An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears

'A novel that combines the simple pleasures of Agatha Christie with the intellectual subtlety of Umberto Eco, don't let it pass by unread. Brilliantly written, utterly convincing, gripping from the first page to the last, An Instance of the Fingerpost is a magnificent tour de force. It retains the pacing and drive of a good mystery, but adds a complex and original structure and historical and intellectual depth to make a striking and memorable novel. Oliver Cromwell, rebel and 'lord protector' of England, is dead, and the monarchy of Charles II has been restored to power. Four witnesses describe the events surrounding his death: Marco da Cola, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion Jack Prescott, the son of a supposed traitor to the Royalist cause, determined to vindicate his father John Wallis, chief cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles II, a mathematician, theologian and master spy and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiquary.Įach one tells their version of what happened but only one reveals the extraordinary truth. An Instance of the Fingerpost is vastly more ambitious than Iain Pears' earlier work, a series of seven novels about a detective with the Italian Art Theft Squad. An Instance of the Fingerpost is set in the early years of the Restoration, a time in English history marked by political intrigue and social unrest. Set in Oxford in the 1660s - a time and place of great intellectual, religious, scientific and political ferment - this remarkable novel centres around a young woman, Sarah Blundy, who stands accused of the murder of Robert Grove, a fellow of New College.

'A fictional tour de force which combines erudition with mystery' PD James

An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears