Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Someone is making mischief and bringing misery to this village.", 13 Dec 2007
With a stroke of her pen and a quote from the Malleus Maleficarum -the witch hunter's bible- Mailman plunges into a terrifying period of history, where superstition combines with ignorance and mass hysteria to accuse helpless women of witchcraft. Set in 1507 in the German village of Tierkenddorf, famine-starved neighbors cast covetous eyes on one another, their bellies empty and their minds fevered. In the home of Jost Muller, his wife, Irmeltrude resents each morsel shared with her elderly mother-in-law, Gude. Jost's son and daughter, silent, watch with widened eyes as Irmeltrude harries old Gude, one starless night pushing her from the hut, barring the door against the grandmother's return: "It was a winter to make bitter all souls."
Arriving in the village in response to a letter from the local lord, the stern-visaged Friar Johannes Fuchs, his voluminous black robes unfurling like wings against the snow, announces that he has come to purge this place of evil, the curse of witchcraft that has blighted the fields. The friar believes that just as "God punished the world with a flood... he is now punishing you with famine." Clearly witchcraft is at work. To discover and excise the source is to regain God's pleasure. All eyes fall on a solitary figure, Gude's girlhood friend, Kunne, now as bowed by age and hunger as the rest. An herbal healer, Kunne stands accused, neighbors stepping forward to complain of soured mild, hens that won't lay and barren wombs. Anguished, Gude watches as her dearest friend is stripped and burned on a pyre of wood, the village's lust for revenge temporarily sated.
But the famine does not abate. Most of the burg's able-bodied men take to the woods in search of game, knowing their quest may take them far; indeed, such are the odds that they may not return. Meanwhile, left to their empty larders and active imaginations, the women wait. Irmeltrude's rancor increases and Gude fears the malice in her daughter-in -law's eyes. Scheming to please the soul-hungry priest, Irmeltrude fastens upon the fact that the new friar gave meat to each family after Kunne's sacrifice. As hysteria mounts, the village turns one upon another, the innocent made guilty, the devil's malevolence at every hand. Without the men to temper their rampant emotions, new victims must be found to feed the beast of fear, even hunger forgotten in the heat of passion.
The clarity of Mailman's prose, the recreation of a simple village haunted by hunger, prey to the cajoling of the priest who claims authority to determine God's will and the helpless innocents who stand accused portray humanity at its most craven. Hearts turn to stone in self-preservation. Exposing the atavistic nature of survival, famine drives friends and neighbors to obscene behavior, blessed by a wild-eyed friar with a lust for sacrifice. Pulled back from the edge of despair, civilization is restored, but the ugly events of the recent past leave a mark upon the collective soul of this village, the same irrational fear that will erupt again and again over the years, innocent victims burned on the pyres of those seeking to placate God and point an accusatory finger at the devil. Mailman captures the madness in this place, at this time, a poignant reminder of our basest instincts left unchecked. Luan Gaines/2007.
|
|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating peek into a sinister history..., 26 May 2008
The Witch's Trinity is set in Germany in the 1500's, at a time when witch hunting was rife. All it could take was one passing comment or half-hearted accusation, and a woman could be given a trial for witchcraft. A trial that she would be very unlikely to pass - and therefore be put to death by a brutal burning at the stake. And this is what happens in this book.
In the village of Tierkinddorf, the crops are failing, the animals are dying, and the people are panicking. They have no food and are slowly starving, their skin hanging from their bones. They are resorting to desperate measures to survive, as well as looking for someone to blame for their plight. So when a Dominican friar arrives in their village suggesting that the work of the devil is responsible for their problems, their search for a scapegoat becomes more focused. Now no woman is safe from pointing fingers. A hideous trial and burning soon take place... but the village's problems are far from over. It hasn't removed the problem. The people are still hungry, so begin to think the wrong person has been accused.
Old woman Gude, mother to Jost, feels sure she will be the next to be accused. As the last person of her age still living, she gets strange looks. It doesn't help that her daughter-in-law resents her for still being alive and having to feed her. As her resentment grows, Gude lives in fear of the accusation that will surely come... and presently, it does. What happens next is Gude's tale of her imprisonment, impending trial, and the aftermath.
This is a harrowing and gripping tale. The mix of Paganism and Christianity is fascinating, as the villagers are influenced to shake off their old ways and embrace God. But this becomes difficult indeed when food is scarce and lives are at risk. I was hooked on this story from the very beginning. The tension is palpable throughout, and it's a wonderful storyline. Anyone looking for a fascinating peek into a fiction based on historical fact will enjoy this.
|
|
|
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's ok, but it won't set you on fire!, 5 Jul 2009
I obviously didn't expect this book to be a light-hearted read, but I did still struggle with the darkness and desperation of it all. It's well written, if slightly repetitive in its primitive notions of life at that time - i got a little bit tired of the term 'rutting' which seemed to be included at every given opportunity! However, I warmed to it more as the story developed and was glad I persevered with it, although by no means would I describe it as a gripping read.
Incidentally, I really enjoyed reading about Erika Mailman's ancestor who had been accused of witchcraft within the Author's Note at the back of the book and in many ways I wonder if it might have made a more interesting story than the one written...
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
by Karen Maitland
by F.G. Cottam
by John Harwood
by Lucie Whitehouse
by Rachel Trezise
