Product Description
In the crypt of an old stone church in Sydney, a translator and linguist uncovers a vellum-bound, illuminated manuscript. Written in a mysterious alphabet, Jack's not sure if his discovery is a hoax, a code, or even the only written record of a now forgotten language. Intrigued, he starts investigating. Using forensic and linguistic techniques, Jack starts unveiling the manuscript's history and soon discovers that he is not the first to try and decode its secrets. His predecessors were shadowy figures, monks from furtive religious orders, cryptographers and alchemists. As his researches take him ever deeper into the labyrinthine past - to the crusades, the library of Alexandria and even earlier - Jack's obsession grows. He realises that what he has stumbled across has put his life at risk and the only way to save himself is to break the manuscript's code and learn its secrets...The title, "A Little Rain on Thursday", comes from a Russian colloquialism that loosely translates as 'never' - much like the English phrase 'on a cold day in Hell'.
From the Inside Flap
In the crypt of an old church, a translator uncovers an
illuminated manuscript written in an unknown alphabet on vellum. Jack's not
sure if his discovery is a hoax, a code, or the only record of a
long-forgotten language, but he's determined to unlock the manuscript's
secrets.
Scribbled marginalia reveal he's not the first to try - his predecessors
are shadowy figures, monks from hidden religious orders, cryptographers and
alchemists.
Seduced by the lure of the unknown, Jack is drawn ever deeper into the
manuscript's darkening past. But is each new turn in the labyrinth only
taking him further from its solution?
Nearing the heart of the mystery, he feels sinister forces gathering and
his world disintegrating. To save his life and his mind, he has to break
the cipher and reveal the manuscripts' ultimate truth.
