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The Floating Book

Michelle Lovric

2004496 pagesabout 8–11 hours
2004
first published
  • 2005Harper Perennial · 496 pages · ENGISBN 9780060578572
  • 2004Harper · 496 pages · ENGISBN 9780060578565

Venice, 1468. Wendelin von Speyer has just arrived from Germany with the foundations of a cultural revolution: Gutenberg's movable type. Together with the young editor Bruno Uguccione and the seductive scribe Felice Feliciano, he starts the city's first printing press. While Bruno and Felice become entwined in an obsessive love triangle with a beautiful Dalmatian woman named Sosia, Wendelin tempts the fates by publishing the first edition of the erotic Roman poems of Catullus -- a move that will enrage the church, scandalize the city, and change all of their lives forever. The Floating Book is a ravishing novel of letters and lust, intrigue and betrayal -- a chillingly beautiful debut that few readers will soon forget.

How it reads

Character focusSmall ensemble

Worth knowing

Romance levelCentral
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