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BRISTOL HOUSE
by Beverly Swerling
Plume, January 2014
399 pages
$16.99
ISBN: 0142180807


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

The blurb on the back of this paperback edition of a novel that came out in hardback last year says it is, "A riveting dual-period narrative that blends a haunting supernatural thriller with the vivid history of Tudor London," and it is exactly that.

Annie Kendall, a recovering alcoholic and historian, is in London to research - and possibly find - an ancient treasure trove of Judaica rumored to have been discovered by someone known as the Jew of Holborn in the 16th century. Much of the treasure had been distributed to synagogues throughout Europe, but Philip Weinraub, the director of the somewhat mysterious Shalom Foundation that hired Annie, wants Annie to try to find proof that the treasure was there and, more importantly, track down a mezuzah decorated with branches from an almond tree.

As soon as Annie arrives in her sublet flat, it's clear that this will be no straightforward historical mystery. A 16th-century monk communicates with Annie by accessing the back bedroom of the flat, and the narrative of the novel moves back and forth between Annie's investigations and the tale told by Dom Justin and Giacomo the Lombard (the Jew of Holborn) who exist in the Waiting Place. With the help of Annie's love interest Geoffrey Harris, his dying mother who worked at Bletchley Park breaking code during WWII, a puzzling mural, and a cast of other interesting characters, Annie discovers links between past and present that, ultimately, put her life in danger and threaten to shake the foundations of established religions and the precarious peace in Israel.

Annie and Dom Justin are the most interesting and fully developed characters in the novel, each with plenty of baggage to make them three dimensional. More minor characters are also well portrayed, but the element that keeps the reader turning the pages is the thriller - both past and present. Mysteries abound in both realms, and the plot is satisfyingly complicated, with lots of surprises along the way. The supernatural aspects work well, although they do, of course require the willing suspension of disbelief from the reader. Other aspects, particularly the climax, require an equal measure of that suspension of disbelief, but the tale is well-told enough that the reader goes along with it all willingly. In addition to interesting characters and a thriller plot, the novel gains much from the obvious research that has gone into creating it, offering education along with the entertainment.

§ Meredith Frazier, a writer with a background in English literature, lives in Dallas, Texas

Reviewed by Meredith Frazier, February 2014

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