(no subject)

[asheris]

Earlier this week I read an excellent book called Confessions of a Pagan Nun: A Novel by Kate Horsley.

I've been having trouble putting into words what moved me about it. The blurb on the back cover by Margot Adler captures much of it- to paraphrase, it reads like something recovered from the depths of the Papal archives, or discovered during an archaeological dig.

Gwynneve, the pagan nun of the title, lives in Ireland around AD500, when the old druid ways are being driven out by Christianity. When women are losing their place as healers and co-leaders worthy of respect, to instead be reviled for their "ability to incite sinful thoughts and actions" in men.

In addition to writing translations and copying texts of the church, she uses her hard-learned skills to write about her life and the people who taught her. The format is different; for each chapter about the past and her instruction in herbalism and the druid ways, there is an "Interruption" that talks about her present as a nun of Saint Bridget in Kildare.

It really touched something in me. It's fiction, but presented so well that it feels like a real woman's life. I've read enough about what is known of life during that time period in the British Isles to know that Horsley did her research.

Highly recommended.

Comments

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

That's good to know, because I saw that in a used bookstore recently and only barely prevented myself from buying it. I'm up to my frontal lobe in books and was concerned it would be cheesy.

There's nothing like good historical fiction, and even moreso, there's nothing like BAD historical fiction. Thanks!