The Kingdom of Light - Couverture souple

'Dante vividly and fantastically comes to life in this amazing historical thriller. If you love The Name of the Rose, then you must read The Kingdom of Light' Glenn Cooper, author of Library of the Dead

Italy, August 1300. A mysterious ship is discovered at the mouth of the Arno River. The crew has been poisoned and the only clues are a mysterious mechanical device and a page containing the words The Kingdom of Light . Dante suspects that the damaged instrument is an astrolabe and is the work of al-Jazari, the legendary Persian inventor. But others are also after the astrolabe and will stop at nothing to lay their hands on it...

When Dante returns to Florence to work on his magnum opus, the Divine Comedy, he discovers that the renegade monk, Brinando, is stirring up trouble and recruiting Florentines for a new crusade to liberate the Holy Land. Is this disturbing new development somehow linked to the deaths of the galley crew?

'For a series character distinctively different, it is hard to beat the Italian author Giulio Leoni's trick of casting Dante Alighieri, the medieval author of The Divine Comedy, as a sleuth' The Times

Strange news arrives in Florence: on the banks of the river Arno a galley has been found, the entire crew dead. Dante Alighieri, Prior to the City, suspects poison. The only clue is a damaged mechanical device, possibly of Arabic origin. Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, known for his obsession with science and medicine, would have been one of the few who could understand such an instrument. At a time when conspiracy theories abound concerning the death of the Emperor, is this a coincidence or something more sinister?

Whilst working on his magnum opus the Divine Comedy, Dante returns to the city only to discover the renegade monk, Brindano, stirring up trouble and recruiting Florentines for a new crusade to liberate the Holy Land.

In The Kingdom of Light, Leoni paints an atmospheric medieval Florence, seething with plots and intrigue, and in Dante delivers a credible, intuitive detective and a fascinating man.