The Starry Message by D. Allen Henry
What's It About?
A professor and countess embark on a whirlwind journey after they uncover a document of the famed mathematician and scientist Galileio, perfect for fans of "The Da Vinci Code".A veiled prophecy of scientist Galileo Galilei is discovered four centuries after his death, launching an American professor and an Italian countess on a perilous quest to solve its hidden clues in D. Allen Henry’s imaginative The Starry Message.
In the fall of 1641, a sightless Galileo recognizes his impending death and dictates a poem to a protegee that contains within its verses the secrets to his “ultimate discovery.” At night, alone, Galileo slyly hides the poem within a compartment in a credenza. He deposits two additional documents within his famous invention, the perspiculum. In his last moments, he moves his blind eyes to the heavens and sees “in his mind’s eye, the moons of Jupiter, the face of the Moon wobbling back and forth, the strange shape of Saturn, the horns of Venus, and surely most significantly of all, the strange comet.”
A Mysterious Phone Call
In 1997, renowned Galileo expert and professor Paul Woodbridge receives a mysterious phone call after class at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. A woman identifying herself as Antonietta Floridiana, Contessa da Vinci, asks for Woodbridge’s assistance in establishing the authenticity of a document she discovered within an aged credenza known to belong to Galileo, the “Starry Messenger” himself. Could it be an undiscovered document of the famed mathematician and scientist? For Woodbridge, a man who worships Galileo and his contributions to mankind, it is an offer he cannot refuse.
Henry thus kicks off this delightful historical thriller, juxtaposing two separate storylines as Woodbridge and the Contessa meet in Arcetri, Italy, to extract the paper and translate the poem. Working together, they realize Galileo’s poem is much more than meets the eye, that “the long stanza seemed to beckon the reader to undertake a pilgrimage of some sort.” Excited by their discovery, they begin a whirlwind tour of the major towns and places that Galileo lived during his lifetime. Henry does yeoman’s work bringing history to life through the adventures of Woodbridge and the Contessa, as Woodbridge — who could be a stand-in for the real-life university professor and writer D. Allen Henry — regales the Contessa with facts and stories of Galileo’s life and accomplishments.
Dangerous Quest Through Italy
Racing from town to town, from Brunelleschi’s Dome to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Galileo’s burial place, the ingenious clues of each stanza are revealed. Henry includes helpful diagrams and drawings as Woodbridge works through the potential meanings behind the poem and the locations they are led to. Prefacing each new location, Henry includes throughout flashbacks to Galileo’s life in each of those places, from his time as a young monk to the height of his fame and the fall of his reputation during his trial for heresy during the Inquisition.
But it would not be a thriller without danger, and Woodbridge and the Contessa soon realize they are being followed. There are others who are aware of the document’s existence … and will do whatever it takes to get it. From powerful actors within the Vatican to the Italian mafia known as the Camorra, Woodbridge and the Contessa must watch their steps … and their backs.
Henry also teases the real-life Lincean Academy and one of its members who wishes to guard and promote Galileo’s scientific genius through this latest discovery. Woodbridge and the Contessa do not know who to trust, except each other, and as they unwind Galileo’s riddle of cosmological proportions — one which could save or doom humankind — they will face death itself to get to the truth.Reminiscent of the Da Vinci Code and with hints of Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Starry Message is a lighthearted and enlightening adventure of science, secrets, and the genius of a man who changed the world forever.
About D. Allen Henry:
D. Allen Henry obtained his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University in 1980. In his more than 40 years in academia, he has been on faculty at four major universities, including two as Dean of Engineering. Over the past 28 years, he has taught 39 study abroad courses across the world in 20 countries on four continents. He is also multilingual (French and Italian), and he has lived in Italy, France, Australia, and Brazil. He has embarked on many travels with his wife, Claudia.
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