From Publishers WeeklyStarred . Bayard (The Black Tower) shifts smoothly between present-day America and Elizabethan England in this superb intellectual thriller. At the Washington, D.C., funeral of document collector Alonzo Wax, who committed suicide, Bernard Styles, an elderly Englishman and rival collector, approaches Henry Cavendish, an Elizabethan scholar and the executor of Wax's estate, whose academic reputation suffered grievous harm after he authenticated a new Walter Ralegh poem that was later exposed as a hoax. Styles offers Cavendish ,000 to locate a prize Wax had borrowed, a recently discovered Ralegh letter that may prove the existence of the School of Night, a secret debating club whose members included playwright Christopher Marlowe. Murder complicates the search for the letter. The author's persuasive portrayal of undeservedly obscure real-life scientist Thomas Harriot, a member of the school, enhances a plot with intelligence and depth. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.From BooklistBayard is known for his historical mysteries (Mr. Timothy, 2003; The Pale Blue Eye, 2006), and here he adds a different element to the mix by combining a plot set in the Elizabethan era with a modern-day story. It seems disgraced scholar Henry Cavendishs good friend, Alonzo Wax, a man of large appetites, has stolen a letter from ruthless antiquities collector Bernard Styles, who desperately wants it back. The letter purportedly contains a treasure map connected to the School of Night, a secretive intellectual club whose members included unheralded genius Thomas Harriot as well as Sir Walter Raleigh, who were well aware that discussing certain subjects in public could cost them their lives. As Henry tracks down the missing letter, Bayard intersperses the story of Harriots great love affair with his beautiful servant turned scientific colleague, Margaret. Although not quite as gripping as The Black Tower (2008), Bayards latest is considerably more humorous in tone as he interweaves the antic comedy of the modern-day caper with the tragic and affecting love story of the past. --Joanne Wilkinson Praise for The School of Night -- - - A readable conspiracy-theory romp through rose-tinted history -- The Times A superb intellectual thriller -- Publisher's Weekly Bayard offers multiple twists and turns, murders and kidnappings ... [he] blends luminaries of history, lost treasure, intrigue and a double-twist conclusion into a highly readable concoction -- Kirkus Praise for Louis Bayard's previous books, Mr Timothy and The Pale Blue Eye: -- - - Really outstanding crime fiction is rare so it's a joy to see Louis Bayard pull off this coup ... Brilliantly plotted and completely absorbing, ending with the kind of shock that few novelists are able to deliver -- Sunday Times Vigorous, well imagined and thoroughly entertaining. Louis Bayard can write up a storm -- Literary One of the coolest books of the year -- James Frey are there any free book apps The School of Night: A Novel
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Terrific Literary Puzzles within PuzzlesBy White RabbitWonderful literary puzzle, in the vein of Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum Lev Grossman's Codex, which wears its mantle of erudition lightly. Writing is delightfully smooth au currant, with fresh characters, great sense of humor, and rapid pacing. Has numerous "wheels within wheels" - from Elizabethan political intrigue to alchemy to lost manuscripts to search for buried treasure to "dark materials" of great worth which might be poetry or might be gold or might be beside the point entirely. One of my favorite literary thrillers that packs a punch even upon re-reading. Written so well that if you're not careful, you might learn something ;)1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. An engaging weave of history and fancy during the latter days of good Queen BessBy CustomerI ordered this novel after reading Bayard's "The Dark Tower." and liking it well. The story interleaves a contemporary story/mystery and one taking place during the reign of Elizbeth I. Both story lines involve scholars, intrigue, moral amoral characters, covert meditations on one's ability to be objective in assessing both physical reality and the authenticity of ones fellows, and the suggestion that passions, pedestrian or eccentric, can trump logic in life's critical moments - regardless of which century we're in.Personally, I was more taken with the part of the story set in Elizabethan times, but both story lines have excellent an surprising twists in plenty.Bayard incorporates many actual historical figures in that part of the story set in the late 1500's, and without doing violence to what is actually known