Amazon.co.uk Review
An Instance of the Fingerpost is that rarest of all possible literary beasts--a mystery powered as much by ideas as by suspects, autopsies and smoking guns. Hefty, intricately plotted, and intellectually ambitious, Fingerpost has drawn the inevitable comparisons to Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose; and, for once, the comparison is apt.

The year is 1663, and the setting is Oxford, England, during the height of Restoration political intrigue. When Dr Robert Grove is found dead in his Oxford room, hands clenched and face frozen in a rictus of pain, all the signs point to poison. Rashomon- like, the narrative circles around Grove's murder as four different characters give their version of events: Marco da Cola, a visiting Italian physician--or so he would like the reader to believe; Jack Prestcott, the son of a traitor who fled the country to avoid execution; Dr. John Wallis, a mathematician and cryptographer with a predilection for conspiracy theories; and Anthony Wood, a mild- mannered Oxford antiquarian whose tale proves to be the book's "instance of the fingerpost" (the quote comes from the philosopher Bacon, who, while asserting that all evidence is ultimately fallible, allows for "one instance of a fingerpost that points in one direction only, and allows of no other possibility").

Like The Name of the Rose, this is one whodunit in which the principal mystery is the nature of truth itself. Along the way, Pears displays a keen eye for period details as diverse as the early days of medicine, the convoluted politics of the English Civil War, and the newfangled fashion for wigs. Yet Pears never loses sight of his characters, who manage to be both utterly authentic denizens of the 17th century and utterly authentic human beings. As a mystery, An Instance of the Fingerpost is entertainment of the most intelligent sort; as a novel of ideas, it proves equally satisfying.

One off my wish-list I bought in a charity shop, only to get home and discover I'd found a copy already, several months ago. Off on a bookray.

Kitkat8 (UK)
Dagett ( Vienna, Austria)
Annelis (Kerava, Finland
aava( Jyvaskyla, Finland)
Cass01(UK)
Bean-frog (UK)
Molyneux (UK)
Mellion108 (Michigan USA)
Heartsong2 (Nebraska, USA)

ETMadrid <------Here

Bookray rules:
Please try to read the book within one month.
If you have a problem and there may be a delay ( real life steps in )please PM me and I can let everyone know what is happening or re-arrange the list.

Journal when you receive the book and when you post it on, so we know it's on its way.
Everyone has agreed to post internationally - surface mail is fine.

Most of all, enjoy the book.

Posted off today.

This arrived this morning and brightened this grey Monday morning up. I have another bookring book to finish first but will get this read and out as soon as I can and certainly within the month.

I really enjoyed this book, particularly how with each individual testimony you begin to question the truth of what actually happened. Ian Pears is also a compelling storyteller, I nearly missed my stop on the tube twice because I was so engrossed in the story.

Am PMing Dagett and hope to get the book in the post this week.

Sent off in the post to Dagett today.

There are a couple of occasions when I hum to myself what a delight it is to be a bookcosser - today was such a moment. I found the book in the mailbox when I left home, started reading right away on the bus and - guess what? - I nearly forgot to get off the bus at the bus-stop :)
Thanks to Kitkat8 for sending the book my way (accompanied by a lovely postcard) and thanks to MrsDanvers for sharing!

Update Monday, May 8:
I've just a couple of pages more to read. Reading this book is more challenging than I thought it would be! The story is complex (with all the history and philosophy interwoven) and the language is quite difficult too. I just wanted to let you know that the book will travel on in the course of this week.

"[. . .] and it was an age when the madness of conviction held all tightly in its grasp." (p.535)

As I've mentioned above in my update this was not an easy read for me. It was a challenge in more than one way and I had to read slowly and highly concentrated otherwise I wouldn't have gained so much from this remarkable book as I did.
For me this book was indeed a "tour de force" regarding the historical details, the shift in style and language established with each witness and the particular vocabulary that is not so common any more. My curiosity concerning Francis Bacon was kindled by the title of the book, so I took from my bookshelf the little I have to offer regarding books on philosophy and I found great pleasure in tracing glimpses of Bacon's thoughts on preoccupation and on human understanding in this book.
All in all this was a fascinating and satisfying read and I am looking out for more books by Iain Pears - in fact I've bought one already :)

While I was away in Russia for three weeks, the book had arrived. I'll begin to read it right away. Thanks you!

I like this book very much. It is interesting right from the beginning. I am not quite through it yet. And I checked that Aava who is the next in line in on holiday just now. Maybe she will not be home before I go to France, but lets hope. Please be patient, summertime is a little bit difficult for bookrings as people travel and computers are not available everywhere.
Have a nice summer!

Thanks for letting me know what's happening Annelis. Please read and enjoy the book rather than rushing it to pass on to the next BCer.
Let me know when you post it to aava.

This was quite a mammoth for a book by the number of pages (I haven't read Harry Potters!) and by the historical facts the author has collected. I suppose that he has read thick books of history to be able to describe the life of his persons so well. For an English-as-third-language person the language was rather challencing.
I really enjoyed the book even if took some time to get through it! Thanks!
I posted the book today to Aava.

I picked up the book from Post Office today. Thanks Annelis and MrsDanvers! Will start reading asap.It´s a brick...

edit 8.10.2006: Sorry for being so slow. I will finish this book next week and pass it on. It´s a great book!

I loved this book! I´ve been so busy with my life so I really had little time for reading but I dragged the book everywhere with me (and maybe just maybe lost some weight as the book is so heavy)and if I had any minute left I read a page or two, sometimes being very late because I had to keep on reading...

I don´t think I have anything negative to say about this book. It is challenging but not too much. The historical background is fascinating and the characters flesh and blood. And the plot- superb.

