There are not many historical novels of which it can be said that they illuminate both the time that forms their subject matter and the time in which they are read: Doctor Copernicus is among the very best of them.
The work of Nicholas Koppernigk, better known as Copernicus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copernicus), shattered the medieval view of the Universe and led to the formulation of the image of the solar system we know today. Here his life is powerfully evoked in a novel that offers a vivid portrait of a man of painful reticence, haunted by a malevolent brother and baffled by the conspiracies that raged around his ideas while he searches for the secret of life.
John Banville http://www.john-banville.com/ and (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_banville) has written a novel of complex patterning, with grace, precision and timing here. It’s all delivered with fastidious wit and exquisite style. A pure pleasure to read.
256 pages in Picador paperback edition
ISBN 978-0330372343
Nicolaus Copernicus John Banville