Der Trost des Nachthimmels

Omar Khayyam, mathematician, sometime poet, and most important, astronomer at court of sultan. Story traces his life in Nishapur then finally in Isfahan, where he dies. He solves a mystery--poisoning of a friend's father. He marries the sister, Sukayna, and they have a blissful life together, in spite of the early death of their daughter from illness, until her murder which he can never forget.. He is involved in some of the happenings of those times. Always he returns to his scanning the skies to observe the stars, the solace of the night sky of the title. It is a relaxation for him. He spends the last year of his life in the company of a Bosian, Vukac, who later mentions his importance to him in his own memoirs.
I enjoyed following show more the story but philosophical musings and the later unsolved murders left me cold.
The language was complicated with too long sentences. The novel did give a personality to Omar. The cover shows one of his Rubaiyat. show less