The Abyss
Marguerite Yourcenar
 Zeno, an illegitimate son is born in the Ligre household, a rich banking family of Bruges. Zeno renounces a comfortable career in the priesthood and leaves home to find truth at the age of twenty. In his youth, after leaving Bruges, he greedily seeks knowledge by roaming the roads of Europe and beyond, leaving in his wake a nearly legendary &mdash; but also dangerous &mdash; reputation of genius due to the works he accomplishes.