The name of the rose

It is the last week of November 1327 in a prosperous abbey in the north of Italy. Brother William of Baskerville, a Franciscan monk from England, comes to Italy as a special envoy of the emperor with a discreet mission. He is to organize a meeting between the Franciscans suspected of heresy and delegates of the pope. However, his stay at the abbey soon develops into a time full of apocalyptic horrors: seven mysterious crimes are committed, which stain the walls of the labyrinthine library with blood. Fearful rumors buzz through the abbey; not only does the abbot have something to hide, traces are being erased everywhere. William, a former inquisitor, is seized by the fever of investigation. As he gathers clues and deciphers manuscripts written in secret language, he penetrates ever deeper into the secrets of the abbey. Anyone who squints and looks into The Name of the Rose as if into a distant mirror will easily confuse the monks' hoods and cardinal's miters from the medieval days with the modern signs of power. Umberto Eco (1932) is one of the greatest writers and thinkers of our time. His most recent novel, The Prague Cemetery, was, like all his previous books, an overwhelming success. Eco became famous with his worldwide bestseller The Name of the Rose; the novel formed the beginning of a sublime authorship. Now, three decades later, Eco felt it was time to take his masterpiece back and provide it with the necessary additions and expansions. This makes The Name of the Rose even more virtuoso, and above all more than complete and still relevant in times when power is interwoven with every life. 'Proof that a bestseller can still be of superior quality.' nrc Handelsblad 'A novel so full of fantasy and erudition, as few exist.' Elsevier