You don't mean the Da Vinci Code do you?
There were five books in that series.

While none of the details line up (sorry!) this made me think of Shadow of the Wind, so readers interested in this unnamed novel may also like this one (and others by the author).

Oh boy! I have no clue, but I too now want to read this book or books. Please come back OP if you figure out what they were!

Extreme long shot but if it’s a kids book maybe Over Sea Under Stone by Susan Cooper? There is a palimpsest of great plot importance and a masquerade like festival. But it’s a kids fantasy adventure novel so maybe not quite what you were thinking of?

Anonymous wrote:I can't help, but now I want to read this. Also, I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see a thread even tangentially about a palimpsest on DCUM.

New poster here. I had to look up the word palimpsest. LOL. I had never heard the word before.
It means a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain. Something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.

try the whatisthisbook subreddit. The crowdsourcing there is amazin.

Was the protagonist male or female?

What do you remember about the protagonist?

I can't help, but now I want to read this. Also, I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see a thread even tangentially about a palimpsest on DCUM.

This sounds like something Mrs. Polifax might have done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Pollifax

I have this sense memory of drinking darker ale-like beers and cooking a pot roast with a lot of onions and thinking that it was just so atmospheric.
I realize that’s probably not helpful but maybe will give someone out there a laugh🤣

Historical fiction. I want to say… 18th or 19th cent mostly? Although possibly some elements with like a monk, hundreds of years earlier?

This sounds sort of familiar was there some element of the researcher being related to the historic person who created the document?

Set in the present day or historical fiction?

And yes, i’ve googled, but including the word palimpsest just sends the search results in the wrong direction.

I know the is a long shot but I’m hoping someone will recognize this novel. I read it about 15 years ago, and the really bad part is that i am pretty sure i read two novels by the same author - and i might be confusing or combining plots
At least part of the story took place in London or the outskirts and the protagonist thought that they / or someone? / was looking for a particular very old manuscript. It turns out that the manuscript they were looking for was actually a palimpsest and the goal really was the original text of whatever.
And there may have been a masquerade - or a separate book lol - where one character turns out to be two characters and is deceiving the protagonist for some reason.