Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #349854 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 343 pages

Synopsis
In Vienna 1770, Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen unveils a strange and amazing invention, The Mechanical Turk, a sensational and unbeatable chess-playing automaton. But what the Habsburg court hails as the greatest innovation of the century is really nothing more than a brilliant illusion. The chess machine is secretly operated from inside by the Italian dwarf Tibor, a God-fearing social outcast whose chess-playing abilities and diminutive size make him the perfect accomplice in this grand hoax. Von Kempelen and his helpers tour his remarkable invention all around Europe to amaze and entertain the public, but despite many valiant attempts and close calls, no one is able to beat the extraordinary chess machine. The crowds all across Europe adore the Turk, and the success of Baron von Kempelen seems assured. But when a beautiful and seductive Countess dies under mysterious circumstances in the presence of the automaton, the Mechanical Turk falls under a cloud of suspicion, and the machine and its inventor become the target of espionage, persecution, and aristocratic intrigue. What is the dark secret behind this automaton and what strange powers does it hold?

From the leaden dungeons of Venice to the imperial court in Vienna, from the palaces of the Pressburg nobility to the alleyways of the Jewish quarter, "The Secrets of the Chess Machine" is the breathtaking historical adventure, based on a true story, of a legendary invention.

From the Inside Flap
'What held him spellbound from the first was the object in the
middle of the room, covered with a linen cloth and waiting for its maker's
return. The shapes outlined under the fabric told Tibor that it was the
chess machine. He could make out a head and shoulders, and the table-top
for the chessboard in front of them. Tibor approached the automaton with
care, as if approaching a corpse, and just as one might draw back a
winding-sheet Tibor life the linen...'

From the Back Cover
`If you liked Perfume by Patrick Süskind, then you'll love The
Secrets of the Chess Machine. Löhr's magical novel of murder and intrigue
in the age of enlightenment will grip you from the very first page'
Harper's Bazaar