It makes no difference whether The Fragment is the first Davis Bunn novel you’ve read or the latest,
you, as a reader, are sure to enjoy the journey taking place between the first
and last pages.
Smithsonian research fellow Muriel Ross traveled to Paris
with her parents’ long-time friend, Virginia senator Thomas Bryan, to
photograph antiquities he hopes to acquire. It becomes clear, however, that the
senator waited until they were in Paris to tell Muriel their true mission – to photograph
a portion of the True Cross, discovered by Empress Helena (in Bunn’s previous
novel published by Franciscan Media, The
Pilgrim), and then to head to Turkey to acquire another portion of that
same Cross.
Set in 1923, The
Fragment is like stepping out of a time machine and into history. The Great
War may have ended nearly five years before, but it is still a world healing
from the wounds suffered during that global conflict. Nowhere is that more
obvious than in Paris, which suffered greatly during the war. Bunn’s
description of the city and its peoples make the reader feel as if they are
walking down those streets. Those descriptive abilities also come into play
when Muriel, Senator Bryan, and Charles Fouchet – private secretary to France’s
minister of the interior – find themselves in Constantinople to complete Bryan’s
mission.
Filled with adventure and intrigue, I found the The Fragment difficult to put down and
felt a keen disappointment that the story was ended. A world of possibilities
opens for Muriel at the end of the novel, but I find myself hoping most that
Muriel Ross find herself as the lead in a series of historical thrillers and/or
mysteries set in the 1920s or ‘30s.
Rating: 5 Stars
I received a complimentary copy of this book from
Franciscan Media in exchange for my honest review.
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