Simon & Schuster
December 2015
On Sale: December 8, 2015
Featuring: Dismas; Albrecht of Mainz
ISBN: 1501125753 EAN: 9781501125751 Kindle: B00WRBQOG4 Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
From New York Times bestselling author Christopher Buckley,
“one of the funniest writers in the English language” (Tom
Wolfe), a compelling and hilarious adventure featuring a
sixteenth-century relic hunter and his best friend, Albrecht
Dürer, who conspire to forge the Shroud of Turin.
The year is 1517. Dismas is a relic hunter: one who procures
“authentic” religious relics for wealthy and influential
clients. His two most important patrons are Frederick the
Wise, Elector of Saxony 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 ambitions
increase his demands for grander and more marketable relics,
Dismas and his artist friend Dürer conspire to manufacture a
shroud to sell to the unsuspecting noble. Unfortunately
Dürer’s reckless pride exposes Albrecht’s newly acquired
shroud as a fake, so Albrecht puts Dismas and Dürer in the
custody of four loutish mercenaries and sends them all to
steal Christ’s burial cloth (the Shroud of Chambéry),
Europe’s most celebrated relic.
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 that they realize they are not alone in
their intentions to acquire a relic of dubious legitimacy.
Filled with fascinating details about art, religion,
politics and science; Vatican intrigue; and Buckley’s
signature wit, The Relic Master is a delightfully rich and
intelligent comic adventure.
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