The tomb guardians awake to find the tomb empty and one of their number missing. Their conversation overlaps with another – an anguished lecturer and friend exploring the Renaissance Master portraits they occupy. One looks back at the dawn of the Reformation, the other thrashes out an excuse.

Author of Mr. Beethoven (The Goldsmiths Prize 2020 shortlist; The Walter Scott Prize 2021 and Republic of Consciousness Prize 2021 longlists), Paul Griffiths sustains this theme: the power of the imagination to unlock history.