This is a wonderful story about the power of stories and their universal and timeless qualities. It also celebrates libraries and that is no bad thing today. Three very different places and their stories are linked by the fable of a Greek shepherd called Aethon, as told in a fragmentary tale (and a severely damaged folio) by an early Greek writer, Antonius Diogenes.

Each place features a key character. In the first episode, Konstance is a passenger on the Argos, a giant spacecraft heading towards a distant planet as civilisation ends and, allegedly, bearing both the last hopes of civilisation and a massive library.

Then there is Omeir who, with his oxen, is press-ganged to join the siege of Constantinople and, finally, there is Zeno, producing a play with a group of children – broadly based on the Aethon story – in a modern public library in Idaho.

The siege of Constantinople in 1453 which brought the Byzantine Empire to its end and saw the destruction and dispersal of the Imperial Library is often seen as the end of the Middle Ages and how the story of Aethon survived, with the help of a seamstress called Anna, is a major part of this story as is its subsequent rediscovery by Zeno and Konstance.

It’s an extraordinary mix with the additional story of how the damaged folio has survived and the extraordinary power it has over those who read it. The message is that stories cannot be suppressed!

It’s a superb book, brilliantly crafted with characters, accidents and crises and it’s also an excellent read.