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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book was a great read - very impressive, I highly recommend it.
Prior to a long flight I was shopping for a book - and dreading the prospect of ending up with a `best-seller' detective story written in sloppy prose with a plot that trudges in a straight line from A to B. Then I remembered a friend had recommended this book to me - and was pleased to find it available on the shelf.
What a delightful and intelligent read. It is obvious Ms Learner has done her homework, researching a multitude of areas. From the outset, she has laid out a medieval tapestry rich with interwoven strands of European history, sociology, Jewish culture, politics, medicine/midwifery and folk lore beliefs.
Against this she introduced her characters and tells the story of Ruth, a young midwife and Detlef, an aristocratic Canon who falls in love with the Jewess. The politics and dynamics of "new science" versus ancient belief, the Inquisition and family intrigues provide the twists and turn of the plot.
Spirited, powerful and passionate.
Prior to a long flight I was shopping for a book - and dreading the prospect of ending up with a `best-seller' detective story written in sloppy prose with a plot that trudges in a straight line from A to B. Then I remembered a friend had recommended this book to me - and was pleased to find it available on the shelf.
What a delightful and intelligent read. It is obvious Ms Learner has done her homework, researching a multitude of areas. From the outset, she has laid out a medieval tapestry rich with interwoven strands of European history, sociology, Jewish culture, politics, medicine/midwifery and folk lore beliefs.
Against this she introduced her characters and tells the story of Ruth, a young midwife and Detlef, an aristocratic Canon who falls in love with the Jewess. The politics and dynamics of "new science" versus ancient belief, the Inquisition and family intrigues provide the twists and turn of the plot.
Spirited, powerful and passionate.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
47 reviews
24 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Complex? You bet!
11 Jan 2006
Format:Paperback
Yes, the style of writing is a bit unconventional. Yes, there are sex and torture scenes and they are graphic. Yes, the Kabbalah takes a back seat less than 1/3 of the way through the novel. And, yes, the cover art is disconcerting. Get over it! This book isn't a romance by any stretch of the imagination and, quite frankly, if 17th century German politics aren't your thing, you will be sorely disappointed by The Witch of Cologne. However, if you're willing to keep an open mind, you just might learn a little something about the melding of the philosophies, religions, and economics of the people of the Rhenish region. Love story be damned, this book is not so much about the relationhsip between the two main characters as it is about a war between what is politically comfortable and what is morally just. Read this novel for what it is, not what you wish it to be, and you'll come away from it both entertained and pleased.
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
A novel of contrasts
7 Feb 2006
Format:Paperback
I, too was sceptical of this novel due to the cover; it was actually recommended to me by students of mine, who enjoy historical fiction. All facets of the characters and their very human struggles, including the long-standing vendetta of the Inquisitor against the daughter of Sara Navarro are believable from the perspective of the reader. The novel is charged with energy; characters are dynamic and credible, especially the romance between Alphonse and Ferdinand. The clergy are conflicted and realistically trapped in the politics of the Inquisition, the rise of Protestantism and the burgeoning Age of Enlightment of which Ruth is the talisman. A major effort for the novelist as the text remains true and solid until the very final pages of the novel. All characters, except the fanatics, question the rationale of their time and even the Count at the end of the text and his life, reconciles himself to the fact that his heir is of mixed blood, yet during his life he could not publically reconcile himself to his sham marriage and hidden homosexuality.
A rare jewel of a glimpse into the period of Charles II, Benedict Spinoza and the Holy Roman Emperor just before the turn of the eighteenth century.
A rare jewel of a glimpse into the period of Charles II, Benedict Spinoza and the Holy Roman Emperor just before the turn of the eighteenth century.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Review by Caroline Tully
13 Nov 2005
Format:Paperback
The story of a Jewish midwife, Ruth Bas Elazar Saul, who lives and works in the German city of Cologne in the 1660's. Unlike the average midwife of the time Ruth is also trained in medicine but, despite her scientific approach to healing, she frequently finds herself resorting to traditional Jewish birth charms. Ruth does not see herself as a Witch, but rather as a follower of 'Scientia Nova' (new science), yet despite this, she is unfairly accused of Witchcraft and suffers greatly at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition. This is a thought provoking, sometimes horrifying story which inspires much musing about the historical relationship between Judaism and Witchcraft. The book is divided into ten sections named for the ten Kabbalistic Sephiroth, and Ruth owns an old copy of the Zohar: a key Kabbalistic text, written in Aramaic and sometimes referred to as the 'Bible' of the Kabbalists, however we don't really get to hear much in the way of Kabbalistic secrets and the Zohar is more a silent decorative prop - although Ruth does base some of her mysticism and spells on its contents. Nevertheless, it is interesting to be reminded that the Kabbalah, which is so heavily associated with Western Ceremonial Magick, is actually a Jewish tool. Highly recommended.
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