Book of Souls

The abbot turned the stroller over to Nancy. “He’s a fine young man, and he has good parents. He’s got a bright future. I’m going to leave you now. Stay as long as you like.”

When they were alone, Nancy asked him, “Are you glad you came?”

He looked down into the hollow and imagined the green-eyed, ginger-haired scribes who mutely labored there for centuries, the monks who guarded their secret as a sacred obligation, the final blood-spattered catastrophe that ended it all. He imagined what the library would have looked like, the vast assemblage of thick, heavy books in their cavernous vault. He was still hoping that one day, he’d be invited to Nevada to see what the Library looked like now. But he wasn’t holding his breath.

“Yeah, I’m glad. And I’m glad you and Philly are here with me.” He looked across the meadow toward the sea. “God, it’s peaceful here.”

They stayed for a while, until the sun started to set. They had a ferry to catch and a long drive. In a family cemetery in Shakespeare country, he had a grave under a lime tree he wanted to visit before they flew back to Miami. Nancy had a new Bureau job in Florida to settle into and a house to decorate.

And he had some fishing to do in the beckoning waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Acknowledgments

My continued thanks to Steve Kasdin. Without his “divine intervention,” Secret of the Seventh Son and Book of Souls might not have come to fruition. Also thanks to my first reader, Gunilla Lacoche, for her insightful comments, and to my terrific editor at Harper, Lyssa Keusch, and to the entire publishing team at HarperCollins. And, as always, thanks to Tessa and Shane for propping me up on the home front.

About the Author

GLENN COOPER is the author of the international bestseller Secret of the Seventh Son. He studied archaeology at Harvard before becoming a physician specializing in infectious diseases. After a career in research he became a biotechnology chief executive officer. He has written multiple screenplays and runs an independent film production company based in Boston. He lives in Massachusetts in one of the oldest houses in America.

www.glenncooperbooks.com

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