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The Real History Behind the Da Vinci Code, Sharan Newman
Penguin
Reviewed by Chris Hick (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)

The Da Vinci Code is a novel by Dan Brown. It is a great read and a cracking film just waiting to be made. It has likeable central characters; powerful, sinister villains, fabulous locations and a superb, intrigue-laden plot. It may have a few continuity problems and an unremarkable ending but it's a roller-coaster read.

Sharan Newman is a medieval historian who tells us that since the phenomenal, worldwide popularity of Brown's book, "people began asking me to separate the legends from the facts in the book". Notice the words inundated, swamped, badgered or pestered by people desperate to distinguish the disingenuous from the more truthful don't appear. Anyway, this has not deterred this philanthropic medievalist from producing an alphabetically ordered companion to the best-selling novel. From Apocrypha to Wren, anything and everything in The Da Vinci Code that might require further explanation is covered. You can dip in or sit and read it all.

Newman's book is quite interesting, easy to read and does point out, in her opinion, some historical inaccuracies in Brown's story. It bears the hallmark of serious, historical research and Newman's obvious wealth of knowledge on many of the subjects covered is glaringly apparent. She uses copious footnotes to allow the reader to check the sources and she recommends plenty of further reading on each subject.

So, although some of Newman's entries (e.g. the Templars) take Brown to task on points of historical accuracy, a few are just trivial, like the non-existent location of an office in the Louvre. Most just elaborate in much greater detail than would be appropriate in a book like The Da Vinci Code.

In her entry on Leigh Teabing (the fictional Grail scholar), Newman tells us this name is a composite/anagram of two of the authors, Richard Leigh and Michael Baigent (Andrew Sinclair is the third), of the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. It was this book that provided much of the inspiration for Dan Brown. Newman, however, does not recommend it: "I have read the footnotes and was not impressed," says she. Well, for what it's worth, I highly recommend it. It throws up some absolutely fascinating historical arguments.

History is a very difficult subject in which to claim absolute certainty. The world of academic history is rife with controversy, debate, claims and counter-claims about many periods of human history.

Anything claimed by an historian can only be their personal interpretation of that period, person or event based on available evidence. It is with this in mind that I read history books – Sharan Newman's included.