Set in Reformation Europe, this title was first published anonymously in Italy where it was widely rumoured to be by Umberto Eco. It traces the adventures and philosophical conflicts of a rebellious member of an extremist Protestant sect and a Catholic heretic hunter as they travel across Europe.
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Amazon Review
Something of a publishing sensation elsewhere in Europe, Q is a convoluted historical thriller by a consortium of young pseudonymous authors, who, it has to be said, are a little too in love with their own cleverness. Q is the working name of a papal spy trying to keep a lid on the Reformation, particularly on the Anabaptist radicalism which is its form most dangerous to the social order, and for decades he watches, and occasionally gets in close and betrays. The man sometimes known as Gert is his opposite--all the more so because he hardly knows of Q's existence--the idealist who is caught up in the same events: Luther's sermons, the rise and fall of Thomas Muntzer, the disastrous People's Republic of Munster.
Parallels are being struck all over the place with radicalism in the 20th century--part of what makes Gert a memorable voice is a combination of zeal, pragmatism and survival instinct that keeps him one step ahead of the Inquisitors for 30 years and enables him to, for example, do serious damage to the Holy Roman Emperor's favourite bankers. In the end, Gert and Q are left with more in common than the past they share--the rules are changing and the board is being cleared, and there is time for one last crucial intervention... This is ingeniously plotted, and full of vividly realised scenes of 16th century life; if it has a fault, it is that we live through every day of three tumultuous decades, every sermon and theological treatise, in exhausting detail. --Roz Kaveney
Review
'As a historical blockbuster, it boasts pace, colour, excitement and suspense to spare... Q works like a charm' -- Independent
'Umberto Eco's knack for the swashbuckling thriller-of-ideas crossed with an artful touch of Le Carre' -- The Independent Saturday Magazine, 26 April, 2003
'this deserves to be the literary hit of the summer' -- Good Book Guide, June 2003
A rich, inventive, and immensely powerful book....one which tells us about ourselves and how we came to be here. -- Scotland on Sunday, May 4, 2003
‘I read it with increasing wonder and amazement’ -- De groene Amsterdammer
‘this adventure story marries the populist verve of the spy novel with political reflections on the wars of religion… magisterially achieved.’ -- Le Monde
'Umberto Eco's knack for the swashbuckling thriller-of-ideas crossed with an artful touch of Le Carre' -- The Independent Saturday Magazine, 26 April, 2003
'this deserves to be the literary hit of the summer' -- Good Book Guide, June 2003
A rich, inventive, and immensely powerful book....one which tells us about ourselves and how we came to be here. -- Scotland on Sunday, May 4, 2003
‘I read it with increasing wonder and amazement’ -- De groene Amsterdammer
‘this adventure story marries the populist verve of the spy novel with political reflections on the wars of religion… magisterially achieved.’ -- Le Monde
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Given the subject matter and nationality of the authors, it is almost impossible not to compare ‘Q’ with the work of one of my favourite authors, Umberto Eco. Reading Eco has given me a taste for historical fiction whilst seemingly rendering almost everything else in the genre trivial. At last, in ‘Q’ I have read something to rival Eco in historical detail and (almost) richness of ideas. ‘Q’ is historical fiction at its very best, and a thoroughly enjoyable read.
‘Q’ is set against the backdrop of the religious upheavals taking place in central Europe during the sixteenth century. Martin Luther has denounced the Catholic church, and a multitude of preachers and prophets have arisen, each spreading the message about his own version of the new religion. The main character, Lot (actually just one of many names he has in the book), is infused with the fervour of the times, and joins several of these groups (Thomas Muntzer in Frankenhausen, Jan Matthys in Munster, anabaptists in Holland, smugglers of heretical religious books in Venice), witnessing at first hand their bloody struggles and violent suppression by the combined forces of Catholicism and the new orthodoxy of Lutheranism. Lot’s hope for a world in which religion is delivered to the people is repeatedly dashed by its manipulation as a tool of power by the rulers in Rome and Germany. Lot eventually begins to see a shadowy hand behind his repeated defeats, a spy disseminating false information within the groups and reporting their activity to others outside them. Wherever Lot goes in Europe, he finds his actions hampered by this mysterious man, known to him only as Qoelet, or Q.... Read more ›
‘Q’ is set against the backdrop of the religious upheavals taking place in central Europe during the sixteenth century. Martin Luther has denounced the Catholic church, and a multitude of preachers and prophets have arisen, each spreading the message about his own version of the new religion. The main character, Lot (actually just one of many names he has in the book), is infused with the fervour of the times, and joins several of these groups (Thomas Muntzer in Frankenhausen, Jan Matthys in Munster, anabaptists in Holland, smugglers of heretical religious books in Venice), witnessing at first hand their bloody struggles and violent suppression by the combined forces of Catholicism and the new orthodoxy of Lutheranism. Lot’s hope for a world in which religion is delivered to the people is repeatedly dashed by its manipulation as a tool of power by the rulers in Rome and Germany. Lot eventually begins to see a shadowy hand behind his repeated defeats, a spy disseminating false information within the groups and reporting their activity to others outside them. Wherever Lot goes in Europe, he finds his actions hampered by this mysterious man, known to him only as Qoelet, or Q.... Read more ›
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I admit Q does present a bit of challenge at first, especially if (like me) you have limited knowledge of the history of Renaissance Europe. But for the reader with an open mind and who's willing to learn, this novel is an embarrassment of riches with cracking prose a fast pace and (believe it or not Olly) a great plot. It took a while for me to get my head round the story but come on - it's more Umberto Eco than James Joyce! The only reason it was confusing is because of my lack of basic historical knowledge, but the picture is fairly clear after the first 100 pages or so.
