Luther and Katharina

Luther and Katharina by Jody Hedlund

We have probably heard of Martin Luther and his role in the Reformation. But few of us may know how it came about that he married Katharina. We learn how that marriage developed as well as much about the conditions of the day.

As the novel opens, Katharina had been in a convent and was escaping. Some of Luther's writings had been smuggled in and the woman there were becoming enlightened. I was surprised to find that some of the women had been in the convent from a young age, perhaps five years old. Many were held there against their will. Some were terribly mistreated by the abbot. It was a dark time for the church and some of the priests were violent and immoral men.

Women who managed to escape, like Katharina, would make it to a sympathetic abbey and then be assigned for marriage. Katharina and her group ended up at Luther's abbey. Kate, as she came to be called, was a feisty one and refused to marry whom she had been assigned. She ended up being the last unwed woman and Luther, who did not want to ever marry, finally did so. He had come to appreciate Kate and her medicinal training. She was able to help Luther in providing treatment for his stomach ailment.

Hedlund has provided lots of historical detail about the time. We learn about the peasant uprising against the monasteries. Palaces of bishops and castles of nobility were attacked and burned. Many innocent men and women were killed. Luther's life was frequently in danger. He made some decisions that may have alienated the peasants but allowed the Reformation movement to continue.

Amazon Review

The Invisible LIbrary

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

The first installment of an adventure featuring stolen books, secret agents and forbidden societies...Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from different realities.  Most recently she and her assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London.  Their mission: retrieve a particularly dangerous book.  The problem: by the time they get there it has already been stolen.  London's underground factions are prepared to fight to the very death to find the book before Irene and Kai do.

Adding to the jeopardy, this world is chaos-infested - the laws of nature bent to allow supernatural creatures and unpredictable magic. Irene's new assistant is also hiding secrets of his own.

Soon Irene is up to her eyebrows in a mix of danger, clues and secret societies!

What an interesting story, there is excitement, danger, and weirdness at the turn of every page.  Irene makes a strong heroine and refuses to give up her quest even when the dangers are overwhelming.

She never knows for sure who are trusted friends or adversaries, in this strange alternate universe. She is not only a librarian, but a trained spy.  Kai has been training in the invisible library for 5 years and is excited to be on his first mission as Irene's assistant.  He is a great assistant and trusts Irene's decisions and stands by her no matter what, I really liked that about him.

I do have many questions concerning the Invisible Library, how does one become a librarian there? Irene's parents were librarians, so that gave her an in, but how do other people qualify?  Why are they collecting all the important books, and how did all the alternate universes develop?  Anyway, maybe I will find out in the next installment, which I am looking forward to reading!

This book can be found in the adult fiction section of the library.

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The Secrets of Flight

The Secrets of Flight by Maggie Leffler

Estranged from her family since just after World War II, Mary Browning has spent her entire adult life hiding from her past. Now eighty-seven years old and a widow, she is still haunted by secrets and fading memories of the family she left behind. Her one outlet is the writing group she’s presided over for a decade, though she’s never written a word herself. When a new member walks in—a fifteen-year-old girl who reminds her so much of her beloved sister Sarah—Mary is certain fate delivered Elyse Strickler to her for a reason.

Mary hires the serious-eyed teenager to type her story about a daring female pilot who, during World War II, left home for the sky and gambled everything for her dreams—including her own identity.

As they begin to unravel the web of Mary’s past, Mary and Elyse form an unlikely friendship. Together they discover it’s never too late for second chances and that sometimes forgiveness is all it takes for life to take flight in the most unexpected ways.

Amazon Review

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

From what I remember of the Disney movie (which I remember pretty well) there was about one scene that matched anything from the source novel by Victor Hugo. As I read the book, I wondered periodically, “How did the screenwriters at Disney make that movie out of this book?”

The novel is about a third of the length of Hugo’s Les Miserable, and by comparison, a walk in the park!

The story is mainly about four people: Quasimodo the Hunchback, Frollo the bishop, Esmerelda the kind gypsy girl, and the soldier Phoebus, all amid the backdrop of the cathedral Notre Dame.

This book, like Les Miserables, is truly about its characters. They deal with love, lust, faith, revenge, forgiveness, and not everyone is all good. Quasimodo is deafened by the bells he rings, and can’t trust anyone to be kind to him; Frollo is losing his religious faith and is obsessed with the young Esmerelda; Phoebus is a womanizing scoundrel (who is also engaged!); and Esmerelda is so smitten with unreturned love for Phoebus that she would give up everything to be with him. 

These  character studies are beautiful, though tragic, and some of the ridiculous (though still realistic) choices that take place make the reader want to yell through the pages at the characters. Even at 185 years old, this novel will make you think of how humanity deals with each other and how it carries out justice. Amid all of this, there is some comic relief, especially with the poet/philosopher Gringoire.

The writing is a lot easier and straight forward than Les Miserables, and if you read this book with the mentality of it being completely new, without ever thinking of the other adaptations, and you’ll love it.