Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The Cybelene Conspiracy (2005)by Albert Noyer
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Set in 5th century Ravenna, this mystery novel is made dense and detailed by Noyer's vibrant descriptions of social life, customs, and culture. Surgeon Getorius Asterius and his wife, medica Arcadia, become embroiled in a strange mystery when they find a dead eunuch in an Arian church and a pregnant woman who claims to be a Vestal Virgin. The plot grows more elaborate when it is discovered that a local Senator might be involved with smuggling and counterfeiting and the Arian presbytera is mysteriously killed. Though this is the second book in a series, it stands alone nicely and I didn't feel hampered by not reading the first. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Series
A eunuch archpriest and an unscrupulous senator smuggle products from China to Italy that will change the course of western history. Surgeon Getorius Asterius, his wife Arcadia, the eunuch archpriest of a pagan fertility cult, the female head of a heretical Arian church, and an ambitious senator in league with a Chinese merchant: these are the prime movers in this mystery set in Ravenna, Italy, in A.D. 440. When Getorius is summoned to examine the castrated body of a youth found by Thecla in her Arian church, who is the sobbing Vestal Virgin nearby? Why is the senator smuggling counterfeit Western coins to the Eastern Empire, and contraband Chinese products back to Ravenna? Thecla's coded message leads to a secret tunnel and the sinister temple of Cybele, whose devotees are self-mutilated eunuchs. In a stunning climax, the conspirators try to escape Ravenna, planning to sell one product in Egypt, but failing to recognize the far more deadly nature of the other. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
This is not fine writing, and the research is not worn lightly; in fact, yes, there's much to mock - but it's an interesting and neglected period, and the author does his best to animate it in a way that might have been better done by others, but hasn't been.
A gauntlet, then: do it better, and I for one will read your version. ( )