Not sure what I can say about this novel that won't end up making me look a bit dim. Truth is, I never really got into the flow of it, but I finished it because it was well written and I thought I might learn something - which I did. Paul Griffiths is a scholarly man who has clearly done a great deal of research before writing this novel, but the whole book is full of reminders that he is filling the gaps in historical record with narrative that 'might' have happened, and it would at least have been possible. I don't mind authors making a story out of just a few bare facts, and I imagine quite a few books that I have read in the last year or so fall into that category. All I need to be told is: 'This is my take on what might have happened...' and then I am quite happy to roll with it for the rest of the book. Please don't add the could haves. This is an example from the beginning of Chapter 4 when Beethoven's ship is arriving in Boston: 'How co...