First published 2003
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow gathers with his fellow scholars in 1865 Boston to complete their ambitious project. The poet works alongside Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, and publisher J. T. Fields to bring Dante's Divine Comedy to American readers for the first time. Their literary circle faces fierce opposition from Harvard's conservative elite, who view the Italian masterwork as dangerous foreign influence that will corrupt American minds like the immigrants flooding Boston Harbor. The scholars call themselves the Dante Club and meet regularly to refine their translation work. Their careful plans crumble when brutal murders begin plaguing Boston and Cambridge. The killings seem to mirror the punishments described in Dante's Inferno. Longfellow and his companions realize they possess unique knowledge that could identify the murderer. They must use their expertise in Dante's work to track down the killer while protecting their translation project and their own lives.
Genres: american-fiction, historical-fiction, mystery, crime, 19th-century, academic
Vibes: atmospheric, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, historical-setting, literary-fiction
Setting: Boston, Cambridge
Period: 1865
615 pages · Hardcover · Wheeler Publishing