A Burnable Book: A Novel

July 20, 2015A Review by Anthony T. Riggio of the book “A Burnable Book” by Bruce HolsingerI purchased this book from Kindle because the description sounded interesting. I presumed it would be like a Ken Follett novel. Was I wrong! The author is a bit too pedantic for my taste and his scholarship in this period was much too academic for me. I nearly deleted the book after a couple of chapters and then went back to Amazon to see other reviews and most of the reviewers I read were preoccupied by sex and mentioned it several times in their reviews. I concluded that “okay I can handle that”. My problem with totally enjoying this book was the language was too slanted toward replicating the English spoken during the 14th century in England. Do not know if the author was successful as I never read the Canterbury Tales and was one of those students that relied on summaries to get through the ordeal of the archaic language.There were too many words that I could not find an exact meaning for and I felt like I felt in Law school when I opened my first year book on Contracts and the very first case assigned was HAWKINS Vs McGEE a common law case in contracts. The very first word in the very first paragraph began with a word I never heard of, to wit, Assumpsit. I knew I was in trouble and had to go to Blacks Law dictionary. I asked myself how a paragraph could begin with a word I never encountered. Right then, I concluded that my degree in History failed me.In continuing my reading of “A Burnable book” I had to leap over a multitude of verbal hurdles of ancient words. I thanked the Almighty that this book was published in the Kindle format and had access to the built in Oxford dictionary which was frequently used. There some words that I had to glean by “the braille” method and were not in the dictionary and were probably words of the “street”, spoken by the lower elements of society in London at that time.I continued to plow through this work with several profanities uttered by me and a great struggle to keep characters in order and actions by them totally out of my time element. By the time I got to the thirty percent place in the book, I was ready to delete it from my Kindle and send a scorching note to the author. Notwithstanding, I continued my struggle and by the 45% mark of the book, my interests peaked and I was hooked. Gosh, half the book to get to the “I need to find out what happens” point.The period of time was during the life of Geoffrey Chaucer and involved a book (the Burnable Book) written by someone (presumably Chaucer) though the reader doesn’t learn of the authorship until the end and then finds out that several people had tweaked the contents to make the book and its goal prophetic and reveals a plot of regicide against King Richard II. Not an ordinary plot but rather a plot within a plot being unwound by the narrator of the book, a contemporary poet, of Chaucer, to wit, John Grower. The plot(s) are uncovered by Gower and several others and it would seem the guilty are justifiably punished. I will not give that away but if you understand politics, you know there are strange bedfellows.The sexual preoccupations by some of the reviewers, is probably based on their own frames of reference or their celebrating the salaciousness of some of the scenes. The idea of sex in this book is overrated but shows that the characters were real people with real people proclivities.During this period the role of the Church is as one would expect, namely, involved in everything at all strata of society. The aristocracy was well depicted and what the reader must be ready for is the level of the intellect of, the aristocrats and the public leaders and lawyers, they were quite literate in not only their own language but also in Latin and perhaps Greek too. As Poets, Chaucer and Gower had to understand the concept of mathematics in language usage. To be able to adhere to the discipline of meter in writing is something, I believe, we have lost albeit the author herein, namely, Bruce Holsinger. God bless him and pity his students.I gave this work four stars because of the intricacies of the very creative plot(s); not because of the ease of reading. I do not have too many friends who would have “stuck to” the book and muscle their way through it like I did but I guess my OCD forced me through it and to write a review. In the final analysis, it was enjoyable.

An interesting plot with the backdrop of Medieval London and Europe. Maybe a glossary of some of the ole English words would have been useful but did not affect understanding of the storyline. Could have been about fifty pages shorter.

Although I'm not usually a reader of mysteries, historical or otherwise, I was intrigued by the appearance of poet John Gower as the main character and his friend, Geoffrey Chaucer, as a secondary character. Holsinger creates a detailed and fascinating portrait at medieval London (or, as he would have it, three cities: London, Westminster, and Southwark), from the court of Richard II to the stews of Gropecunt Lane. The first chapter is designed to draw the reader in, and that it did. A young woman, Agnes Fonteyn, is hiding in the bushes, watching a horrific scene. Another young woman, this one dressed in rich attire, has just shoved a book into Agnes's hands as her pursuer approaches. Viciously beating the stranger, he keeps asking a question that Agnes does not understand--"Doovray libroo?"--before brutally killing her with a hammer. And thus the mystery begins.Gower, a lawyer as well as a part-time poet, hears rumors of a mysterious book full of cryptic prophecies that describe the deaths of thirteen kings of England, the last being the current young king, Richard II. The book, and cloth that covers it, point towards the king's uncle, John of Gaunt, as the mastermind of the assassination plot. Gower's search for the book and his efforts to unravel its secrets take him from the Inns of Court to the remote libraries of Oxford, from the royal court to the brothels of Southwark. And he is not the only one interested in the book. His friend Chaucer has asked him to find it, and Agnes, her sister Millicent, and their friend, a transvestite prostitute named Edgar/Elinor, at first ponder its mysteries but then decide to seek a buyer. And there are many interested in this burnable book.Along the way, Holsinger provides plenty of subplots. There's Gower's relationship with his estranged son Simon; Elinor's attempts to save her butcher's apprentice brother Gerald from his brutal master; the power and pull of Kathryn Swynford, Gaunt's mistress; Simon's service to an English mercenary in Italy; and the sad story of the murdered young woman.So with all this going on, why did my interest start to wane about 2/3 through the book? I can only attribute it to my lack of interest in the mystery genre. Regular readers of historical mysteries will undoubtedly find it more appealing. The book is very well written and the world it creates fully fleshed out; the characters are each, in their own ways, fascinating and sympathetic; and the books structure, a series of short chapters moving amongst the various characters, works well. But I'm just not a fan of the genre and will likely pass on the sequel.

