The Paper Grail

core novel 1991 The Christian Trilogy

Record

First published	1991
Original language	EN
Work type	novel
Canon status	core
Reader rating	3.94 (557 ratings, collected 2026-10-27)
First-edition ISBN	9780441651269
Internal chronology	2

Synopsis

Howard Barton comes to Mendocino in search of a folded scrap of paper, not just any scrap, but one bearing what may be a sketch by the Japanese artist Hokusai. Unfortunately he is not the only one who wants it: there is old Heloise Lamey, whose lush and noxious garden is watered with blood, ink and stranger substances; the enigmatic Mr Jimmers, whose workshop holds a bizarre invention designed to raise the dead; and even Howard's Uncle Roy, a builder of haunted houses and founder of the Museum of Modern Mysteries. In Northern California nothing is what it appears but everything is connected, and Howard is led into a private war between secret societies, where he must decide whose side he is on in the quest for the paper grail.

Where it sits

• Universe: The Christian Trilogy
• Series: The Christian Trilogy core; position 2 of 3 in the series' recorded order
• Author: James P. Blaylock

Notes

• From the series record (The Christian Trilogy): Three linked contemporary fantasies.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.

• Reading order, within the series The Christian Trilogy: position 2 of 3: previous The Last Coin (1988) · next All the Bells on Earth (1995)

Sources

• Worlds Without End: All the Bells on Earth (The Christian Trilogy: Book 3)
• Biblio: The Paper Grail (Ace hardcover, May 1991, first edition, ISBN 9780441651269)
• Bookmate: The Paper Grail (publisher description)
• Jim Henry: reviews of James P. Blaylock (The Paper Grail)

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