From The Da Vinci Code to The Flatey Enigma, we’ve seen how popular thrillers about decoding ancient texts can be, and Gilly Macmillan’s The Burning Library joins the category. If you can go with the idea that two ancient societies of women have been in conflict over how to advance women in society, you’ll find the story here most entertaining.
Anya Brown is a freshly minted Oxford PhD whose remarkable deciphering of a mysterious medieval manuscript has led to job offers from prestigious universities in England and abroad. One of the most attractive is from Yale, but Anya is reluctant to move so far from England while her mother has lymphoma and is often in hospital. Not only is her mother ill, she’s alone, as Anya is in Oxford and her father left before she was born. The two must rely on help from carer Viv.
The most unusual offer Anya receives would give her access to a trove of exceedingly rare manuscripts, held by St Andrews University in Scotland. Not only is it the opportunity-of-a-lifetime to work with these precious documents, but it will require very little teaching, includes a generous stipend and includes a seaside cottage, not to mention a promise to find work for fiancé Sid at the university’s computer lab. Funding for all this would be from the same anonymous benefactor who owns the manuscripts.
The offer is, as it is designed to be, irresistible. Her mother still roots for Yale, but Anya chooses on St Andrews. Macmillan describes the small, insular community and the seaside environment so well that you can whiff the salt in the air.
Told from multiple points of view, the story gives you a peek behind the characters’ actions, which is especially helpful in trying to understand the two contending groups of women, who differ in means not ends. The Larks believe women should gain influence by breaking the glass ceiling, and their high-achieving members hold prominent positions throughout society, especially in academia. Members of the Order of St Katherine of Alexandria, by contrast, believe women should retain their traditional roles and gain power by manipulating the men in their lives. Their hostility sounds pretty inconsequential until you realise how dangerous they are.
Fortunately, all this is explained to another woman, Clio Spicer of Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiquities Squad, by her longtime supervisor and mentor, just moments before the older woman is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Clio can’t help but wonder whether her mentor’s death was at the hands of one of these societies, because she recognised how fearful the woman was during their final meeting.
The attention of the two groups centres on a fragment of linen that probably once covered the binding of a book. They believe it could be the key to decoding the Voynich manuscript (a real-life mystery) held at Yale. The Voynich book may in turn lead to something of immense value. All this is a classic Hitchcockian MacGuffin. While we don’t appreciate what this ultimate item’s significance will be, there’s no doubt the Larks and the Kates will kill to get their hands on it.
Sid is the first to sense something may be off at St Andrews, and Anya isn’t far behind him – especially when she learns the identity of her anonymous benefactor. From that point on, there’s a cat-and-mouse game under way that is thrilling in its complexity and danger. Fortunately, Anya and Sid find an ally in Clio Spicer. Interpreting the clues hidden in an ancient embroidery leads to a trip to Verona, Italy, but the three of them find it no safe haven. The Italian environment and street scenes are well presented.
The story moves at a fast clip and with numerous unexpected developments there’s never a possibility of becoming bored! But no matter how difficult the situation, Anya’s mother is never far from her mind, which is a lucky thing for them both.
Anya, Sid and Clio are easy characters to root for. Not only are they intrepid, they’re clever too. The Larks are hard-nosed and calculating. The Kates are rather insufferable. While the premise of their rival sororities seems far-fetched, they are believably dangerous, and it’s fun to see our trio go up against them.
Baskerville
Print/Kindle/iBook
£15.39
CFL Rating: 4 Stars
