Bruce Holsinger

The Invention of Fire Bruce Holsinger

Publisher Marketing: The author of the acclaimed medieval mystery "A Burnable Book" once again brings fourteenth-century London alive in all its color and detail in this riveting thriller featuring medieval poet and fixer John Gower a twisty tale rife with intrigue, danger mystery, and murder. Though he is one of England s most acclaimed intellectuals, John Gower is no stranger to London s wretched slums and dark corners, and he knows how to trade on the secrets of the kingdom s most powerful men. When the bodies of sixteen unknown men are found in a privy, the sheriff of London seeks Gower s help. The men s wounds ragged holes created by an unknown object are unlike anything the sheriff s men have ever seen. Tossed into the sewer, the bodies were meant to be found. Gower believes the men may have been used in an experiment a test for a fearsome new war weapon his informants call the handgonne, claiming it will be the future of death if its design can be perfected. Propelled by questions of his own, Gower turns to courtier and civil servant Geoffrey Chaucer, who is working on some poems about pilgrims that Gower finds rather vulgar. Chaucer thinks he just may know who commissioned this new weapon, an extremely valuable piece of information that some will pay a high price for and others will kill to conceal." Review Citations: Library Journal Prepub Alert 11/01/2014 pg. 59 (EAN 9780062356451, Hardcover) Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2015 (EAN 9780062356451, Hardcover) Library Journal 03/01/2015 pg. 80 (EAN 9780062356451, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Publishers Weekly 02/23/2015 (EAN 9780062356451, Hardcover) - *Starred Review Booklist 03/15/2015 pg. 46 (EAN 9780062356451, Hardcover) Shelf Awareness 05/01/2015 (EAN 9780062356451, Hardcover) Contributor Bio:  Holsinger, Bruce Bruce Holsinger is the author of the first John Gower novel, A Burnable Book, and an award-winning scholar of the medieval period who teaches at the University of Virginia. He is a Guggenheim Fellow and a recipient of research fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the National Endowment for the Humanities.