Book description
John Stone, a man so wealthy that in the years before World War One
he was able to manipulate markets, industries and indeed whole
countries and continents, has been found dead in mysterious
circumstances. His beautiful young widow commissions a journalist to
carry out an unusual bequest in his will but as he begins his research
he soon discovers a story far more complex than he could have ever
imagined...
As the story moves backwards through time, from London in 1909 to
Paris in 1809, before concluding in Venice in 1867, the mystery of
John Stone's life and loves begins to unravel. The result is a
spellbinding novel that is both a quest for the truth, a love story
that spans decades and a compelling murder mystery.
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
.
