"Lempriere's Dictionary" is in many ways an astonishingly clever novel. The plot concerns John Lempriere, a day-dreaming fan of the Greek and Roman classics, who finds himself in London to sort out his late father's affairs and inadvertently discovers that he may own a ninth share of the fabulously ... Read review
Advantages: Extremely clever plot Disadvantages: Characterisation isn't so good
"Lempriere's Dictionary" is in many ways an astonishingly clever novel. The plot concerns John Lempriere, a day-dreaming fan of the Greek and Roman classics, who finds himself in London to sort out his late father's affairs and inadvertently discovers that he may own a ninth share of the fabulously wealthy East India Company. In so doing, he finds himself at the centre of a powerful conspiracy.
Norfolk has clearly done a lot of research, ... ...(all necessary to the plot), European history, sailing, weather systems, Norfolk has become an expert on the lot and wants us to know it. Sometimes this erudition is just tiresome.
My biggest problem with the book is that it can't decide its genre. Two of the elements that the story turns on are fantasy; but Norfolk doesn't begin to introduce them until halfway through, when he has already presented his story as a realistic one.
Nonetheless ... more
"Lempriere's Dictionary" is in many ways an astonishingly clever novel. The plot concerns John Lempriere, a day-dreaming fan of the Greek and Roman classics, who finds himself in London to sort out his late father's affairs and inadvertently discovers that he may own a ninth share of the fabulously wealthy East India Company. In so doing, he finds himself at the centre of a powerful conspiracy. Norfolk has clearly done a lot of research, and the results drip off the page. Classical references (all necessary to the plot), European history, sailing, weather systems, Norfolk has become an expert on the lot and wants us to know it. Sometimes this erudition is just tiresome. My biggest problem with the book is that it can't decide its genre. Two of the elements that the story turns on are fantasy; but Norfolk doesn't begin to introduce them until halfway through, when he has already presented his story as a realistic one. Nonetheless I would recommend "Lempriere's Dictionary" as a stunning read. The most astonishing thing about it is that despite all his ambitions to being a literary author, Norfolk has kept his eyes firmly on telling a story, and a good one, if a little complex.
It is eighteenth century London and John Lempriere, a young scholar, is writing a dictionary of classical mythology in an attempt to exorcise the demons raised by his father's bizarre and violent death. While tending to his father's business affairs, Lempriere discovers a 150-year-old conspiracy that has kept his family from its share of the fabulously wealthy East India Company, but as John begins to untangle the years of mystery and deceit, people begin to die, in ways that mirror the very myths he is researching...
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