The Colour of Heaven. James Runcie

      JAMES RUNCIE

      THE COLOUR OF

      HEAVEN

       COPYRIGHT

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      HARPER

      A division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2003

      James Runcie asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

      HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

      Source ISBN: 9780007235278

      Ebook Edition © NOVEMBER 2012 ISBN 9780007494996 Version: 2016-10-25

       DEDICATION

      for Marilyn

      CONTENTS

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Map

No Jewel is Worth His Lady

Venice

Murano

Siena

       Constantinople

       Persia

       Sar-I-Sang

       Tun-Huang

       Venice

       Siena

       Sar-I-Sang

       Historical Note

       Envoie

       Keep Reading

       Acknowledgements

       About the Author

       Praise

       By the Same Author

       About the Publisher

       MAP

       NO JEWEL IS WORTH HIS LADY

      Sapphire, nor diamond, nor emerald,

      Nor other precious stones past reckoning, Topaz, nor pearl, nor ruby like a king, Nor that most virtuous jewel, jasper call’d, Nor amethyst, nor onyx, nor basalt, Each counted for a very marvellous thing, Is half so excellently gladdening As is my lady’s head uncoronall’d. All beauty by her beauty is made dim; Like to the stars she is for loftiness; And with her voice she taketh away grief. She is fairer than a bud, or than a leaf. Christ have her well in keeping, of His grace, And make her holy and beloved, like Him!

      Jacopo da Lentino, 1250

      Translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

       VENICE

      

      No one noticed the child.

      He had been left in a small boat which now sailed out towards the lagoon, following nothing but the slap and tide of each narrow canal.

      It was Ascension Day in the year twelve hundred and ninety-five, and the people of Venice were parading through the streets, hoisting crimson pennants and bright-yellow banners in celebration. Tailors dressed in white tunics with crimson stars, weavers in silver cloth tippets, and cotton spinners in cloaks of fustian mingled with blacksmiths, carpenters, butchers, and bakers, singing and shouting their way towards the Piazza San Marco.

      The square was filled with showmen, swindlers, soothsayers, and charlatans; jesters, jugglers, prophets, and priests. Alchemists cried out that scrapings of amber