5 stars I was offered this book through Amazon Prime’s First Reads program. What a treat! Since this is the first book I’ve read from this author, I really didn’t know what to expect. Needless to say, I am impressed and determined that this will not be the last book I read from Karen Brooks. At times, I was reminded of Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror and even The Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears (which, I found out, was one of her inspirations). At first, I was afraid that it might veer into Pillars of the Earth territory, exploring the inhumanity and violence of the period in vivid detail, and I would be compelled to stop reading. Luckily, that did not happen. As an academic, Ms. Brooks could have easily veered toward didactic prose, but instead, she has written something beautifully immersive and poetically poignant. It is a window into a miserable period of time, with a focus on the humans who chose to make the best of it. Despite the daily horrors experienced by so many of these characters, she manages to paint a portrait of love and respect and optimism. The story focuses on Rosamund, a resilient young woman with a past no one could envy. How she maintains a positive outlook and sees the best in people when she has been consistently exposed to the worst is part of what makes her so remarkable. In fact, descriptions of Rosamund paint her as an ethereal creature who spreads joy and love wherever she goes. It’s easy for strangers to criticize her, judging her by her outward beauty and familial heritage, but difficult for those who get to know her. She is without guile and wishes good fortune for everyone, even those who have hurt her, praying for their souls and trying to help them even when they eschew such assistance. Perhaps the overriding themes of this story are education, love, faith, and religion. Rosamund is illiterate, but determined to learn to read. Once she does, it opens a new world for her and unlocks her courage to be herself. One more than one occasion, she observes the power that words hold and the way in which they can be used and abused. For her, words hold the power to improve her life and the lives of the people for whom she cares. For others, she notes how words hold the power to destroy them. Early in the book, there’s an exchange that made me chuckle. When Rosamund first meets Bianca, the housekeeper drops a slight curtsey and mutters “what might have been ‘my lady’ but sounded more like ‘malady.’” I learned so many new words and phrases while reading this book: Cupid’s warehouse: the heavenly cleft where men stored their seed; pattens; wherry, trull, and more. I was never so glad to have a dictionary installed on my Kindle. This book was published in 2019, which made it all the more notable that there were so many similarities between the plague of 1665 and the plague of 2020, specifically in the area of human behavior. It’s sad that, while social distancing was recommended, in the case of church attendance, people were encouraged to congregate even though it resulted in higher infection rates, and consequently, deaths. (There were fines for those who refused to attend.) Similarly, the wealthy fled the city to protect themselves while leaving the poor behind to get sick and die. I learned things I never knew about the plague, like the fact that all dogs and cats were culled to stop the spread of the infection, even though it’s likely they would have helped prevent it by hunting the rats who brought the fleas. The descriptions of the death and desolation in London were powerful and vivid, but this one stuck with me: “The stench of unwashed, decaying bodies attracted swarms of flies and crows. Some swelled and burst in the heat, their entrails spread about them like a putrid skirt.” The Great Fire of London is described in such a way that I could feel the terror that must have been felt by the citizens, unable to stop the spread of the fire and unsure of whether they might lose all they had. There was no insurance at the time, so once it was lost, that was it. Somehow, Rosamund persists in her optimism, even when it seems she has lost everything. She remembers the words of Matthew Lovelace, the man she loves, “The important thing is not to get swallowed by the darkness. To remember, even when the shadows grow long and you fear they will consume you, there’s still light in the world. You just need to find it.” On more than one occasion, Rosamund questions whether God would actually allow such suffering, and though she continues to pray, she wonders whether it makes any difference. While some might use this uncertainty as an excuse to sin, she redoubles her efforts to do what is right. And though she loses one thing after another, and tragedy seems to follow her around like a shadow, she always seems to bounce back. Good fortune ultimately finds her because she exudes positive energy and attracts it to her. She shares her love with everyone, and despite some truly horrid people, her goodness prevails. Please don’t think Rosamund is a weak or naive character. She is strong and resilient and loves des pite her circumstances, making a wonderful example any girl should be proud to follow. I felt like I was reading a true story and when I read the acknowledgments, I learned that most of it was based on real people, with certain poetic licenses taken. Did I already mention how much I loved this book? The writing is exquisite, pulling me into the story and making me feel as if I were experiencing it first-hand, carefully avoiding the details of the worst experiences and painting those with a wide brush to avoid gratuitous violence. I highly recommend it! June 27, 2021
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Elizabeth J ConnorWriter. Editor. Proofreader. Archives
September 2022
Categories |