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Gutenberg's Apprentice

Audiobook

"A finely atmospheric debut...Christie's novel is a worthy tribute to the technological revolution it reimagines, as well as a haunting elegy to the culture of print...One thinks of Donna Tartt's obsessive accounts of furniture decoration in The Goldfinch or even Philip Roth's lovingly twisted empathy with glovemaker Swede Levov in American Pastoral. Such novels of craft and specialization take a writerly delight in the most intricate details of a particular trade while spinning rich prose out of its mysterious threads." — Washington Post

An enthralling literary novel that evokes one of the most momentous events in history, the birth of printing in medieval Germany—a story of invention, intrigue, and betrayal, rich in atmosphere and historical detail, told through the lives of the three men who made it possible.

Youthful, ambitious Peter Schoeffer is on the verge of professional success as a scribe in Paris when his foster father, wealthy merchant and bookseller Johann Fust, summons him home to corrupt, feud-plagued Mainz to meet "a most amazing man."

Johann Gutenberg, a driven and caustic inventor, has devised a revolutionary—and to some, blasphemous—method of bookmaking: a machine he calls a printing press. Fust is financing Gutenberg's workshop and he orders Peter, his adopted son, to become Gutenberg's apprentice. Resentful at having to abandon a prestigious career as a scribe, Peter begins his education in the "darkest art."

As his skill grows, so, too, does his admiration for Gutenberg and his dedication to their daring venture: copies of the Holy Bible. But mechanical difficulties and the crushing power of the Catholic Church threaten their work. As outside forces align against them, Peter finds himself torn between two father figures: the generous Fust, who saved him from poverty after his mother died; and the brilliant, mercurial Gutenberg, who inspires Peter to achieve his own mastery.

Caught between the genius and the merchant, the old ways and the new, Peter and the men he admires must work together to prevail against overwhelming obstacles—a battle that will change history . . . and irrevocably transform them.


Expand title description text
Publisher: HarperAudio Edition: Unabridged
Awards:

OverDrive Listen audiobook

  • ISBN: 9780062362124
  • File size: 407773 KB
  • Release date: September 23, 2014
  • Duration: 14:09:31

MP3 audiobook

  • ISBN: 9780062362124
  • File size: 407828 KB
  • Release date: September 23, 2014
  • Duration: 14:09:25
  • Number of parts: 13

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Formats

OverDrive Listen audiobook
MP3 audiobook

Languages

English

"A finely atmospheric debut...Christie's novel is a worthy tribute to the technological revolution it reimagines, as well as a haunting elegy to the culture of print...One thinks of Donna Tartt's obsessive accounts of furniture decoration in The Goldfinch or even Philip Roth's lovingly twisted empathy with glovemaker Swede Levov in American Pastoral. Such novels of craft and specialization take a writerly delight in the most intricate details of a particular trade while spinning rich prose out of its mysterious threads." — Washington Post

An enthralling literary novel that evokes one of the most momentous events in history, the birth of printing in medieval Germany—a story of invention, intrigue, and betrayal, rich in atmosphere and historical detail, told through the lives of the three men who made it possible.

Youthful, ambitious Peter Schoeffer is on the verge of professional success as a scribe in Paris when his foster father, wealthy merchant and bookseller Johann Fust, summons him home to corrupt, feud-plagued Mainz to meet "a most amazing man."

Johann Gutenberg, a driven and caustic inventor, has devised a revolutionary—and to some, blasphemous—method of bookmaking: a machine he calls a printing press. Fust is financing Gutenberg's workshop and he orders Peter, his adopted son, to become Gutenberg's apprentice. Resentful at having to abandon a prestigious career as a scribe, Peter begins his education in the "darkest art."

As his skill grows, so, too, does his admiration for Gutenberg and his dedication to their daring venture: copies of the Holy Bible. But mechanical difficulties and the crushing power of the Catholic Church threaten their work. As outside forces align against them, Peter finds himself torn between two father figures: the generous Fust, who saved him from poverty after his mother died; and the brilliant, mercurial Gutenberg, who inspires Peter to achieve his own mastery.

Caught between the genius and the merchant, the old ways and the new, Peter and the men he admires must work together to prevail against overwhelming obstacles—a battle that will change history . . . and irrevocably transform them.


Expand title description text
  • Details

    Publisher:
    HarperAudio
    Edition:
    Unabridged

    Awards:

    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    ISBN: 9780062362124
    File size: 407773 KB
    Release date: September 23, 2014
    Duration: 14:09:31

    MP3 audiobook
    ISBN: 9780062362124
    File size: 407828 KB
    Release date: September 23, 2014
    Duration: 14:09:25
    Number of parts: 13

  • Creators
  • Formats
    OverDrive Listen audiobook
    MP3 audiobook
  • Languages
    English
  • Reviews
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