There's a good idea in here somewhere, but in the end, it's a mess. The action jumps back and forth between a history of those who came in contact with the book over its history, Peter's courtship and marriage the Amanda, and Peter's search for the truth and budding romance with Liz. The bits about Amanda don't really move the story along, and are mostly and excuse to descriptions of sex. In fact, the author wrote in so many examples of beautiful women falling instantly in love with nerdy, quiet guys that I definitely got the impression I was reading his personal fantasy. The ending was ridiculously muddled, with the book Peter found being a forgery, but then the real one showing up, and then the finding of a will that made Peter the owner of both books. By the time it was all over, I didn't care.