about them. One of the main characters is Thomas Hariot, who was a brilliant man of science, and real historical figure, but who did not publish his researches as did his better known contemporaries - though he was abreast, if not ahead, of many of them in his work. Speculation as to why he kept such a low profile seems to have fueled Bayard's inspiration in developing this novel.Characters, fictional otherwise, are well developed. The writing is high quality. The tensions and the loyalties between and among socio-economic groups - rich, poor, educated, uneducated, nobles commoners - are in play, as are the struggles of a culture that is inching towards The Enlightenment/Age of Reason. For though Descartes [who is not part of this novel] was only 7 years old when Elizabeth I died, one sees the scholars and intellectuals of the late 1500's risking a great deal for the chance to examine traditionally held beliefs and to indulge a cautious skepticism. Overall, the novel may contain an unstated cautionary tale as to what happens when skepticism and relativism take hold in a dominant culture to the point that "nothing is sacred," - but, probably not; the Elizbethan storyline has its share of villans too.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Another Elegant and Engaging TaleBy A Lancaster, PA readerEvery time I read a Louis Bayard novel I'm reminded of the Roberta Flack song "Killing Me Softly." It is as if Bayard has looked into my own writer's soul and found just the right words to express what I feel -- even though his stories deal with circumstances well outside my own sphere of knowledge and activity.THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT, his latest offering, continues this enchantment. But whereas he's previously written only historical mysteries (MR. TIMOTHY, THE PALE BLUE EYE, THE BLACK TOWER), THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT brings him into contemporary mystery storytelling. Specifically, this story is set in modern day Washington, DC and other locales as a failed academic, Henry Cavendish, must unravel the mystery of a missing Elizabethan letter -- or rather, a page from it -- before the man seeking it does harm to those he loves.This being Louis Bayard, however, the past intrudes on the present, with many segments of the book taking place in the time the letter was written. Clever Bayard sets those long scenes in present tense, an amusing conceit that, ironically, grounds them in the past with a "you are there" feel.Cavendish, the disgraced Elizabethan scholar, becomes executor of his late friend's estate after the friend -- Alonso Wax -- committed suicide. Alonso was a collector of rare books, and included in his collection was a page from a letter supposedly written by someone in Sir Walter Raleigh's clique (the "school of night" of the title). Another collector, Bernard Styles, pays Cavendish to retrieve the letter's page for him, telling Cavendish that Alonso had stolen it from him. Cavendish can use the money, so he agrees to find it in his friend's belongings.But then...things happen. A friend and colleague of Alonso's is killed, trapped in the deceased's book vault as oxygen is sucked out of it to protect the books from a fire that doesn't start. A history of other deaths of collectors is uncovered, and suddenly Cavendish begins to suspect that Bernard Styles is not merely a collector of rare books and letters but an obsessive maniac who would do anything to add to his store of antiquated texts.Cavendish eventually joins forces with a strange young woman, who'd been drawn to Alonso's funeral due to perplexing dreams dealing with the "school of night," and another eccentric who collects rare books and lives on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. There, he discovers a shocking surprise and also learns that Bernard Styles is hot on his trail.Eventually, the crew ends up in England at the old estate at which Thomas Harriot (a colleague of Raleigh's) lived. Harriot, by the way, is the central character in the numerous flashbacks, and his story is as compelling as the modern-day yarn Bayard spins.When the mystery is resolved--after much drama and high-risk shenanigans--Bayard attaches a coda to the story (as he did in previous books) that is as satisfying as the entire story itself, giving the reader a different angle on what went before and what might have been the motivations of a famous straggler in the "school of night."Although at times I felt Bayard was adrift in the modern day portions of the books, this novel is an extremely satisfying historical mystery, offering much more than a who/howdunnit tale, filled with elegant observations on human nature and the "lost soul." I highly recommend it.Libby Sternberg