THE BOOKMAN'S TALE: A NOVEL OF OBSESSION. by Lovett, Charlie - 2013

New York: Viking, 2013. 352 pp, large 8vo (9 1/4" H). "Peter Byerly isn't sure what drew him into this particular bookshop in the Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye. Nine months earlier, the death of his beloved wife, Amada, had left him shattered. The young antiquarian bookseller relocated from North Carolina to the English countryside, hoping to outrun his grief and rediscover the joy he once took in collecting and restoring rare books. But upon opening an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries, Peter is shocked when a portrait of Amanda tumbles out of its pages. Of course, it can't be her. The watercolor is clearly Victorian. Yet the resemblance is uncanny, and Peter becomes obsessed with learning the picture's origins. Peter follows the trail of clues across the centuries - from a raucous London tavern where the unscrupulous bookseller Bartholomew Harbottle plots against the 'upstart crow' William Shakespeare to the unfinished ramparts of an Oxfordshire mansion where a frustrated Victorian painter mourns his lost love and takes revenge on his book-collecting rival. Along the way Peter discovers his holy grail: a priceless literary artifact that could prove the truth about Shakespeare's identity. Fearing the book may be a forgery, Peter races against time to prove its authenticity, evading the clutches of a murderer, meeting a woman who may hold the key to the mystery of the portrait, and finally discovering the truth about his own past and precious Amanda." Book is very slightly bowed. Dust jacket has one minor soft edge crease.. 3rd Printing. Hard Cover. Very Good+/Very Good+.