publishing event. Deserving of comparison to the works of John Fowles and Umberto Eco, Iain Pears's novel is an ingenious tour de force: an utterly compelling historical mystery with a plot that twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing until the very last page.
Industry Reviews
"For almost 700 pages, Pears spins an intricate narrative web around the murder of an obnoxious Oxford don....One of the pleasures of reading 'An Instance of the Fingerpost' is the opportunity it affords to become a kind of amateur expert on daily life in Restoration England. And it is not just the physical world that is resurrected. Pears has steeped himself in the reading and the attitudes of the period, so that his characters...embody its rich contradictions..."
New York Times Book Review - Andrew Miller (03/22/1998)
"Nothing in Pears's five archly amusing art mysteries hints at the range or depth or boldness of this multifaceted scrutiny of a murder case in Restoration Oxford....'Rashomon' meets 'The Name of the Rose' in a triumphant triple-decker that knocks every speck of dust from the historical mystery."
Newman
"A whopping good read of Dickensian breadth....Deftly plotted, briskly written."
Wagner
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