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  • Published: 1 June 2011
  • ISBN: 9781446466230
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 704

An Instance of the Fingerpost

Explore the murky world of 17th-century Oxford in this iconic historical thriller




Lust, betrayal, secrets, murder... Brilliantly written, utterly convincing, gripping from the first page to the last, An Instance of the Fingerpost is a magnificent tour de force.

'A fictional tour de force which combines erudition with mystery' PD James

Set in Oxford in the 1660s - a time and place of great intellectual, religious, scientific and political ferment - this remarkable novel centres around a young woman, Sarah Blundy, who stands accused of the murder of Robert Grove, a fellow of New College. Four witnesses describe the events surrounding his death: Marco da Cola, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; Jack Prescott, the son of a supposed traitor to the Royalist cause, determined to vindicate his father; John Wallis, chief cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles II, a mathematician, theologian and master spy; and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiquary.

Each one tells their version of what happened but only one reveals the extraordinary truth. Brilliantly written, utterly convincing, gripping from the first page to the last, An Instance of the Fingerpost is a magnificent tour de force.

'A novel that combines the simple pleasures of Agatha Christie with the intellectual subtlety of Umberto Eco, don't let it pass by unread.' The Times

  • Published: 1 June 2011
  • ISBN: 9781446466230
  • Imprint: Vintage Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 704

About the author

Iain Pears

Iain Pears was born in 1955. He is the author of seven detective novels, a book of art history and countless articles on artistic, financial and historical subjects, and three novels, An Instance of the Fingerpost, The Dream of Scipio and The Portrait.

Also by Iain Pears

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Praise for An Instance of the Fingerpost

A deeply scholarly thriller, but with the learning worn lightly and all the elements of the plot clicking together smoothly

Independent

A fictional tour de force which combines erudition with mystery

P D James

Brilliantly researched and imagined...a remarkable achievement

Sunday Telegraph

One of the very best historical novels ever written

Tom Holland

The best fiction I have read in a long time

Clive Stafford Smith, Times Literary Supplement, *Books of the Year*

The kind of book that has you reading it by torchlight under the bedclothes. An historical detective story set to rival The Name of the Rose, it provides the rare pleasure of combining an intricate plot with insight into the political intrigues of Restoration England

The Times

Anyone who reads this will want to tell their friends about it... This is a novel that combines the simple pleasures of Agatha Christie with the intellectual subtlety of Umberto Eco, don't let it pass by unread

Sunday Times

Crammed with period detail, it's as much a novel of ideas as it is of character

Val McDermid, The Week

Pears brings to life a vibrant 17th-century world...a tour de force

Daily Telegraph

Pear's novel interweaves the grand narratives and the personal tragedies of history with a slippery thriller of audacious ingenuity

Independent on Sunday

Plenty of politics, high and low and the portrayal of college life and vicious, teeming with sycophants and thick with double dealing

Guardian