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The Relic Master
Reader Score
77%
77% of readers
recommend this book
Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 5 reviews on
Christopher Buckley's "hilarious, bawdy, and irreverent frolic of a tale" about a sixteenth-century relic hunter and the artist Albrecht Dürer who conspire to fabricate Christ's burial shroud reads "like Indiana Jones gone medieval" (USA TODAY).The year is 1517. Dismas is a relic hunter who procures "authentic" religious relics for wealthy and influential clients. His two most important patrons are Frederick the Wise and soon-to-be Cardinal Albrecht of Mainz. While Frederick is drawn to the recent writing of Martin Luther, Albrecht pursues the financial and political benefits of religion and seeks to buy a cardinalship through the selling of indulgences. When Albrecht's demands for grander relics increase, Dismas and his artist friend Dürer fabricate a shroud to sell to the unsuspecting noble. Unfortunately Dürer's reckless pride exposes the trickery, so Albrecht puts Dismas and Dürer in the custody of four mercenaries and sends them all to steal Christ's burial cloth (the Shroud of Chambéry), Europe's most celebrated artifact. On their journey to Savoy where the Shroud will be displayed, they battle a lustful count and are joined by a beautiful female apothecary. It is only when they reach their destination they realize they are not alone in their intentions to acquire a relic of dubious legitimacy. "A rollicking good time, Christopher Buckley has transported his signature wit and irreverence from the Beltway to sixteenth-century Europe in The Relic Master" (GQ). This epic quest, "as rascally and convivial as any that Mr. Buckley has written" (The Wall Street Journal), is filled with fascinating details about art, religion, politics, and science; Vatican intrigue; and Buckley's signature wit "holds the reader till the very last page" (The New York Times Book Review).
Book Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Publish Date: Oct 25th, 2016
- Pages: 400
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 8.30in - 5.50in - 1.10in - 0.75lb
- EAN: 9781501125768
- Categories: • Historical - General• Humorous - General• Literary
About the Author
Buckley, Christopher: - Christopher Buckley is a novelist, essayist, humorist, critic, magazine editor and memoirist. His books include Thank You for Smoking, The Judge Hunter, and The Relic Master. He worked as a merchant seaman and White House speechwriter. He has written for many newspapers and magazines and has lectured in over seventy cities around the world. He was awarded the Thurber Prize for American Humor and the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence.
Buckley, Christopher: - Christopher Buckley is a novelist, essayist, humorist, critic, magazine editor, and memoirist. His books include Thank You for Smoking, The Judge Hunter, Make Russia Great Again, and The Relic Master. He worked as a merchant seaman and White House speechwriter. He was awarded the Thurber Prize for American Humor and the Washington Irving Medal for Literary Excellence.
More books by Christopher Buckley
What people are saying
Critics’ reviews
Praise for this book
"An inspired piece of literary gymnastics [that] tumbles into an exuberant adventure caper. . . so tightly written that it holds the reader till the very last page. . . . a smart, tart, well-researched romp into one of history's most irresistibly grubby and outrageous periods of excess."