(Found) A very long book set largely in an alternative Jerusalem with a profoundly deaf, eccentric English nobleman as the main character.

[Nemesis Looms]

I do not remember much and could not get my head around it at the time. I then lost my copy in a house move at some point before I finished it and would like to have another crack at it.

The main character is some kind of savant and is - or becomes at some point in the story - profoundly deaf. He is the last of a noble family of which, it is revealed in passing, the male line have a long history of dying in stupid ways before achieving anything of real note. (The character's own father carried on the tradition by drowning after falling asleep on a riverbank whilst fishing). He ends up studying something or other in Jerusalem involving the Dead Sea scrolls or similar. The only other thing I can remember is that at some point, the laboratory in which he is working is destroyed by an explosion which he fails to notice.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Matteo]

I do not remember much and could not get my head around it at the time. I then lost my copy in a house move at some point before I finished it and would like to have another crack at it.

The main character is some kind of savant and is - or becomes at some point in the story - profoundly deaf. He is the last of a noble family of which, it is revealed in passing, the male line have a long history of dying in stupid ways before achieving anything of real note. (The character's own father carried on the tradition by drowning after falling asleep on a riverbank whilst fishing). He ends up studying something or other in Jerusalem involving the Dead Sea scrolls or similar. The only other thing I can remember is that at some point, the laboratory in which he is working is destroyed by an explosion which he fails to notice.

Thanks in advance...

I did a search on "deaf man Jerusalem" and found a review of the Jerusalem Quartet (Sinai Tapestry, Jerusalem Poker, Nile Shadows, Jericho Mosaic) by Edward Whittemore. There is a deaf man in the first book who finds an original manuscript of the Bible.

Could that be it?

 

[Nemesis Looms]

I did a search on "deaf man Jerusalem" and found a review of the Jerusalem Quartet (Sinai Tapestry, Jerusalem Poker, Nile Shadows, Jericho Mosaic) by Edward Whittemore. There is a deaf man in the first book who finds an original manuscript of the Bible.

Could that be it?

Thank you very much Matteo, - job done! Sinai Tapestry is the book I was thinking of. Now I'll have to go and find all of them.

 

[Extollager]

This Chrons feature, in which we help one another find books and stories, is great.

 

[Danny McG]

This Chrons feature, in which we help one another find books and stories, is great.

Yep!
I've nailed three this week, unfortunately they were on other sites

 

[Matteo]

Yep!
I've nailed three this week, unfortunately they were on other sites

There are "other sites"??

 

[WarriorMouse]

Yep!
I've nailed three this week, unfortunately they were on other sites

Whaaaaat?