The Starry Message

In 1997, renowned Galileo expert and professor Paul Woodbridge receives a mysterious phone call after class at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. A woman identifying herself as Antonietta Floridiana, Contessa da Vinci, asks for Woodbridge's assistance in establishing the authenticity of a document she discovered within an aged credenza known to belong to Galileo, the Starry Messenger himself. Could it be an undiscovered document of the famed mathematician and scientist? For Woodbridge, a man who worships Galileo and his contributions to mankind, it is an offer he cannot refuse. Henry thus kicks off this delightful historical thriller, juxtaposing two separate storylines as Woodbridge and the Contessa meet in Arcetri, Italy, to extract the paper and translate the poem. Working together, they realize Galileo's poem is much more than meets the eye, that the long stanza seemed to beckon the reader to undertake a pilgrimage of some sort. Excited by their discovery, they begin a whirlwind tour of the major towns and places that Galileo lived during his lifetime. Henry does yeoman's work bringing history to life through the adventures of Woodbridge and the Contessa, as Woodbridge — who could be a stand-in for the real-life university professor and writer D. Allen Henry — regales the Contessa with facts and stories of Galileo's life and accomplishments. Racing from town to town, from Brunelleschi's Dome to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Galileo's burial place, the ingenious clues of each stanza are revealed. Henry includes helpful diagrams and drawings as Woodbridge works through the potential meanings behind the poem and the locations they are led to. Prefacing each new location, Henry includes throughout flashbacks to Galileo's life in each of those places, from his time as a young monk to the height of his fame and the fall of his reputation during his trial for heresy during the Inquisition. But it would not be a thriller without danger, and Woodbridge and the Contessa soon realize they are being followed. There are others who are aware of the document's existence ... and will do whatever it takes to get it. From powerful actors within the Vatican to the Italian mafia known as the Camorra, Woodbridge and the Contessa must watch their steps ... and their backs.Henry also teases the real-life Lincean Academy and one of its members who wishes to guard and promote Galileo's scientific genius through this latest discovery. Woodbridge and the Contessa do not know who to trust, except each other, and as they unwind Galileo's riddle of cosmological proportions — one which could save or doom humankind — they will face death itself to get to the truth. Reminiscent of The Da Vinci Code and with hints of Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Starry Message is a lighthearted and enlightening adventure of science, secrets, and the genius of a man who changed the world forever.Peggy Kurkowski, @BookTrib