The Cloister And The Hearth: Charles Reade

[poliphilo]

I love this book. Yes, it has flaws- but I'd rather call them quirks- and what novel of this scope and ambition is without them? It's enormous, it gives you a world, it has adventure, pathos, comedy, romance and ideas- and it's full of people you're happy to spend time with-  from a ribald Burgundian barmaid to a worldly-wise Renaissance Pope. 

And imagine my surprise and pleasure when Frodo Gerard  finally reaches Rome and there falls in with Fra Francesco Colonna- the renaissance polymath also known as Poliphilo, my namesake- and he turns out to be the most delightful person.