Father Agostino Leyre is a Dominican Inquisitor at the very end of the 15th century. He is sent to Milan, more specifically to the monastery Santa Maria delle Grazie. He is sent there because a mystery informer is sending letters to his order espousing a heresy taking place in that monastery. This is also the very same place where Leonardo da Vinci is creating what some consider his greatest work, The Last Supper. Who this informer is and whether there is a true heresy underfoot is the mission of Father Agostino.
This book, like much of the religious and history based fiction of late is meant to have us question our faith in the knowledge we believe we have. And just as importantly wonder we we’re so quick to judge those that believe differently then we do.
All of the characters that appear in this book whether Sierra borrows them from history or makes them up in whole are full people. None of them is above suspicion or sin and all of them stand more or less virtuously for what they believe. In other words, they come across as very real. From the one-eyed monk Brother Benedetto (unreal) to Pope Alexander VI (real). From Lucrezia Crivelli (real) who was the model for da Vinci’s “Le Belle Ferroniere” to her daughter Elena (unreal) who is a model for other da Vinci masterpieces. From our narrator Father Agostino Leyre (unreal) to the master himself Leonardo da Vinci (quite obviously real) every character rings with a certain humanity.
Sierra does an excellent job of bringing turn of the 15th century Milan and Rome into view. The intrigues of those times run through the story to more immerse with society then. He makes you feel the insecurities of the Roman church so you can understand better why they feel so threatened by the “strange” details in Leonardo’s “Last Supper” and/or any other way of worshipping the Christ then their own.
“The Secret Supper” was a really good read. I went through it pretty quickly but I think a lot of that has to do with all the time I’ve spent alone on trains recently. But in an odd way my solo transit adventures were a blessing because it afforded me the opportunity to finish this book. Check it out if the opportunity is afforded to you. And if I possess the book then the opportunity is always afforded to you to read it.