Traces Remain, Essays and Explorations by Charles Nicholl (Penguin, £20) (From Gazette & Herald)

Traces Remain, Essays and Explorations by Charles Nicholl (Penguin, £20)

11:54am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Books By Bill Spence

THIS is an intriguing book written by an author who loves to delve into the lesser known facts of history.

Taking snippets of conversations or a line in a book he has read as his starting point, he searches out information that makes what seems unimportant become something that makes history more real.

Thirty essays cover subjects from the remnants of a lost Shakespeare play, a murder case in Renaissance Rome, a sculpture in Bologna that may or may not be, in part, by Michelangelo and the journeys of a now forgotten 17th century travel writer.

The author Charles Nicholl is reputed to be one of the finest literary and historical detectives of our time and he has a gift for making history become more accessible as we realise that trivia does have a place in it.

This is an ideal book to have by your bedside or on a journey for each essay is not too long, is easy to read and leaves us feeling satisfied that we have increased our knowledge. It is a perfect companion.