Pentiment review - a sixteenth century mystery that blossoms with intrigue and human warmth

Pentiment sent me back to dig out my old copy of The Name of the Rose, and not merely because it's another murder-mystery - of a kind - set in and around a medieval monastery. It's mostly because there's a lovely passage on pens early on in Umberto Eco's book that I wanted to remind myself of.

Here it is, nestled in the fake introduction, which suggests that this careful clockwork novel you're about to read is in fact a true story, a haphazard manuscript that has fallen into the hands of an academic, who has merely provided a translation:

"[In] almost a single burst of energy, I completed a translation, using some of those large notebooks from the Papetiere Joseph Gilbert in which it is so pleasant to write if you use a felt-tip pen."

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