To the Hermitage Guy Gunaratne is overwhelmed by the thrill

is overwhelmed by the thrill of opportunity and startled by his own hunger for friendship

a boss who had a lot of money to do up his estate

It's perfect for fans of The Invisible Library series

and yet all entirely readable

Five years after Charles II's triumphant return to London there is growing mistrust of his extravagant court and of corruption among his officials - and when a cart laden with gunpowder explodes outside the General Letter Office

To the Hermitage Guy Gunaratne is overwhelmed by the thrillTo the Hermitage tells two stories. The first is of the narrator, a novelist, on a trip to Stockholm and Russia for an academic seminar called the Diderot Project. The second takes place two hundred years earlier and recreates the journey the French philosopher Denis Diderot made to Russia at the invitation of Catherine the Great, a woman whose influence could change the path of history . . . Malcolm Bradburys last novel is rich with his satirical