three narratives set in the fifth fourteenth and twentieth centuries all revolving around an ancient text and each with a love story at its center are the elements of this ingenious novel a followup to the bestselling an instance of the fingerpostmay well be the best historical mystery ever written proclaimed the sunday boston globe about iain pearss an instance of the fingerpost while booklist called its publication a major literary event iain pearss international bestseller was greeted with frontpage reviews a crafty utterly mesmerizing intellectual thrillerthe washington post book world named a new york times notable book and hailed as a book to remember by the new york public library now he returns with a greatly anticipated novel that is so brilliantly constructed the author himself describes it as a complexity the centuries are the fifth the final days of the roman empire the fourteenth the years of the black death and the twentieth world war ii the setting for each is the sameprovenceand each has at its heart a love story the narratives intertwine seamlessly but what joins them thematically is an ancient textthe dream of scipioa work of neoplatonism that poses timeless philosophical questions what is the obligation of the individual in a society under siege what is the role of learning when civilization itself is threatened whether by acts of man or nature does virtue lie more in engagement or in neutrality power without wisdom is tyranny wisdom without power is pointless warns one of pearss characters