Book description
Italy, August 1300. On the banks of the river Arno, a war galley is
found with the entire crew dead inside. Dante Alighieri, Prior to the
City, suspects poison but the only clue is a mysterious mechanical
device. Dante suspects that the damaged device is the work of
al-Jazari, the legendary Persian inventor. But others are also after
the instrument and will stop at nothing to lay their hands on it...
When Dante returns to Florence to work on his magnum opus, the
Divine Comedy, he discovers that the renegade monk, Brinando,
is stirring up trouble and recruiting Florentines for a new crusade to
liberate the Holy Land. Is this disturbing new development somehow
linked to the deaths of the galley crew?
Giulio Leoni is a professor of Italian literature and history. He
lives in Rome with his family.
