An Imperfect Lens: A Novel

An Imperfect Lens: A Novel
by Anne Roiphe

An Imperfect Lens: A Novel
List Price: $14.00
Our Price: $3.94
You Save: $10.06 (72%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Anne Roiphe
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-24
ISBN: 1400082129
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Three Rivers Press

Summary of An Imperfect Lens: A Novel

Acclaimed author Anne Roiphe evokes the sights and sounds of 1880s Alexandria, Egypt, a bustling center of trade and travel. From teeming docks to overflowing market stalls, from grand homes to grimy narrow alleyways, cholera microbes rise and bob in streams of water and tiny droplets, clinging to moisture as man clings to air.

With a keen mind and dedication to his work, young Louis Thuillier has impressed his mentor?famed scientist Louis Pasteur?enough to be sent to Alexandria as one-third of the French mission searching for the source of the cholera that is terrorizing the city. Along with the other members of the French mission?scientists Emile Roux and Edmond Nocard and their enterprising servant Marcus?Louis longs to find the cure, bringing glory to himself and to France. Este Malina is the lovely daughter of a respected Jewish doctor, whose family has lived in Alexandria for hundreds of years. A life of comfort has made Este a romantic, and she hopes to marry a man with the heart of a poet. Neither expects to find a soul mate in the other, but when Este begins to assist at the French mission?s lab, a deep bond forms. Este, though, is engaged to another, and Louis is not Jewish?her family would never allow them to marry.

In spite of their many differences, the lovers? desire grows and their fantasies threaten to distract them from their work. In Alexandria, the disease rages on, as mysterious as it was a thousand years before. Political intrigue threatens to separate Este and Louis permanently. Their love, as fragile as the glass slides they use in the lab, is in danger before it has had a chance to thrive.

With An Imperfect Lens, rich with the sights and scents of a different era, Anne Roiphe once again demonstrates the storytelling power for which she has long been hailed.


From the Hardcover edition.

Historical Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Historical Books
Pirate Latitudes: A Novel ImagePirate Latitudes: A Novel
by Michael Crichton
Harper; Published: 2009-11-24; Roughcut; Book
Best price: $2.44
Price in other shops: $27.99
The Master Butchers Singing Club: A Novel ImageThe Master Butchers Singing Club: A Novel
by Louise Erdrich
Harper Perennial; Published: 2004-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.83
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Last Witchfinder: A Novel ImageThe Last Witchfinder: A Novel
by James Morrow
William Morrow; Published: 2006-03-14; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: $25.95
Zorro ImageZorro
by Isabel Allende
HarperAudio; Published: 2005-05-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $3.09
Price in other shops: $39.95
The Hot Kid: A Novel ImageThe Hot Kid: A Novel
by Elmore Leonard
William Morrow; Published: 2005-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.89
Price in other shops: $25.95
The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles Series #1) ImageThe Last Kingdom (The Saxon Chronicles Series #1)
Mass Market Paperback; Book
Bones of the Hills (Conqueror, Book 3) ImageBones of the Hills (Conqueror, Book 3)
by Conn Iggulden
Harper Collins Canada; Published: 2008; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $44.70
March ImageMarch
by Geraldine Brooks
Penguin Books; Published: 2006; Paperback; Book
Emperor (Emperor 1) ImageEmperor (Emperor 1)
by Conn Iggulden
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2003-06-07; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.80
Girl With a Pearl Earring ImageGirl With a Pearl Earring
by Tracy Chevalier
Harper Collins Audio; Published: 2002-06-17; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $86.82
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories