Giordano Bruno Novels: Heresy

Arthur Lee: The seller did well ... it's a good copy, carefully shipped,which arrived on time and in good condition.
I've only just begun reading it, but it was recommended to me highly, appears to be well researched and well written, and is proving to be a good read so far.

United States on Oct 19, 2023

luigi nicolella: Libro molto interessante e primo di una serie

Italy on Oct 18, 2023

Charles Pargeter: I have come late to the Giordano Bruno party, which is good news because it means I have other books in the series to read. The balance of historical background and thriller action is terrific.

United Kingdom on Sep 26, 2023

Nick Wilson: This is probably one of my favorite “period” mysteries. The world seemed so alive. The people so fascinating. And the story so real. It’s a great read. And I highly recommend it.

United States on Sep 03, 2023

doc peterson: _Heresy_ is the first of S.J. Parris' Giordano Bruno thrillers, set in the late 16th century. Mixing elements of historical fact (such as Bruno himself) with the mayhem and religious violence of the Reformation had its attraction for me, as did my curiosity as to how Parris would portray the excommunicated Dominican friar, poet, scientist and eventually executed heretic.

Set largely in Oxford, Bruno is recruited by Sir Francis Walsingham to root out Catholics in Oxford and threats to Queen Elizabeth I. Following a particularly brutal murder (with echoes to the martyred death of an early Christian saint), Bruno becomes involved in solving this crime as well. The characters are well developed and the whip-saw loyalties of the time make them sympathetic as Oxford at the time was a hotbed of recalcitrant Catholics and half-hearted converts to the Church of England. Parris' Bruno is witty, charming and compelling, making for a more than less historically accurate historical fiction and a better-than-average series of murders and intrigue for Bruno to navigate (and sometimes bumble) through. Discovering the murderer and the motive behind the killings and the larger political and...

United States on Apr 22, 2021

Client d'Amazon: Pour le lire

France on Sep 08, 2019

vipattie: This series is a fabulous rendition of Bruno Giordano and his times though factionalized. If you haven’t heard of him, read her series as his philosophical books are dense. He was a brilliant thinker eventually executed by the Catholic Church for heresy. That probably says it all. Parris is a very good writer.

Canada on May 18, 2019

Graham Anderson: Good read

Australia on Dec 01, 2016

L. J. Roberts: First Sentence: The outer door was thrown open with a crash that resounded along the passage, and the floorboards shook with the purposeful marching of several pairs of feet.

Philosopher and mathematician Giordano Bruno has come to Oxford, supposedly to debate on the theories of Copernicus. However, Sir Francis Walsingham, spymaster to Queen Elizabeth I, has sent him to seek out Catholics who seek to assassinate the Queen. He did not expect having to solve a series of murders where the victim has been styled to represent a Catholic martyr.

For some reason, I had in my mind that this book would be slow and the plot would drag. Oh, was I wrong. From the opening paragraph, I was involved and wanted to know more.

Parris writes with wonderful detail; I repeatedly thought that as I read. It was not that the detail distracted me, but it made the story richer. The sense of place detail is often thought of in broad, terms; here it was the small details of a room--I particularly loved the description of the bookbinder's room--or setting; such as an almanac that contained both the prevalent calendar and the new Georgian calendar mandated by the Church for use in Catholic...

United States on Apr 05, 2011

Paul McGraw: The summary of this book gave me chills...murder, a bit of history and literary fiction. The premise was reminiscent of the The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco with the austere ecclesiastical setting. We are set up in the beginning by a classic whodunnit scene invoking the charm of Agatha Christie. A few locked room murders later and we are chasing a rogue murder across the channels of Oxford.

Giordano Bruno, our philologist and philosopher is given the keys to the investigation. As a character, he is brilliant yet determinedly human in his approach to the surrounding chaos. He finds the tapestry of the debate between Protestantism and Catholicism to be audacious on both sides, yet sees the value of this cataclysm in light of British contextualism.

The down side to the novel is the ending. As the reader approaches the latter half of the novel, you cannot help but feel like the book has been rushed in the name of those who seek the side of action. If this were a Bruce Willis film, it might have fit better. As a novel with such a splendid premise, it was disorienting as we went from the thoughtful side of the characters to the rushed imbue of the ending. For those who...

United States on Apr 01, 2010