Thanks MrsDanvers for organizing this ray.I´ll send the book back to UK next week. And my aplogies as I have kept the book so long.

edit 24.10.2006: Mailed the book today.

This is a huge book so I'm writing to assure everyone on this ray, the one month for each bookcrosser is a guideline - please read and enjoy the book rather than rushing it. If life steps in and you haven't time let me know and I'll try to arrange a swap around of names. No apologies needed :)

This arrived this morning and scared the life out of me - the arrival not the book! (Think the postman was trying to knock my door down!!)

Looking forward to it, will get to it as soon as pos, about half way through another ring at the mo but hopefully wont take too long.

Thanks all :-)

I'm afraid I couldn't get into this enough to stick with it :-(

Have got bean-frog's address so will be posting within the week.

Thanks all for including me in this ray.

Got this a little while ago, and forgot to journal it, sorry! I've just started reading it, although I think it might take me a little while.

Thanks for sending this my way, bean-frog, and thanks to MrsDanvers for sharing. The book arrived yesterday. I have 2 (short) books ahead of this one. I'll read this as soon as possible and have it moving again shortly.

Thanks!

---

Trade paperback, 698 pages

Synopsis:
Set in Oxford in the 1660s—a time and place of great intellectual, scientific, religious and political ferment—this remarkable novel centres around a young woman, Sarah Blundy, who stands accused of the murder of Robert Grove, a fellow of New College. Four witnesses describe the events surrounding his death: Marco da Cola, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood transfusion; Jack Prescott, the son of a supposed traitor to the Royalist cause, determined to vindicate his father; John Wallis, chief cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles II, a mathematician, theologian and inveterate plotter; and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiquary. Each one tells their version of what happened but only one reveals the extraordinary truth. Brilliantly written, utterly convincing, gripping from the first page to the last, An Instance of the Fingerpost is a magnificent tour de force.

Holy big book, Batman! I'm sorry I held on to this for so long, but I'm finally finished and ready to pass it along.

Let me get my one teeny-tiny complaint out of the way—if I had read "none the less" ONE more time, I was going to throw this heavy book at the cat. Ok, not really (don't worry, I have a horrible aim, and Chester the Ginormous Cat is super fast), but that one phrase was used about a billion times (no, I'm not exaggerating), especially in Dr. Wallis' section.

Now, let me get on with the praise. I really enjoyed the book, and it was so interesting to slowly find out how these very differing accounts of the same events ended up merging into one version closest to the truth. There were a few surprises toward the end, and I was actually sorry to see the story come to a close. The language was so much fun to read, and I absolutely loved the characters, except for John Wallis (what a sleaze bag) but I even found him to be interesting despite wanting to crawl into the book and slap him around a bit.

Why has it taken me so long to read this author? Now that I've read this book, I'm definitely putting more Iain Pears novels on my wishlist. Thanks again to MrsDanvers for sharing. I have Heartsong2's address and will get the book in the mail in the next few days.

Arrived yesterday! Wow! What a big book! I read a large Dicken's book over the summer and have been going for easy ones since!

However, this book is on my wishlist and I really do want to read it, moreso even after reading the comments here.

I will be moving into a different house next week, and also started 6 credits of graduate classes 2 weeks ago, so I'm not sure how this will go, but I will try to make it work.

If I get too distracted and you'd like an update from me, please send me a note! Thank you for sharing is book!

Looking back over the journal entries, this book has been traveling and enjoyed for a remarkable amount of time.

I started reading the book about 2 months ago. Now that my sememster has just finished, I was able to finish the last part more quickly.

A very intriguing read. I'm afraid I got lost in some of the history. Political history especially, is typically way over my head. Although as I age, I find more relevance in it. At any rate, I'm sure much of that was lost on me. It was interesting to consider how viewpoints of truth can vary so much depending on personal context. It is remarkable the way Pears remained true to each viewpoint. I didn't find anything that contradicted, and it was exciting when I observed overlaps from the different perspectives.

I enjoyed Wood's story best because of its focus on relationship--particularly after wading through Prescott's long story, and then tolerating to Wallis' convoluted story--he was the paranoid one, I thought.

I am at the end of the ray--I am happy to pass this along when I can seek out a waiting reader.

Posting to ETMadrid who has an amazing story to tell.

I'll let her share it!

Enjoy!

Wow this is quite a tome! This'll take me quite a while to get through, not that I don't have the incentive, but I'm a very slow reader. This book was recommended to me by Philip Beeley, an expert on John Wallis, who I met recently at the home of my ancestors. Set in Oxford of the 1660s, it coincides with the date of a notebook (1662) belonging to my ancestor 10 generations back. The said notebook has just very recently reappeared and its significance only now been recognised. For whilst belonging to my ancestor, when he was 12 years of age, it's been confirmed to be in the hand of John Wallis, and so could settle a dispute dating back nearly 400 years, as to who it was that successfully taught my ancestor to speak, in Oxford where he was sent for tutoring. He was born deaf, at a period in history when most people with such disabilities would have been hidden away, or at least not given any special attention. Both the Times and the BBC have covered this discovery.

So I'm very grateful, heartsong2. It will no doubt illumine a period of history I know little about, set in this city I know well, and in a context that I'll be able to directly relate to. Once I've read it, I'll be passing it on to my Mum and my aunt(s). (Anyone who has a hard copy of the Times edition in question will see a photo of all of the three next readers! - actually I should add that that's not necessarily the case, as in some editions on that day it did not appear - my own included)

ETMadrid's story is fascinating and the story about the finding of John Wallis' book is amazing. It's so surprising that these finds are still being made. Who would have thought the book would survive all these years and the conversion of the house it was in into an hotel?

When I sent this book out on a ray I wanted it to travel, and it's definitely done that, but this is "the icing on the cake".
Thanks to heartsong for finding ETMadrid.