'Sophisticated and moving... Powerful' Sunday Times A gripping historical novel about the men behind the invention of the Gutenberg Bible. Bringing tumultuous medieval Europe to life, GUTENBERG'S APPRENTICE is not to be missed by readers of Hilary Mantel, Peter Ackroyd and C. J. Sansom.

A sophisticated and moving story of the creation of the Gutenberg Bible... Christie provides a powerful portrait of the intense, irascible and egotistical Gutenberg, but her novel's real strength lies in its depiction of [his apprentice, Peter] Schoeffer, drawn unwillingly into the struggle to build a new technology, yet eventually becoming its most committed advocate Sunday Times A deep, immersive recreation of a pivotal moment in history and a bold exploration of an eternal theme: the madness, rivalry, torment and ecstasy of creation -- A. D. Miller If ever there were a historical novel with up-to-the-minute resonance, this is it... Brilliantly-observed detail. Her characters are engaging, the world as beautifully crafted as one of Gutenberg's hot-metal letters, and the themes more relevant now than ever... Richly-imagined Naomi Alderman 'So rich and gorgeous it is making me dizzy' -- Lucy Mangan 'As beautifully written as the printed pages it describes, this is an intelligent, masterful novel that immerses the reader in a fascinating historical time and place' -- Rosamund Lupton 'Deftly chronicled ... Christie masterfully depicts the time and energy required to print the first Bibles... A bravura debut' Kirkus 'Gorgeously written... An inspiring tale of ambition, camaraderie, betrayal, and cultural transformation based on actual events and people, this wonderful novel fully inhabits its age' Booklist 'I loved this novel! Alix Christie's debut is intensely observed, so much that I felt in the dark rooms of history with the people laboring over the metal and words to bring us print, but also laboring over their own lives and love and survival' -- Susan Straight

Alix Christie is a journalist and writer based in London who has previously lived in the US, Paris and Berlin. She has been a reporter and foreign correspondent for many years, and published widely in major international media, currently for The Economist. She is a passionate printer and has researched the novel in detail over the last five years, bringing her personal experience to her descriptions of the travails of the early printers.