Books
Do you prefer pen and paper to keyboards and computers, ancient history to modern technology, and physical books to anything in the digital world? Then you will feel right at home reading The Lost Book of the Grail, the one book every bibliophile needs to read this winter.
In his newest literary mystery, bestselling author and fellow book-lover Charlie Lovett takes readers across the pond on a mysterious, hilarious, and heartwarming search for the one mystical item the world has been dying to find for over 2,000 years: the Holy Grail. Set in the fictional English cathedral city of Barchester, The Lost Book of the Grail follows Arthur Prescott, a middle-aged professor who prefers antique books and ancient manuscripts to people. That is, until the young, tech-savvy American Bethany Davis comes to Barchester Cathedral to digitize its collection, and turns the old-fashioned scholar's life upside down in the process. Soon, Arthur finds himself torn between resisting her modern technology (and her charm), or giving in to the times and letting his own guard down in the process.
But as soon as Arthur learns Bethany shares his passion for Arthurian legend and finding the location of the Holy Grail, he is a goner, and the unlikely duo team up for an even more unlikely mission: to locate the the lost Book of Ewolda, an ancient manuscript about the cathedral's founder that just might hold the key to finding the long-lost Holy Grail.
A fun, literary adventure in the spirit of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade or The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Book of the Grail is a wildly entertaining story bibliophiles everywhere will love. Here are five reasons why:
The Lost Book Of The Grail by Charlie Lovett, $17, Amazon
1
It's a literary mystery for the ages.
There are a lot of reasons to fall for Charlie Lovett's clever and bookish novel, but the literary mystery at its center will draw bibliophiles in on page one and won't let them go until its resolution. As the title would imply, The Lost Book of the Grail is about more than just a missing magical cup, but a mysterious lost manuscript that may hold the key to unlocking the truth behind the greatest legends of King Arthur and his knights.
Though the majority of the story takes place in modern times, Lovett utilizes century-old flashbacks to lay breadcrumbs for his readers to follow all the way up to the present day. Expertly paced, The Lost Book of the Grail unravels slowly, pleasurably, and with just enough suspense to keep readers turning the pages in search for the missing book, and more importantly, the missing Holy Grail.
2
The characters are fellow bibliophiles.
Like you, the characters in The Lost Book of the Grail, both major and minor, are serious book-lovers. Not only does the old-fashioned yet lovable Arthur work as an English professor at the University, he spends his free time pouring over ancient texts in the Cathedral, collecting rare editions of his favorite P.G. Wodehouse books, and co-running the BB's: the Barchester Bibliophiles, a book club that involves wine, old books, and reading out loud.
Aside from Arthur, the novel's quirky and tech-obsessed American heroine, Bethany, also has a passion for books, both printed and not. She works as a librarian whose job it is to digitize ancient texts and make them available to the whole world, and she celebrates the fact that books should be a right everyone has access to. Alongside Arthur and the other members of the BB's, this fiction crew in Barchester is perhaps the biggest group of bibliophiles, imagined or otherwise. You'll love them.
3
It's rife with literary references.
If you're going to write a book about, well, books, then it would only make sense to have a few literary references peppered throughout, right? Throughout his novel, Charlie Lovett not only expertly weaves in literary allusions to the legends of King Arthur and the biblical text about the Holy Grail, but he also drops delicious bookish references to everything from P.G. Wodehouse to Jane Austen to J.K. Rowling.
From its first page to its last, The Lost Book of the Grail is overflowing with literary references real book nerds will truly delight in.
4
It blends together several genres.
At it's core, The Lost Book Grail is a whimsical literary mystery, but the novel is also beautifully layered with elements of humor, romance, adventure, history, and more.
Lovett's unique work combines literary and historical research with classic elements of cozy mysteries, classic love stories, and exciting adventure tales to create a true genre-blending masterpiece. At once funny, heartwarming, and suspenseful, The Lost Book of the Grail has something for every kind of reader, and every kind of book-lover, alike.
5
It's a love letter to all things bookish.
The Lost Book of the Grail is truly a book-lover's book, a bibliophile's dream in novel form. It celebrates literature throughout time, from the first biblical texts to the oldest Arthurian legends to the modern English humorists and beyond. It honors books in their truest form — printed — while acknowledging the merits of literature's new digital possibilities. It praises authors, new and old, and glorifies the unknowable power books and reading has on all of us.
But, most of all, The Lost Book of the Grail celebrates readers of every kind, from the Arthurs of the world, who prefer reading ancient manuscripts with latex gloves to the Bethanys, who love their e-readers and aren't afraid to show it.
A novel true bibliophiles will be enchanted by, The Lost Book of the Grail deserves a spot on every book-lover's shelf.
