Balthasar's Odyssey

Balthasar's Odyssey

by Amin Maalouf (Author), Barbara Bray (Editor), EuanCameron (Editor)

Synopsis

A journey across cultures and civilisations in search of spiritual salvation and literary enlightenment. In the Koran there are 99 names for God. Does the 100th exist? Months before the dawn of the apocalyptic "Year of the Beast", 1666, Balthasar Embriaco, a Genoese Levantine merchant embarks on a quest to find the answer. He sets out on a journey that will take him across the breadth of the civilized world, making his way to Constantinople and on to Smyrna and Aleppo before embarking for the Isle of Chios and sailing through the Mediterranean, via Genoa and Lisbon, arriving in London shortly before the outbreak of the Great Fire. The purpose of Balthasar's expedition is to search for a copy of the rarest of books, one entitled "The One Hundredth Name". Merely to know this most secret of the names of God will, Balthasar believes, ensure he is saved.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 448
Publisher: The Harvill Press
Published: 05 Sep 2002

ISBN 10: 1860469922
ISBN 13: 9781860469923
Book Overview: BALTHASAR'S ODYSSEY is one of Maalouf's most subtle books, and without doubt one of his most accomplished PHILIPPE NOURRY, Le Point

Media Reviews
Balthasar's Odyssey is one of Maalouf's most subtle books, and without doubt one of his most accomplished ; Philippe Nourry, Le Point A splendid book that should be read in the way one looks at a highly coloured fresco, allowing oneself to be transported by the breeze that wafts Balthasar on the most unexpected journeys ; Josette Alia, Nouvel Observateur
Author Bio
Amin Maalouf's fiction includes Leo the African, Rock of Tanios, which won the 1993 Prix Goncourt, Samarkand and Ports of Call. He is also the author of an acclaimed scholarly work, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes, as well as the much admired essay, On Identity.