Shadows in Penumbra

An intricately woven mystery surrounding the theft of a puzzling manuscript and two valuable books from a Beunos Aires library starts in pre-war Malta and follows a 50-year long path that forks out to London, Ceuta, Beuonas Aires, Gothenburg and San Francisco. The story’s penumbra is inhabited by Jorge Luis Borges; Jeremy Bentham; Juan Bautista Azopardo, a fearless privateer from Senglea, credited with founding the Argentine Navy; Zachary Thorne, a naval lietuenant turned librarian, intent on making Malta his home; his reserved but charming daughter Miranda, and other intriguing characters whose furtive shadows paradoxically cast a light on the tale’s unfolding.