''Balthasar's Odyssey'' (french: Le Périple de Baldassare) is a
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
novel
A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...
by
set in 17th century
Europe and the Levant.
Originally written in French, it was shortlisted for the
International Dublin Literary Award in 2004.
The plot concerns the journey of a
Genoese
Genoese may refer to:
* a person from Genoa
* Genoese dialect, a dialect of the Ligurian language
* Republic of Genoa (–1805), a former state in Liguria
See also
* Genovese, a surname
* Genovesi, a surname
*
*
*
*
* Genova (disambiguati ...
librarian living in the town of
Gibelet
Byblos ( ; gr, Βύβλος), also known as Jbeil or Jubayl ( ar, جُبَيْل, Jubayl, Lebanese Arabic, locally ; phn, 𐤂𐤁𐤋, , probably ), is a city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. It is believed to have been first occ ...
(
Byblos in Lebanon) named Balthasar who seeks a sacred book ''The Hundredth Name'' that is said to contain the unknown and sacred name of God, whose knowledge seems to be the answer for the salvation of souls at
Doomsday
Doomsday may refer to:
* Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions.
* Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...
in the apocalyptic year of 1666. During his trip, Balthasar travels through the
Ottoman Empire, to
Italy, and
London, while experiencing a myriad of problems due to the accursed book.
Plot
Before the dawn of the apocalyptic 'Year of the Beast' in 1666, Balthasar Embriaco, a Levantine merchant, sets out on an adventure that will take him across the breadth of the civilised world from Constantinople, through the Mediterranean, to
London, shortly before the
Great Fire.
Balthazar's urgent quest is to track down a copy of one of the rarest and most coveted books ever printed, a volume called ''The Hundredth Name''; its contents are thought to be of vital importance to the future of the world. There are ninety-nine names for God in the
Quran, and merely to know this most secret hundredth name will, Balthasar believes, ensure his salvation.
References
2000 French novels
French-language novels
Historical novels
Novels by Amin Maalouf
Novels set in the Ottoman Empire
Novels set in the 1660s
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