Title: Thought-provoking and readable
Product review: I came to this book because of a taste for historical novels, and found that my enjoyment of it mounted progressively until by the end it gripped like a vice, and on a business trip to Japan I found myself ducking back to the hotel for ten or fifteen minutes between meetings in order to savour a few more pages. It was almost a wrench to finish it, and yet my eye was drawn on from page to page as Pears toyed with my notion of truth. By turns didactic and arch, the book is a prime example of historical fiction, interweaving as it does the factual and the invented. The overall theme about the nature of truth being dependent on the perspective of the observer is thoroughly contemporary, and undermines the reader's sense of superiority in observing the endeavours of the characters to understand matters as diverse as the circulation of the blood or the philosophy of politics. I have bought copies to give to my friends, which is the highest recommendation I can make.
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