Gioradno Bruno, 1st in series
S.J. Parris
Doubleday
2010 / ISBN 9780385531283
Historical Mystery / England-1583/Elizabethan
Amazon
Reviewed
by L J Roberts
First Sentence: The outer door was thrown open with a crash
that resounded along the passage, and the floorboards shook with
the purposeful marching of several pairs of feet.
Philosopher and mathematician Giordano Bruno has come to Oxford,
supposedly to debate on the theories of Copernicus. However, Sir
Francis Walsingham, spymaster to Queen Elizabeth I, has sent him
to seek out Catholics who seek to assassinate the Queen. He did
not expect having to solve a series of murders where the victim
has been styled to represent a Catholic martyr.
For some reason, I had in my mind that this book would be slow
and the plot would drag. Oh, was I wrong. From the opening paragraph,
I was involved and wanted to know more.
Parris writes with wonderful detail; I repeatedly thought that
as I read. It was not that the detail distracted me, but it made
the story richer. The sense of place detail is often thought of
in broad, terms; here it was the small details of a room—I
particularly loved the description of the bookbinder’s room—or
setting; such as an almanac that contained both the prevalent calendar
and the new Georgian calendar mandated by the Church for use in
Catholic states, and of people. Then there was the historical detail.
This was a time of great turmoil between Rome and Protestant England,
where the books you read and/or the people with whom you associated
could lead to expulsion from England or death.
There are some very insightful statements made about religion and
the divisions and hatred it can cause and the effect its power and
instillation of fear has on people…”the way it makes
men believe they alone are right.”
The protagonist, Giordano Bruno, was a real, historical figure.
Normally, I am strongly opposed against using either actual figures
or iconic fictional characters created by others, as protagonists.
I must confess, I was not familiar with Bruno so, in this case,
it didn’t matter to me. However, in doing research on Bruno
and in spite of there being references to actual events, the character
still felt fictional; a good thing in this instance and he absolutely
held his own in the story. The other most interesting character
to me was Sophia Underhill, daughter of the rector. She was smart,
gutsy and privileged beyond what was normal for women of the time,
yet still subject to the prejudices and constraints of the time.
She was very well written.
Fortunately, the author did not attempt to write the dialogue in
the vernacular of the period. Even though there may have been anachronisms,
I did not notice any. I was too busy reading.
Finally, we come to the plot and the overall quality of writing.
The former I enjoyed. The story moved right along, there were no
significant slow spots; it was certainly suspenseful and gripping.
The quality of writing, however, suffered a bit. There were portents
and way too many large coincidences, almost to the point where I
started counting them.
I very much enjoyed “Heresy,” but don’t know
that I would read another book in the series.
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