25 Feb 2015

The Knight and the Dove- Lori Wick

 ★
Paperback, 345 Pages
2004, Harvest House

"Eager to secure a permanent loyalty from this promising young knight, King Henry commands Bracken to marry into one of the crown's most loyal families. But Lord Vincent's oldest daughter, the beautiful yet deceitful Marigold, scorns the king's edict. She will never marry a lowly earl. Now Vincent must call his beloved Megan from the abbey and send her to Hawkings Crest to wed.

When Marigold discovers that Bracken has been made a duke for his obedience, jealousy drives her to madness - a madness that will stop at nothing to bring her youngest sister pain. Will Bracken rescue Megan from Marigold's wicked scheme? Will Megan ever hear the words she longs to hear from her knight?
A moving epic of God's tender care in even the darkest moments."
_______________________________________________________

 This book had been sitting on my shelf for a long time- so I thought it was high time to read it. I had seen mixed reviews, and my own were also rather mixed. In many ways, it was a sweet Romance which explored the deeper issues within relationships, such as learning to give and take and a good Christian Story which was not afraid to lay out the gospel and the necessity of repentance and surrender to God.
Perhaps since 1995, when this was first written, there have been a lot of other stories in this vein, and so it seems similar to a lot of other stories in this genre. Clean, edifying and certainly commendable- but, and here's my major complaint- I think there's a problem with books written in a particular setting by people who are not familiar with it.

The basic details seemed correct (except the tea drinking!), but on the downside there seemed to be sometimes rather inconsistent mixture of modern and archaic language, and what seemed to be something of a misunderstanding and misrepresentation of Medieval Religion.
Now I know Inspirational Fiction can be evangelistic, and that most Protestants accept that there are fundamental theological errors in Catholicism- but seriously- Catholics believe in the Crucifixion and Resurrection, and they did in the 16th century. So for characters so say that their unsaved fellows believed only in God but not in Jesus just seemed a little silly, and some of the attitudes contrived.
The other major historical issue was to be found in the last chapter. Elsewhere there were few details of the major political events of the Tudor Age, but in the Epilogue Henry VIII's marriages were mentioned- yet in a way that seemed woefully inaccurate. It was said of Katherine Howard 'Henry had found her guilty of misconduct' and executed.
Seriously-So the King could just have people convicted on his word alone- on a whim? I don't think so--- and Katherine Howard was convicted of Adultery- tantamount to treason for a queen- not simple misconduct. Talk about historical misunderstanding....

Finally- there were the names- some of which seemed more appropriate for a fantasy story. Bracken has to be the most implausible name ever for a sixteenth century English noblemen- but others were little better- a neighbouring Earl with an ancient Viking name- and a soldier called `Stafford'. Stafford is the name of the a city in the English Midlands-it's a place name- using it as a personal name is like calling a person Manchester, London or Oxford.

Overall, I am glad finally read The Knight and the Dove but I'm don't think if I liked it enough to read it more than once. I tend to prefer my Medieval fiction more accurate, realistic, or culturally aware, and perhaps less whimsical.
One for giving away or leaving on the train, I think...

19 Feb 2015

The Oblate's Confession- William Peak


November 2014, Secant Publishing 
414 Pages

"The Dark Ages, England: a warrior gives his son to a monastery that rides the border between two rival Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Growing up in a land wracked by war and plague, the child learns of the oath that binds him to the church and forces a cruel choice upon him. To love one father, he must betray another. The decision he makes shatters his world and haunts him forever. 
This quietly exotic novel places us compellingly in another time, another place, where chieftains fear holy men, holy men fear the world, and prayer has the primal force of fire. While entirely a work of fiction, the novel's background is historically accurate. 
In the midst of a tale that touches the human in all of us, readers will find themselves treated to a history of the Dark Ages unlike anything available today outside of textbooks and original source material."
 _______________________________________________________________________

Alright, I admit I am slightly obsessed with the early Anglo-Saxon period, and any book in the Christian Fiction genre set in seventh century England is likely stir up a childish excitement and delight upon discovery.
On seeing this book mentioned amongst others in an article that demonstrated how the medieval period is becoming an increasingly popular setting in said genre, I decided it was time to read.

I expected- well I’m not sure- maybe not a sweeping epic- I did read the synopsis after all. There were many positives- the realistic account of life in the early period of monasticism, the struggles of Bishops and senior clerics trying to play the political game. Beautiful and evocative descriptions of the landscape and watching the young Winwead grow to manhood. Readers may appreciate the descriptions of the monastic lifestyle from the perspective of a bright boy who was given no choice over his vocation, and sometimes struggles with its strictures, and the impact wrought upon the only home he knows by the actions of others.

However, for a book that derives its title from the sinful act that the protagonist is supposed to have committed, it just seemed to take a long time to get around to mentioning and exploring it, and seemed to drag in places, with whole chapters devoted to relatively minor incidents, or occurrences that seemed to have little significance and lead nowhere. Thus the impression is given of the story jumping around rather a lot – I’m not sure whether maybe this was meant to be symptomatic of the child’s perspective of the world- quickly losing interest, and following curiosity. Also, though generally well-researched there seemed to be a few lapses into overly modern speech, and I’m not sure all the details were entirely accurate.

The other issue was some of the religious content. Now I appreciate that the man who became Winwead’s mentor Gwynedd (pronounced Gwyn-eth) was an ascetic and something of a mystic- but I’m pretty sure Jesus never told his followers to empty their minds when they pray, and the book seemed to be drawing rather too much on the works of much later contemplatives.
For the conservative Protestant reader, some of the religious ideas put across would seem to verge on heterodoxy- and the scene in which Gwynedd starts levitating was just plain- freaky- the almost matter of fact way in which it is reported adding to the general oddness.

For those of the above religious tradition, this novel may not appeal. For this who like stories set in monasteries, or a decent coming of age tale I would recommend. I just seem to prefer my Anglo-Saxon fiction to be focused on the movers and shakers of history and the wider world, but although sometimes plodding, I would say The Oblate’s Confession is worth reading once.

I received an electronic version of this book free from Netgalley for review. I was not required to write a positive one and all opinions expressed are my own.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...