Salamander, Wharton Thomas

An eccentric count in Slovakia summons London printer Nicholas Flood to his castle for an unusual request: to create the infinite book. While working among the moving bookcases and clock-works of the Count's isolated castle, Flood finds himself drawn to the beauty and intelligence of the Count's only daughter. Their ill-fated love affair produces a child, Pica, who travels the world with Flood and a motley crew of contortionists, escaped slaves, and six-fingered men in pursuit of lost love — and the elusive materials for the infinite book.