Vellum

In the crypt of an old stone church in Sydney, a translator and linguist uncovers a vellum-bound, illuminated manuscript. Written in a mysterious alphabet, Jack's not sure if his discovery is a hoax, a code, or even the only written record of a now forgotten language. Intrigued, he starts investigating. Using forensic and linguistic techniques, Jack starts unveiling the manuscript's history and soon discovers that he is not the first to try and decode its secrets. His predecessors were shadowy figures, monks from furtive religious orders, cryptographers and alchemists. As his researches take him ever deeper into the labyrinthine past - to the crusades, the library of Alexandria and even earlier - Jack's obsession grows. He realises that what he has stumbled across has put his life at risk and the only way to save himself is to break the manuscript's code and learn its secrets... The title, A Little Rain on Thursday, comes from a Russian colloquialism that loosely translates as 'never' - much like the English phrase 'on a cold day in Hell'.