Holy Bones, Holy Dust

A piece of the True Cross is the least bizarre item in Charles Freeman's fascinating and unprecedented examination of the holy relics that shaped the course of medieval empires, as Christian rulers more concerned with prestige than sanctity vied for possession of a saint's hair or blood, all to impress their peers and subjects.

June 19: On this day in 1816, the Shelleys, Lord Byron, and entourage gathered at the Villa Diodati on Lake Geneva to tell the ghost stories that would trigger Frankenstein. This most legendary of storm-tossed evenings inspired…

Very few debut novels exhibit the charm, assurance, emotional depth and bravura fabulation which the lucky reader will discover in Helene Wecker's

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