pick5 Stars • "Illuminations" by Mary Sharratt is a historical novel about Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval abbess and visionary. It explores her life from childhood in a monastery to becoming a leader and composer, highlighting her struggles against religious and societal constraints. The book is noted for its vivid historical detail and lyrical style.
pickI enjoyed this novelization of Hildegard von Bingen‘s life. I‘ve admired her music for years but didn‘t know much else about her. And this was a relaxing read for a sick day at home.
Staying home from church with a cold, I‘m listening to Hildegard von Bingen‘s music and starting this novel based on her life.
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well... for there is a force of love moving through the universe that holds us fast and will never let us go.”
so-soMonk Nichephoerous‘ dream of Saint Nicholas leads him on a heist to steal the Saint‘s bones. With irreverent and sometimes nihilistic language it still sometimes a little too opaque for me and the style often leaves me feeling detached from the characters.
https://youtu.be/LBq8qdYz8rU
pickWitty and intelligent, Nicked weaves a magical story out of historical facts.
pickThis is a dark tale (with a whiff of Hilary Mantel's "Beyond Black"?) of disappearance and suspicious death, set in a crumbling mansion with the principal characters being cantankerous (and possibly dangerous) old Cathal Flood and his carer Maud. It's an engrossing mystery that manages to be slyly funny and also poignant.
Extra marks for Renata, Maud's agoraphobic trans landlady.
Top marks for Aoife McMahon's superb narration.
pickI bought this book based on the description: “wildly imaginative, genre-defying, and delightfully queer adventure—a swashbuckling saga, a medieval novel noir, a meditation on the miraculous, and a monastic meet-cute.” No regrets!
pan★★☆☆☆
I'm glad I read this as an influential historical document, but wow! Despite my strict religious upbringing and lifelong fascination with Christian monasticism, I was somehow not prepared for just how authoritarian Benedict's Rule would be.
