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Mar 23, 2018Brontina66 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book was an incredibly pleasant discovery and I definitely recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in the Elizabethan period. The story is told by two narrators, one in first and one in third person. The narration alternates between 2009 and 1603, USA and England. One of the stories is a modern thriller: murders, thefts, chases, and even a treasure map with the consequent treasure hunt. But the kind of treasure indicated in the encrypted map is not what you might expect. The second story, set in the 17th century, is about Thomas Harriot (one of the most important Elizabethan scientists and intellectuals) and his love story with Margaret, a literate maid turned lab assistant. The tres d'union between these two levels of narration is the School of Night. Walter Ralegh - intellectual, soldier, courtier - falls in disgrace with Queen Elizabeth I when he secretly married one of her ladies. Exiled to his house in Dorset, he invites the most brilliant minds of his time (including Christopher Marlowe and Harriot) to create a sort of secret academy. They meet only at night and keep no records of their conversations - very dangerous conversations, about forbidden topics (paganism, atheism, dark arts, government...) - but they are free to speak their mind. They will all pay for this, all except Shakespeare, who gives the academy the name of "School of Night" in his "Love's Labour's Lost." I forgot, in the book Shakespeare is Marlowe's lover and attends some secret meetings of Ralegh's guests. Well, I enjoyed every page of this book. The historical details, the humor, the plot: everything had me hooked from the first sentence. I highly recommend this book, also as a starting point for some research into Elizabethan culture.