The Last Bookaneer - A Novel

The bestselling author of The Dante Club takes us deep into a shadowy era in publishing ruled by a forgotten class of criminals

A golden age of publishing on the verge of collapse. For a hundred years, loose copyright laws and a hungry reading public created a unique opportunity: Books could be published without an author's permission with extraordinary ease. Authors gained fame but suffered financially - Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Robert Louis Stevenson, to name a few - but publishers reaped enormous profits while readers got their books on the cheap. The literary pirates who stalked the harbors, coffeehouses, and printer shops for the latest manuscript to steal were known as bookaneers.

Yet on the eve of the twentieth century, a new international treaty is signed to protect authors and grind this literary underground to a sharp halt. The bookaneers, of course, would become extinct. In The Last Bookaneer, Matthew Pearl gives us a historical novel set inside the lost world of these doomed outlaws and the incredible heist that brought their era to a close.

On the island of Samoa, a dying Robert Louis Stevenson labors over a new novel. The thought of one last book from the great author fires the imaginations of the bookaneers, and soon two adversaries - the gallant Pen Davenport and the monstrous Belial - set out for the south Pacific island. Pen Davenport - a tortured criminal genius haunted by his past - is reluctantly accompanied by Fergins, the narrator of our story, who has lived a quiet life of bookselling before being whisked across the world on his friend's final caper. Fergins soon discovers the supreme thrill of aiding Davenport in his quest: to steal Stevenson's manuscript and make a fortune before the new treaty ends the bookaneers' trade forever.

Yet Samoa holds many secrets of its own, and the duo's bookish concerns clash with the island's violent destiny. A colonial war is afoot between the British, American, and German powers; even as Stevenson himself quietly supports native revolutionaries from high in his mountain compound. Soon Pen and Fergins are embroiled in a conflict larger, perhaps, than literature itself. Illuminating the heroics of the bookaneers even while conjuring Stevenson himself to breathtaking life, Pearl's The Last Bookaneer is a pageturning journey to the dark heart of a forgotten literary era.

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Boston Globe :"[A] historical jigsaw puzzle of literary larceny, deception, and derring-do...[A] richly imagined account... The elite bookaneers were also vindictive, spiteful and viciously ambitious, and Pearl has buckets of fun exploring this world of thieves, spies, smugglers, and tricksters in detailed depth...Packed with bookish love and intrigue, THE LAST BOOKANEER winningly transforms what Pearl notes in his afterword as a 'fragment of legal and publishing history' into fictional magic."Seattle Times :"Matthew Pearl has a particular specialty: finding an obscure corner of 19th-century history and spinning from it literary fiction that is thought-provoking, enlightening, smoothly written - and a ripping good story to boot...[THE LAST BOOKANEER is] another bracing adventure set in the world of 19th-century literature lovers...Pearl is a demon researcher, but THE LAST BOOKANEER wears those studies lightly - there's not a single dull lecture hall in sight. The author's passion for detail, combined with his gift for balancing a leisurely pace with fast-moving action, makes for a deeply satisfying experience." The Maine Edge :"One more example of [Pearl's] ability to bring history's people and places to vividly compelling life...Fast-paced and smart and thoughtful - an altogether outstanding read...Pearl has taken a relatively minor historical footnote and spun a thrilling, fascinating tale of literary intrigue. The richness of the backdrop - particularly the portrayal of Samoa - is textured and nuanced. The reader tumbles headlong into the world being created, borne across the land and sea by Pearl's intricate narrative and expressive prose." Everyday eBook :
Fans of Pearl will love the journey in this latest historical thriller. The amount of time and effort that went into conducting the appropriate research is evident throughout the book and it brings to light an era of publishing that is as fascinating as it is unknown. In a time where digital media is changing the landscape of the publishing industry, this book reminds us that the means by which a story is delivered is not as important as what we take from it.

Kirkus (starred review) : "An entertaining adventure tale steeped in literary history...[Pearl] offers many of the charms and unrushed distractions of a favorite old bookstore." Library Journal (starred review) :"This swashbuckling tale of greed and great literature will remind you why Pearl is the reigning king of popular literary historical thrillers. His latest is guaranteed to delight lovers of history and mystery."

Publishers Weekly : "In the days before e-books, self-publishing, and fan fiction, publishing was an even riskier undertaking-or so Pearl makes an entertaining case for in his latest, ingenious literary caper...Pearl gives the bookaneers a lively fictitious history...and populates it with a colorful cast of roguish characters...A loving testament to the enduring power of paper books."Booklist: "Writing mischievously clever novels about famous writers is Pearl's forte...Passionately researched and ebulliently imagined...Pearl's vividly descriptive and energetically plotted novel churns and charms with intriguing literary history, acid social critique, witty dialogue, and delectably surprising and diabolical reversals and betrayals."Praise for THE DANTE CLUB

Janet Maslin, The New York Times: "Working on a vast canvas, Mr. Pearl keeps this mystery sparkling with erudition... with this captivating brain teaser as his debut novel, seems also to have put his life's work on the line in melding scholarship with mystery. He does justice to both." Kimberley Strassel, The Wall Street Journal :"Mr. Pearl's triumph is mixing these two cultures: wealthy, cultivated men of letters faced with the mysterious and seedy streets of a 19th-century Boston... creating not just a page-turner but a beguiling look at the U.S. in an era when elites shaped the course of learning and publishing

Product details

• Authors: Matthew Pearl
• Publisher: Penguin US
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.04.2015
• EAN: 9781594206832
• ISBN: 978-1-59420-683-2
• No. of pages: 389
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 233 mm x 25 mm
• Weight: 505 g
• Series: PENGUIN PRESS
• Subject: Fiction > Narrative literature