Perhaps part of the problem is that in Britain our only knowledge of Renaissance history is Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. Little are we told (either in school or in the history prgrammes that now swamp the TV schedules) that, prior to Napoleon, British history is if anything a sideshow to the main event in Europe and often not even that.
This is a huge, sweeping epic of a novel that explores, among other things, the religious fervour which swept the continent in the decades after Luther's Protest, the brutality of the Inquisition, the in-fighting that gave rise to a separate Protestant church, the nature of class struggle and revolution, the rise of mercantilism and the manner in which politics was practised in a pre-democratic era. All this and more is weaved into the fabric of a gripping plotline and is told in a narrative style that brings alive the sights, sounds and smells of a continent dragging itself out of the Middle Ages.
Read on Olly, you've missed one of this year's best publications!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is nothing short of amazing. If you ever read Umberto Eco, and this is probably closest to the Island of the Day Before (in setting) and In the Name of the Rose (in sheer depth of philisophical debate). The amount of information you get hit with about the early years of the reformation and the foundation of the protestant faith is astounding. Those of a delicate nature may find this hard going, but I found it captivating. The style is unique, and at first is hard to get to grips with, but once you get beyond the visual style and are engulfed by the complex world you can't stop.
Whereas Eco plays with the subtlety of language and the absurdities of belief and desire, Q is obsessed with the machinations of power and the drive for absolute control. This books excites you.
Perhaps the most captivating aspect is the fact that this book is based in fact, not just the panorama that this theatre plays against, but the characters who support the leads throughout are real people who fell victim to tyranny. A must for any one who has a fleeting interest in history, or anything!
Whereas Eco plays with the subtlety of language and the absurdities of belief and desire, Q is obsessed with the machinations of power and the drive for absolute control. This books excites you.
Perhaps the most captivating aspect is the fact that this book is based in fact, not just the panorama that this theatre plays against, but the characters who support the leads throughout are real people who fell victim to tyranny. A must for any one who has a fleeting interest in history, or anything!
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By Ashen Glow
Format:Hardcover
As a history teacher fascinated by the European Reformation, I looked forward to combining business with pleasure over my summer holiday. I have always enjoyed the way in which historical fiction, from Rosemary Sutcliff to Umberto Eco, stimulates both the imagination and the intellect. The writers of Q have achieved more still: parallels with the modern world bring sixteenth century radicalism explosively to life - secret print shops instead of the internet, the Holy Office rather than the "security" services and the interference of politicians familiar in all ages. Only once is the writers' agenda on the censorship of ideas clumsily invoked ("...who knows, they might one day abolish [the Index of censored books] altogether...").
I am unsure how a reader without knowledge of the 40 years after Luther's protest in 1517 would sustain their interest in the complexities of the text. I hope that the book won't be merely for the historically initiated, but I fear that it will. The authors certainly do themselves no favours by the layout: an unnecessarily spread out 600 plus pages make the book more daunting than it should be. The opening too is off-putting, jumping about pointlessly from one early event to another. However, by the time the narrative settled down into a more straightforward format in Part Two, I was hooked.
The horrors and disappointments of the Kingdom of Munster in the 1530s are brilliantly, even cinematically, depicted as the central narrator, a man of many names, sees his dream of a communal society (as they often do) descend into mayhem and carnage reminiscent of the end of Apocalypse Now.
... Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Full of life and meaning
I dipped in and out of this book for years. It was fascinating, but I found it hard to stay involved in such a long book in a foreign language, especially when the focus kept... Read more
Published 28 days ago by KropotkinZin
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rather good historical novel set during the Reformation
I mainly liked this- it inspired me to look again at the history of the Reformation in Germany, and the Peasant Wars too. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jezza
2.0 out of 5 stars
massively overblown waste of a good idea
Having read lots of great reviews of this, I was really disappointed by it. The amount of research the authors has done showed, but sadly not just that, it was showed off so much... Read more
Published 19 months ago by A. Field
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book.
This is a must read for all those who are up to books with hitory, philosphy and sociology context. Obviously adventures of characters are pure fiction but still give ourselves... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Bartek
2.0 out of 5 stars
Y?
Q is a bit of a hodgepodge that doesn't seem to know what type of novel it is, presumably because of the number of different writers involved. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2010 by Oracle
5.0 out of 5 stars
History brought to life
Why don't we learn this in school? One thing a that came home to me reading this was how poor the teaching of the reformation is (or at least was) - all I learnt was about was... Read more
Published on 12 Oct 2009 by Lendrick
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply terrific
Historical novels is one of my favorite genres, so I tend to read lots of them. Sadly, the sorry consequence of doing so is - in whatever genre really - that the more books you... Read more
Published on 10 Oct 2009 by Didier
5.0 out of 5 stars
a book to read !
A fantastic book without climax or anticlimax, just life as it was in those days. Well researched (contrarily to what another reviewer wrote) and a fascinating investigation into... Read more
Published on 17 July 2009 by Roger Jay
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wu-Ming Marvellous
'Q' is a slow-burning masterpiece. Comparable to Neal Stephenson's 'The Baroque Cycle', this is a rambling novel, with many incidental characters, that slowly builds to an... Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2009 by Quicksilver
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fuggin' brilliant (badum tish!)
I'm not normally much of a re-reader, but this is a book that I've returned to and will return to. It's slightly hard going for the first section, but once you get your head... Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2008 by Enzyme
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