Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. Adult fiction. 2007. 384 pages.
I'm going to have to stop saying that I don't like historical fiction. I keep finding historical fiction that I enjoy. This novel, a mystery set in 1171, has so much going on, is so complex and disturbing and suspenseful, that it didn't make me feel like I was reading historical fiction. The language is, for the most part, modern.
The story opens in a village in England, where four village children have disappeared. The locals blame the Jewish community, which so often happened in history when Christians faced any calamity. King Henry II asks the Italian king for a doctor to help unravel the mystery of who is actually responsible for the murder. And a woman doctor from Italy, Adelia, arrives to help.
Soon after this the bodies are discovered and it is clear that the same person is responsible for the gruesome, terrible killings.
A woman doctor is unheard of in this era, and that's a huge part of the plot. She is adept at autopsies, something the church is against. England during the middle ages was so restrictive to women, indeed to anyone who was not Christian, that the difficulties Adelia faces are not just the hardships of the glass ceiling--she honestly faces true danger from the villagers and the church itself. She's also trying to unravel a cruel and horrible crime, and every man who has been on the Crusades is a suspect.
Violence against women and children is a theme in this novel, as well as religion, science, love and intelligence. There are some very disturbing scenes, and I found myself racing through the end because it was so suspenseful. When I finished this book I was filled with gratitude for being born in an era and country where to be a woman of intelligence means that I have opportunities instead of the constant threat of being persecuted as a witch. And that the freedom of religion we have in this country is a very precious thing indeed.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
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5 comments:
Oooh, sounds good. My library has it! Yay!
Is there a remotely plausible explanation for *having* a woman doctor in 1171? Because it sounds like something I would enjoy... except for that part.
She's raised by an atheist in Italy in a very insular community. Part of the tension of the novel is that she's a complete irregularity for her time.
We have similar opinions about Mistress of the Art of Death. I, too, may have to revise my opinion of historical crime fiction because of this book. Ariana Franklin did a neat job of keeping itself accessible to contemporary sensibilities while remaining a plausible take of 12th-century England. I'd call that quite a feat, and I'll eagerly wait for the second novel in the series.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com
Kate, I just read your comment. I'm no expert in 12th-century history, but I did do a bit of research before I read Mistress of the Art of Death for a reading a group. It was plausible for a woman to be trained in medicine at Salerno even before Adelia's time. Whether an English king would have sent to another country for a doctor, I don't know. But the king of Sicily, who I think ruled Salerno at the time, was Norman, which gave him a plausible connection King Henry.
==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot
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