Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Book of Unholy Mischief by Elle Newmark (2008)

I can't resist novels about books, so this is historical fiction from late 15th century Venice, with word of the New World in the background. Seems like Venice has been the setting of quite a few books I've read, and I will have to visit it some day.

Luciano is an orphan, who gets nabbed while stealing a pomegranate in the market by the chef of the doge (chief magistrate) of Venice. But the chef makes him an apprentice, instead of punishing him, thus getting him off the streets, and he is even able to pass food scraps on to a couple of his friends still outside. Obviously the author is a lover of food, as the descriptions of the chef's meals and cooking just makes the mouth water. One can see she has researched food of those times, when potatoes had been recently introduced, tomatoes were considered poisonous by most, chocolate and coffee were not well known, etc. Though this was interesting in and of itself, the food and it's preparation has a deeper meaning in the book.

The buzz around town and in the palace halls is that there is a book out there that contains the secrets of alchemy, the elixir of youth, and love potions. Interesting that most of the people we meet want the book for just one of these purposes. It turns out to be knowledge being passed on through an unofficial network of guardians, and it contains things like the gnostic gospels. The powers of Venice are afraid of whatever knowledge it might contain and offer a huge reward to anyone who finds it, thus creating a frenzy among the populace.

Luciano is a clever lad, learns not only about the kitchen work, but spies on the doge and his guests to learn more about what is going on in Venice. He also is besotted with a novice in a nunnery. As he gets to know the chef better, they get involved in adventures surrounding "the book." All in all a fun read.

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