Matthew Pearl is a gifted writer, as I discovered a couple of years ago when I read The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow. I was a little behind the times because Mr. Pearl’s first novel, The Dante Club, had been published in 2003. These two novels are among the best I’ve read. Mr Pearl uses authentic historical milieu to create his enthralling tales.
The Dante Club
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow began the Dante translation club in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was joined by James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, George Washington Greene and James T. Fields. These men wanted to make Dante Alighieri’s work available to the general public in America. There was some opposition to this translation and Mr. Pearl weaves this fact into his chilling story.
At the beginning of the story, a body is discovered. The deceased is an acquaintance of the main characters. A man who was not pleased with the translation of Dante’s comedy. The maid who discovered the body claims he showed some minor sign of life, but how can that be, since the body was already being consumed by maggots. Ahh, to believe this assertion or to dismiss it as just the imagination of the emotional woman.
Mr. Pearl masterfully breathes life into each historical figure as they work together to solve this mystery. We get to know the disposition of each man and learn some background on them individually. I came to appreciate each for his strengths and his flaws. I especially enjoyed getting to know Longfellow. An ensemble of this size and gravitas could be unwieldy in less capable hands, but they are mere clay to this author.
Of course, there are many enjoyable and surprising twists along the way. Some events could be interpreted by the authorities to make these noble men persons of interest in this murder and other crimes. What’s more, Mr. Pearl places my favorite character in grave danger. My heart was racing. (I get into stories, suspending disbelief from the start. Why read the story if I’m not going to commit to it.)
I highly recommend The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl.
The Poe shadow
In The Poe Shadow, Mr. Pearl reveals the many questions surrounding the death of Edgar Allen Poe. He uses a fictional character, Quentin Clark, who is a deeply appreciative fan of Poe’s writing. Quentin puts his life on hold to solve this mystery, even loosing his fiance to another man. So, was Poe murdered or was his death natural. Whichever is the case there are many questions that need to be answered. That is, Quentin believes they need to be answered, but he is alone in this belief. There were not a lot of people who read Poe during his lifetime.
Many obstacles are placed in Quentin’s way and it seems there are several people who want to prevent him from solving the mystery surrounding Poe’s death. He can’t decipher the meaning of so many unexplained questions — who could?
Quentin decides to find C. Auguste Dupin, a fictional character of Poe’s invention in The Murders in the Rue Morgue. It was widely rumored that Poe had based this brilliant detective on an actual genius investigator. So, Quentin travels to Paris to bring back the real August Dupin. The events that occur in Paris open a brilliant subplot that could have filled a novel by itself.
I highly recommend The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl.
Also, look for a special edition of Edgar Allen Poe’s famous detective stories edited and introduced by Matthew Pearl.
Check out Matthew Pearl’s site: MatthewPearl.com
– Thomas
