First published 2013
Peter Byerly browses a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye, nine months after his wife Amanda's death drove him from North Carolina to the English countryside. The antiquarian bookseller has lost his passion for the rare books that once consumed him. When he opens an eighteenth-century study of Shakespeare forgeries, a Victorian watercolor portrait falls from its pages. The woman in the painting looks exactly like Amanda. Peter knows this is impossible, yet he cannot ignore the uncanny resemblance. He begins tracing the portrait's history, following clues that lead him backward through time from the Victorian era to Shakespeare's own period. His investigation becomes an obsession that connects him to Amanda's memory and forces him to confront truths about his own life. As Peter digs deeper into the mystery, he uncovers evidence of a book that could settle the greatest debate in English literature once and for all.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, mystery, books-about-books
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, obsession, second-chance
Setting: Hay-on-Wye, North Carolina, England
Period: 18th century, Victorian era, Shakespeare's time
352 pages · Hardcover · Viking