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    The Secret Supper: A Novel
    The Secret Supper: A Novel
    The Secret Supper: A Novel
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Secret Supper: A Novel

    Written by Javier Sierra

    Narrated by Simon Jones

    3/5

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    About this audiobook

    This instant New York Times bestseller reveals the secrets embedded in Leonardo Da Vinci's best-known Christian piece The Last Supper.

    Milan, 1497: Leonardo is completing The Last Supper. Pope Alexander VI is determined to execute him after realizing that the painting contains clues to a baffling—and blasphemous—message that he is driven to decode. The Holy Grail and the Eucharistic Bread are missing, there is no meat on the table, and the apostles, shockingly, are portraits of well-known heretics—and none of them are depicted with halos. And why has the artist painted himself into the scene with his back turned toward Jesus? The clues to Leonardo's greatest puzzle are right before your eyes...

    Tightly paced and atmospheric, The Secret Supper is a dazzling historical thriller with a unique vision of both Leonardo da Vinci's genius and his masterpiece—which you will never look at in the same way again.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster Audio
    Release dateMar 21, 2006
    ISBN9780743565196
    Author

    Javier Sierra

    Javier Sierra, whose works have been translated into forty languages, is the author of The Lost Angel, The Lady in Blue, and the New York Times bestselling novel The Secret Supper. One of the most accomplished authors on the Spanish literary scene, Sierra studied journalism at the Complutense University of Madrid. El Maestro del Prado spent a year on the bestseller list in Spain, gaining the admiration of art experts, aficionados, and critics. A native of Teruel, Spain, he currently lives in Madrid with his wife and two children.

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    Reviews for The Secret Supper

    3/5

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    • 4/5
      This is not a genre I normally read; in fact, I shy away from historical thrillers that are based on the Cathar schism in the Catholic Church. (Think Dan Brown.) Yet, here we have a deeply researched novel populated with more actual historical characters than fictional ones and full of delightfully intriguing esoterica about controversial religious texts, the coded language of symbols in great art, and of course how all this comes to focus in da Vinci's Cenacolo, or The Last Supper.Sierra has written a neatly integrated scholarly interpretation of the much discussed compositional elements of the world's most famous fresco on the refectory wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie that is the dining room of its Dominican brethren. Even during the three years that da Vinci agonized -- and he did agonize -- over this masterwork, the panting, commissioned by Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan, was controversial. Politics nurtured a rivalry between the Mother Church in Rome, fearful of the liberalism fostered by il Moro, who was suspected of heretical thinking and was believed by some in the Vatican to be an apostate, adhering to Cathar schismatics.In the novel, the Inquisitor and friar, Agostino Leyre is dispatched from Rome to investigate the mysterious coded message the Secretariat of the Order in Bethany has received from someone in the Dominican monastery in Milan calling himself the Soothsayer, who accuses "certain people" of occult practices and hints that the famous artist, Leonardo da Vinci, is a servant of Satan.Sierra manages a grand stage filled with many characters, all exquisitely individualized so that they live on the page. The atmosphere of the late 15th C. and the turmoil caused by the Academy in Rome (established as reincarnation of Plato's famous Athenian Academy) turning out highly educated, multi talented "Renaissance men," largely secular and questioning in their habits has upset the control of the Papal States over the populous. Trouble is brewing on all sides and the conundrums in secret messages, texts, and symbols in paintings spell danger to those in power. Violent death invades the sanctuary, rebellious religious cannot be brought to heel, and rumors persist that the Cathars have not been wiped out but are hovering in the hills surrounding Milan. Sierra weaves all these threads in a tightly plotted work and manages to drop none of them.Readers who enjoy Eco's novels will be gratified by this novel for its richness of detail and historical accuracy, as well as its controlled pacing and mounting tension. Here we have puzzles enough to confound the most clever fan of mysteries. The question is, will they also confound Father Agostino?

