The Invention of Fire by Bruce Holsinger
the renowned medieval mystery’s author In this gripping thriller starring medieval poet and fixer John Gower, A Burnable Book once again brings fourteenth-century London to life in all its colour and richness. The story is twisted and full of intrigue, danger, mystery, and murder.
John Gower, one of England’s most esteemed intellectuals, is accustomed to hanging out in London’s seedy underbelly and knows how to sell the information of the most influential people in the country. The Sheriff of London turns to Gower for assistance after sixteen unidentified men’s remains are discovered in a bathroom. The sheriff’s men have never seen anything like the men’s wounds, which are ragged holes left behind by an unidentified object.
The Invention of Fire by Bruce Holsinger
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The bodies were thrown into the sewer so they could be found. Gower suspects the men may have been subjected to a test involving a terrifying new weapon for warfare known as the “handgonne,” which, according to his informants, will be the “future of death” if its design is successful.
Gower seeks the advice of courtier and civil servant Geoffrey Chaucer in response to some of his own inquiries as the latter is working on some very filthy poems about pilgrims. Chaucer believes he may know who ordered this new weapon, which is a highly valuable piece of knowledge that some people are willing to pay a hefty price for and others are willing to kill to keep a secret.
The Invention of Fire: A Novel by Bruce Holsinger, the follow-up to his critically praised book A Burnable Book, once more allows us to smell, hear, and most importantly see the intrigues and nefarious activities that take place in London and other places during the year 1386. Once more, John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer, two historical men and poets, allow us to see the world through their eyes. In addition to being a fantastic piece of fiction, Holsinger’s poetic prose and tenderly drawn aspects of his characters’ lives provide readers with a glimpse into a world and era that gave rise to both English poetry and the technology that still has an impact on our lives today.
John Gower is a man who not only knows how to use incriminating information on virtually everyone with some level of influence but also knows how to bribe people to provide him with it. The tale begins with a magnificently horrific discovery of mass murder by those who clean up the literal faecal matter that is deposited outside of London. He at least lives symbolically by sifting through the filth. Nobody seems to be aware of the identities of the guys, how they were killed, or who is accountable. Gower is asked to respond to these inquiries.
