TheBookman's Tale

After the death of his wife, Peter Byerly, a young antiquarian bookseller, relocates from the States to the English countryside, where he hopes to rediscover the joys of life through his passion for collecting and restoring rare books. But when he opens an eighteenth-century study on Shakespeare forgeries, he is shocked to find a Victorian portrait strikingly similar to his wife tumble out of its pages, and becomes obsessed with tracking down its origins. As he follows the trail back to the nineteenth centuy and then to Shakespeare's time, Peter learns the truth about his own past and unearths a book that might prove that Shakespeare was indeed the author of all his plays.A gripping literary mystery that is compulsively readable until the thrilling end. For fans of Geraldine Brooks's People of the Book, Shakespeare aficionados, and bibliophiles.A pleasurably escapist mystery is intricately layered with plots, murders, feuds, romances, forgeries-and antiquarian book dealing.I don't read much fiction. I'm picky. But I loved racing through Charlie Lovett's The Bookman's Tale, a richly rewarding thriller filled with real-world details about the discovery of a rare book that may or may not be a priceless Shakespearean artifact. Fun for everyone who's ever fondled a soft leather binding!It is a beautifully-crafter book that has the reader enthralled, especially the bibliophiles among us. It is so refreshing to find a thriller with a new angle.