Vita Brevis: Floria Aemilia’s Letter to Aurel Augustine

A box of Latin manuscripts comes to light in an Argentine flea market. An apocryphal invention by some 17th or 18th century scholar, or a transcript of what it appears to be – a hitherto unheard of letter to St. Augustine from a woman he renounced for chastity? Vita Brevis is both an entrancing human document and a fascinating insight into the life and philosophy of St. Augustine. Gaarder’s interpretation of Floria’s letter is as playful, inventive and questioning as Sophie’s World.