SCIMITAR tells of the heroic exploits of a young Renaissance bibliophile during the Turkish wars of the 15th century.
The date is 1439 and Eduardo Ferrucci, a young Italian working in a bookshop in Florence, is unwittingly trapped in a conspiracy by agents of foreign powers. He is banished to Constantinople by the Florentine authorities and forced to spy on the Greeks. The Turkish forces have surrounded the city and are on the verge of invading Europe. SCIMITAR follows the life and loves of Ferrucci in the dangerous world during the last days of the Eastern Roman Empire, his eventual betrayal, his part in the great siege of the city by the Turks in 1453, his subsequent role as ambassador for the Turkish Sultan back in Florence and his final revenge on those who had betrayed him many years earlier. But Ferrucci’s first love was always books and during his exile In Constantinople he makes time to search for the remains of a secret text, part of which he had found in a Greek codex in Florence. Finally, after many years, he discovers and deciphers the whole text and is able to locate documents which have a decisive influence on the history of Renaissance culture. This edition includes an introduction by the translator describing the discovery of the original manuscript of this story as well as a transcription of one of the documents found by Ferrucci.
Scimitar won the silver medal for Historical Fiction in the Independent Publishers Book Awards for 2011.
BookPleasures.com
Bookpleasures
“An absolutely splendid historical novel……any one of the several threads of plot would make for compelling reading but the combination skillfully developed in tandem ups the stakes, the suspense and the ultimate satisfaction when all stories are resolved and questions answered. If you loved such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo, Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria Quartet, Robert Graves’ I, Claudius, you will certainly be delighted by Scimitar.”
(Sandra Sanchez)
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