Mr Holsinger is a respected academic; one of the leading lights in the world of mediaeval English history and literature; and who has decided to write a novel. His knowledge of the period is plain on every page, and the reader is easily transported to a vibrant and living mediaeval London. As a writer, Mr Holsinger is above average as well, and the book reads quite easily. The cast of historical characters is interesting, and the period (with limitations I'll get to later) is promising. Unfortunately, all of these good points are let down by the plot. Briefly, a book has been stolen. It is a book which contains details of a plot to murder King Richard II, and has already been the cause of at least one murder. This book needs to be recovered at all costs. The book, of course, is a Maguffin, which is fair enough - but it remains an utterly unconvincing one. The plot is tangled and stretches credulity too far; and the resolution falls flat, not least because of the role played by a key character, who was introduced on about page 40 and then not mentioned for 400 pages.The protagonist is John Gower, a fourteenth century poet (of whom I'd heard, though not read), who has been overshadowed by his friend Chaucer (who also features). As well as a poet, Gower is a "Trader in information." As a literary detective, however, he falls flat - to the extent that it's not really him that solves the mystery.The book is set in 1385 - an odd choice. This is three years after the Peasants' Revolt and the trial of John Wycliffe for heresy. Both of these events get a passing mention, but surely the turmoil of those years would've made a far better background for a story centred around a conspiracy?The story also drags in John Hawkwood; another fascinating character from the period, who is wasted, and who could easily have been edited out without any loss of impact.But my biggest gripe (and I know that I'm a nerd) is that the mysterious book contains thirteen prophesies concerning the deaths of English kings from William the Conqueror to Richard II inclusive. Except that this span encompasses twelve kings, not thirteen. At first, I was congratulating myself for having spotted a plot twist in advance, but it turns out that Mr Holsinger simply miscounted, and neither he nor his editors noticed. This, for me, is an unforgiveable error.

Superbly written Middle Ages intrigue, set in the reign of Richard II. There's a tangible, tactile & contemporary style to the narrative as it moves fluidly between the fleshpots and political arenas of long ago London - you can practically smell the sex and fear wafting out of the pages.John Gower is a complex central character. He's made his way through life trading on others' weaknesses and secrets, yet has a firm sense of his own moral code. A hero for a corrupt world. When Chaucer embroils him in the search for a dangerous book his own secret looks like unravelling. Gower's travels through Southwark and Gropecunt Lane show how vast (in terms of living standards) yet small (in terms of interaction and traversing heirachal levels) was the gap between poor whores and affluent men.The book in question has the power to bring down the highest in the land: it's disappeared and therein lies an even greater threat. Gower is on the case.I had to read this through to the end in one go - don't burn this book, gobble it up!

I was looking forward to this book, the title intrigued, the era of the book I enjoy reading about.Unfortunately I found the book heavy going, the plot a bit too over complicated and over written. The intrigue for the mystery around the book rather lost its shine when it seems all of London know what the book contains and are also quoting from the hidden book!The idea of the plot is a good idea, but I just could not get on with the writing and thought the book would never end!

I really enjoyed this book, the author obviously knows his period back to front and inside out. I found the evocation of medieval life fascinating, you could all but smell the dung !! The characters(especially the mauds) came alive off the page and the dialogue was convincing without the faux Old English used by authors of less skill.What prevented it from having five stars for me was the story which I found a bit thin, but all in all I would be very interested to read more by this author.

A very good historical thriller. With a very likeable and believable main character. So I've just ordered the next book in the series. I paticularly loved that the author involved people from all ages and classes from rich to poor from good and evil.and somehow they were all involved with the central plot. It's definitely a book I would read again. Give it a go! !!!