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      My first comment: NOT a DVC ripoff, not a clone, not even close! So don't let this put you off of reading this book. The author has written a good mystery which stands on its own, so if you're worried about "oh no, another DaVinci Code," forget it.Set in late 15th-century Milan, when one of my favorite historical bad guys is gaining in popularity (Savanarola), the story is told by a Father Augustino Leyre, who is an agent for the Office of the Inquisition from Rome. Several letters, all signed by someone calling himself "Soothsayer" have been received there that send Father Leyre to a monastery in Milan. He can gain nothing from the latest letter, which is a cryptic puzzle, except that the writer was probably a Dominican monk, based on some of the phrases used in the letter. So he decides to visit the monastery and try to ascertain the identity of the writer. At issue: the painting of The Last Supper, by Leonardo DaVinci. The question: is the great Leonardo a heretic? Why has he altered the traditional view of the Last Supper? What is he trying to say with this painting, and to whom? Should the Inquisition haul him up on charges of heresy? While Father Augustino is trying to get to the root of the problem, there are several mysterious deaths that all somehow seem to be linked. Serra's work is very well researched; most of his characters are actual people who lived at the time under study here, and there is a guide to the characters in the back of the book. You'll find yourself referring to the painting often (I did); the author has placed a reproduction inside the cover, clearly labeled so that you can easily tell who is who as the story unfolds. A very good mystery and one that is easily read. If you enjoy cyphers, puzzles and historical fiction, you will want to read this one. Now let's see if the popularity of this book gets some more of Serra's works translated into English!
    • 1/5
      I wanted to like this book because I find the subject interesting, but it read like an over-zealous professor trying to make a dull subject interesting. The irony is that it isn't a dull story, but the over abundance of facts reiterated throughout the story made it tedious. I kept getting the feeling there would be a test later. If I wanted an education on 15th century religion and artwork I would read a text book. I wanted an intriguing story and didn't find it here.
    • 5/5
      Wow! What a fantastic tale. I listened to the unabridged Audible version of this book and I was spellbound. Although this book and The DaVinci Code feature much of the same subject matter ( The Last Supper, Leonardo DaVinci, Mary Magdalene, etc.), it's my opinion that the author posits a much more credible theory about the meaning of The Last Supper. The author displays an admirable mastery of the era's Byzantine politics, luminaries, and events. Although this novel presents quite a large cast of characters, they'rewell-defined and completely convincing. (I understand the printed version of this book includes a Cast of Characters to help you keep them straight.)The narrator of this book was simply the best that I've ever heard, effortlessly conveying distinct voices for each character, regardless of sex or accent. Simply amazing.
    • 1/5
      Badness everywhere. Poorly written with an embarrassingly juvenile "climax" and resolution.
    • 3/5
      A well written historical suspense book about the Cathars. The premises are believable, and the historical detail well researched.I rather suspect that this would not have been published in English if it weren't for the Da Vinci Code. Which is about the first positive thing I've ever said about that book. Even if you have had an overdoes of Leonardo Da Vinci and Mary Magdalene, you might want to give this one a chance.
    • 1/5
      The Secret Supper - well named as it kept its secret from me ... I still have to discover why Javier Sierra felt compelled to put pen to paper.I ploughed through the 323 pages, flicking backwards and forwards from the text to the cover to the review and back to the text to get some sense of what I was reading and where the - so called - plot was going. In the end it proved simple and I was left wondering why the mystery and where the ?enigma?.Difficult to read, boring and - above all - a total waste of time for Sierra and me!
    • 1/5
      This is so bad. I can't even get through the book. Too many characters, different names but with no other differences between it's hard to tell who's doing what when. I'm about halfway and couldn't care less what the secret is.
    • 3/5
      This is a historical thriller in the vein of "The Da Vinci Code". But, it didn't have the excitement of Dan Brown's thriller. I did enjoy Sierra's interpretation of the "Last Supper" and am always fascinated by the puzzles and clues posed by ancient documents. However, the characters didn't feel real and it would have been easy to put this book down.The story is based on Leonardo Da Vinci's masterpiece "The Last Supper". Set in the late 15th century, Pope Alexander VI is convinced that the painting contains a blasphemous message that will bring down the Church. The decoding of the message and some very brief history makes for a confusing novel.
    • 3/5
      Working with the assumption that Da Vinci was a Cathar and thereby a heretic, a papal investigator is sent not only to try to decipher some scribbles found in the famous painting, but to determine the meaning of some aspects of the painting as a whole ? there is no meat on the table, the bread is missing and strangely the faces of the apostles bear striking resembles to heretics of the day. Mixing in real historical figures with some fictional ones (I, personally, am not familiar enough with the period to differentiate all of them) to help solve the clues made this an interesting and, often, educational read.

      Admittedly, there has been a ?glut? on the market of these conspiracy theory books since the publication of The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) but this one is a less of a conspiracy theory action thriller and more of a ?what if?? representation of the
    • 4/5
      About Leonardo da Vici painting his Last Supper.
    • 5/5
      A splendid novel of art history that explores the neoplatoism of Da Vinci as evidenced in the Last Supper or truly the "Secret Supper." While a theology is presented in the book (purely gnostic), it is not as simple as "Da Vinci Code."
    • 3/5
      Set in the late 15th Century with an Inquisitor, an Assassin, Cathars plus Leonardo da Vinci and the last Supper this novel provides an intersting and enjoyable read. It's an entertaining story revolving around the Church's suspicions of Leonardo and his possible heresies.