num_pages: 490
description: Venice, 1468. The beautiful yet heartless Sosia Simeon is making her mark on the city, driven by a dark compulsion to steal pleasure with men from all walks of life. Across the Grand Canal, Wendelin von Speyer has just arrived from Germany, bringing with him a cultural Gutenberg's movable type. Together with the young editor Bruno Uguccione and the seductive scribe Felice Feliciano, he starts the city's first printing press. Before long a love triangle develops between Sosia, Felice, and Bruno -- who has become entranced by the verse of Catullus, the Roman erotic poet. But a far greater scandal erupts when Wendelin tempts fate by publishing the poet -- and changes all of their lives forever. Sosia, the heartless sensualist; Felice, a man who loves the crevices of the alphabet the way other men love the crevices of women; Lussieta, whose anguish gives the story its soulful these and many other characters make The Floating Book an unforgettable experience for lovers of romance, history, and the printed word.
language: English
title: The Floating Book: A Novel of Venice
titlecomplete: The Floating Book: A Novel of Venice
genres: Fiction, Historical, Books About Books, Italy, 15th Century, Modern, Novels, Travel, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction
ratings_count: 527
places: Venice
publisher: Regan Books