The Name of the Rose

"Explodes with pyrotechnic inventions, literally as well as figuratively. Hold on till the end."—New York Times

"Whether you're into Sherlock Holmes, Montaillou, Borges, the nouvelle critique, the Rule of St. Benedict, metaphysics, library design, or The Thing from the Crypt, you'll love it. Who can that miss out?"—Sunday Times (London)

The beloved internationally bestselling historical mystery about a brilliant monk called upon to solve a series of baffling murders in a fourteenth-century Italian abbey.

Italy, 1347. While Brother William of Baskerville is investigating accusations of heresy at a wealthy abbey, his inquiries into the charged atmosphere of political intrigue are disrupted by a series of bizarre deaths. Turning his practiced detective skills to finding the killer, he relies on logic (Aristotle), theology (Thomas Aquinas), empirical insights (Roger Bacon), and his own wry humor and ferocious curiosity. With the aid of his young apprentice, William scours the abbey, from its stables to the secret library with its forbidden labyrinth, piecing together evidence, and deciphering cryptic symbols and coded manuscripts to uncover the truth about this place where "the most interesting things happen at night."

“Explodes with pyrotechnic inventions, literally as well as figuratively. Hold on till the end.” - New York Times

“Like the labyrinthine library at its heart, this brilliant novel has many cunning passages and secret chambers . . . Fascinating . . . ingenious . . . dazzling.” - Newsweek

“The Name of the Rose succeeds at being amusing and ambitious at the same time. It can be regarded as a philosophical novel masked as a detective story, or a detective story masked as a historical novel, or even better as a blend of all three. The venture sounds improbable, but Eco carries it out.” - New York Review of Books

“A brilliantly conceived adventure into another time, an intelligent and complex novel, a lively and well-plotted mystery.” - San Francisco Chronicle

“Whether you're into Sherlock Holmes, Montaillou, Borges, the nouvelle critique, the Rule of St. Benedict, metaphysics, library design, or The Thing from the Crypt, you'll love it. Who can that miss out?” - Sunday Times (London)

“Unfolds in an atmosphere thick with hostility and intrigue . . . Although The Name of the Rose is not a story of semiotics, Eco the novelist shares with Eco the semiotician a feeling for the world as a place rich with possible meanings.” - Christian Science Monitor

“Unforgettable" - R. F. Kuang, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface