THE BOOKMAN'S TALE.

THE BOOKMAN'S TALE by CHARLIE LOVETT.

SOURCE: Received for review from Alma Books.

A mysterious portrait ignites an antiquarian bookseller's search - through time and the works of Shakespeare - for his lost love.

After the death of his wife, Peter Byerly, a young antiquarian bookseller, relocates from the States to the English countryside, where he hopes to rediscover the joys of life through his passion for collecting and restoring rare books. But when he opens an eighteenth-century study on Shakespeare forgeries, he is shocked to find a Victorian portrait strikingly similar to his wife tumble out of its pages, and becomes obsessed with tracking down its origins. As he follows the trail back to the nineteenth century and then to Shakespeare's time, Peter learns the truth about his own past and unearths a book that might prove that Shakespeare was indeed the author of all his plays.
..... Outer back cover

FIRST SENTENCE (Hey-on-Wye, Wales, Wednesday, 15th February 1995): Wales could be cold in February.

MEMORABLE MOMENT (Page 362): "You've read far too many murder mysteries set in old English houses. What Agatha Christie has done to the image of this country!"

MY THOUGHTS: A cleverly penned historical mystery combined with a wonderfully tender and moving romance at the heart of which is a fascinating story about the conservation and forgery of rare literary masterpieces.

With a host of memorable characters, many of whom struck a chord deep within, and a plot that follows the changing of hands of a book that may or may not have been a forgery.The Bookman's Tale, set in three time periods (the mid 1990's, the 1980's and and the Elizabethan time of Shakespeare), sees the author seamlessly and skillfully weave an accomplished and powerful story that I found to be provocative and heart-stoppingly descriptive. 

Every inch a work of passion, the author's adoration for antique books shine through. Not just for fans of the Bard, this is very much a read for all those who love books about books.

Disclaimer:  Read and reviewed on behalf of publishers, ALMA BOOKS, I was merely asked for my honest opinion, no financial compensation was asked for nor given.
Please note All original content on http://pettywitter.blogspot.co.uk/ is created by the website owner, including but not limited to text, design, code, images, photographs and videos are considered to be the Intellectual Property of the website owner, whether copyrighted or not, and are protected by DMCA Protection Services using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act Title 17 Chapter 512 (c)(3). Reproduction or re-publication of this content is prohibited without permission.
In addition I would also urge that if you are reading this on any other page you contact the original blog owner/reviewer.