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Title details for The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran - Available

The Book of the Most Precious Substance

A Novel

by Sara Gran
Carol Monda
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available

The highly anticipated thriller from internationally renowned author Sara Gran, author of Come Closer and the Claire DeWitt series

A mysterious book that promises unlimited power and unrivaled sexual pleasure. A down-on-her-luck book dealer hoping for the sale of a lifetime. And a twist so shocking, no one will come out unscathed.

After a tragedy too painful to bear, former novelist Lily Albrecht has resigned herself to a dull, sexless life as a rare-book dealer—until she gets a lead on a book that just might turn everything around. The Book of the Most Precious Substance is a seventeenth-century manual on sex magic, rumored to be the most powerful occult book ever written—if it really exists at all. And some of the wealthiest people in the world are willing to pay Lily a fortune to find it, if she can.

Her search for the book takes her from New York to New Orleans to Munich to Paris, searching the dark corners of power where the world's wealthiest people use black magic to fulfill their desires. Will Lily fulfill her own desires and join them? Or will she lose it all searching for a ghost?

The Book of the Most Precious Substance is an addictive erotic thriller about the lengths we will go to get what we need—and what we want.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 26, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9798200994298
      • File size: 273818 KB
      • Duration: 09:30:27

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 20, 2021
      Former novelist Lily Albrecht, the narrator of this mesmerizing biblio-mystery from Gran (Marigold), now makes her living as a rare book dealer in the wake of a shattering personal tragedy. At a Manhattan book fair, she’s approached by Shyman, a fellow book dealer who has “a shadow in his face, a hollow echo in his laugh, that let you know he’d rather be around books than people.” Shyman asks her help in finding The Book of the Most Precious Substances, an extremely scarce 17th-century manual on sex magic, for a client. The handwritten volume promises sexual ecstasy and unlimited power to those who can complete its five steps, and some of the world’s wealthiest people are desperate to get their hands on it. Lily enlists the help of her friend Lucas Markson, a rare books archivist and librarian, and their quest takes them from New York to Los Angeles, New Orleans, Munich, and Paris. As they soon discover, many of the people looking for the book seem to end up dead, and Lily herself begins to feel that the strange book is pulling her into its embrace. Gran perfectly captures the eccentric world of antiquarian bookselling while portraying a profound and magical reckoning with loss and the possibility of going on. She has outdone herself.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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