Paperback

History leaves traces of the people – Byron, Shakespeare, Rimbaud, Leonardo – living through it, in portraits, documents and books. In Traces Remain, Charles Nicholl, the acclaimed author of The Reckoning, The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street and Leonardo da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind, transforms these glimpses through time into comic and poignant vignettes, and curious, intriguing puzzles. From a mysterious painting found in a Hereford house to the death of an alchemist, and from a new Jack the Ripper suspect to a gold hunt in El Dorado, Nicholl’s twenty-five fascinating essays take in two murders, three disappearances and a missing Shakespeare play to show the marvel and tenacity of these wonderful historical traces. ‘Our finest literary and historical detective … Deliciously readable’ Financial Times ‘Charles Nicholl confirms his role as literature’s historic Holmes … thoroughly captivating’ Scotsman ‘Some writers are so good at what they do that they can take you anywhere. Charles Nicholl is one of them’ Irish Times