Feast of All Souls

by Richard Lunn

War. Pestilence. Famine. Heresy. It is a time of great marvels and a time of desperation and despair. Fourteenth century Europe is about to drag itself into the brilliance of the Renaissance; already there are glimmerings of new ideas, new hope. But the present is enmired in war, famine, superstition and pestilence. Some turn frenziedly to bastard religions, enacting pagan rites and orgies by flickering firelight in the dead of night. Others seek to reform the crumbling social and economic order, against those who seek to keep it intact by cruelly repressing insurrection. The institution of the church itself is under threat. And there are those, like the thief Jacopo and his cat Scimmi, who have always lived by their wits and must continue to do so, whether conjuring demons in a friar's travelling show, escaping death on a plague ship, or scaling the walls of a rich merchant's mansion. Richard Lunn has produced a vibrant, unflinching and beautifully written tale of a period of history when it seemed that God had forgotten his Creation and every aspect of the natural order of the world was undergoing change. Both a vivid piece of historical writing and a parable for the present, Feast of All Souls is an extraordinary and compelling novel of resilience and hope.

Get BookMosh