The Geometry of Forgetting

About this book

Set within the labyrinthine archives and frescoed lecture halls of 1742 and 1788 Coimbra, this Dark Academia novel follows two parallel timelines in strict third person limited point of view. In 1788, twenty-two-year-old manuscript conservator Inês Valério is elevated to the prestigious role of Luminaria—a 'Chosen One' defined by her rare synesthesia, which translates historical pigments into spatial certainty. Seeking intellectual sanctuary, she instead discovers deliberate aesthetic fractures in the academy's sacred texts and an Expurgated Register of erased predecessors. Decades earlier, in 1742, geometric architect António Mendes designs the foundational Codex Symmetriae to democratize education after regional famines, only to watch corrupt chancellors weaponize his mathematical elegance for curricular gatekeeping. To preserve knowledge, António embeds dissenting calculations within ornamental borders. As Inês traces material breadcrumbs—palimpsest alignments, binding receipts, and structural schematics hidden beneath chapel murals—she moves from anxious assimilation to conscious stewardship. As the 1788 Acta Magistralis approaches, Inês must decide whether to secure permanent tenure by completing the Codex and preserving its exclusionary power, or deliberately fracture the prescribed geometry to challenge institutional authority.

Book details

Genres:

Dark Academia, Historical Fiction

Language:

en

Published:

2026-04-14

Content rating:

PG-13