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

About the Author
Charles Nicholl is a historian, biographer and travel writer. His books include The Reckoning (winner of the James Tait Black prize for biography and the Crime Writers' Association 'Gold Dagger' award for non-fiction), Somebody Else: Arthur Rimbaud in Africa (winner of the Hawthornden Prize) and the acclaimed biography, Leonardo da Vinci: The Flights of the Mind, which has been published in seventeen languages. His most recent book is The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street, which was nominated as 'Book of the Year' twelve times in 2007. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has lectured in Britain, Italy and the United States.

Reviews
[Nicholls is] a peerless historical sleuth. At once a biographer, an explorer and an investigator, he captures the past and its people in lightning-flashes of illumination. In Nicholl's hands, the driest document can rise from the past and shine. Let's hope for many more scintillating revelations from this magician of lost lives -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
History leaves traces of the people - Byron, Shakespeare, Rimbaud, Leonardo - living through it, in portraits, documents and books. In Traces Remain, Charles Nicholl transforms these glimpses through time into comic and poignant vignettes, and curious, intriguing puzzles * Financial Times *



Book Information
ISBN 9780140296822
Author Charles Nicholl
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 259g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 20mm