The Burning Time [Paperback]

Robin Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006

This riveting tale of the struggle for the soul of a country—drawn from actual court records of the first witchcraft trial in Ireland—is the exciting story of one extraordinary noblewoman, Lady Alyce Kyteler.

When the Catholic Church brings the Inquisition—also known as The Burning Time—to Ireland, Lady Alyce refuses to grant the Church power over her, her lands, or her people, and refuses to stop the practice of The Old Religion. She is declared a dangerous heretic by an ambitious emissary of the pope—who stakes his future on bringing her to heel. To lose the battle with Lady Alyce, he tells his superiors, is to lose all of Ireland.

But Lady Alyce is just as determined to fight back against the invaders’ injustice, its forced imposition of a new religion, and its blatant land grab. After she outmaneuvers her rival in a court trial, there is no return: Against the penalty of being burned at the stake, she risks all to protect her people, her faith, and her beloved Ireland. Battle plans are laid, and what ensues is a vivid account of an astonishing but little-known historic figure and a gripping tale of bravery, treachery, guile, and redemption.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Robin Morgan’s novel The Burning Time may be about the Inquisition—the guts of it we never learned in school—but it’s also frighteningly relevant today. And it would make a hell of a movie." —JANE FONDA

"The Burning Time is typical of Robin Morgan’s work: beautifully written, passionate, always interesting. It’s also rich in splendid imagination—a quality very rare in American fiction writers nowadays." —GRACE PALEY

About the Author

Robin Morgan is an award-winning poet and writer, author of the memoir Saturday’s Child and the best-selling The Demon Lover: The Roots of Terrorism. One of the founders of contemporary American feminism, she is the author of numerous germinal books about the women’s movement, and editor of the classic anthologies: Sisterhood Is Powerful, Sisterhood Is Global, and Sisterhood Is Forever.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Melville House (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 193363300X
• ISBN-13: 978-1933633008
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 1.1 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #569,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ROBIN MORGAN is an award-winning poet and writer, author of the memoir Saturday's Child, the novel The Burning Time, and the best-selling The Demon Lover: The Roots of Terrorism. One of the founders of contemporary American feminism, she is the author of numerous germinal books about the women's movement, and editor of the classic anthologies Sisterhood Is Powerful, Sisterhood Is Global, and Sisterhood Is Forever.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Heartening look at a Shameful Time, July 3, 2006

By 

D. Gillespie "Donna Gillespie" (San Francisco, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Burning Time (Paperback)

Though immediately intrigued when I saw this book in a bookstore, I hesitated to pick it up because I thought, given the subject matter, it might be a story that went from grim to grimmer to grimmest. I couldn't have been more wrong. This poetically told tale opens a window on new aspects of a sad time in history, highlighting moments that actually make you think better of your fellow beings. It's not just that Alyce Keteler fights back hard, and wins. It's how she's portrayed - her high confidence, her generosity to the people dependent upon her, and her decidedly spiritual approach to her age-old beliefs. Here is a pagan saint, and there's something glorious in that. The author's storytelling skill shows itself in the way she ekes real drama out of the masses of material yielded up by historical research - not an easy thing to do, as life does not unfold like a plot; she has consolidated this story well, and given it a satisfying beginning, middle and end. The confrontations between Alyce Keteler and the bishop who brings the Inquisition to Ireland are wonderful - the two play a wicked and harrowing chess game with the lives of many people hanging in the balance; it's unnerving and exhilarating at the same time. And this enemy is complex - the bishop despises the way the nobility (of which Keteler is a member) stride through the world crushing everything in their path - and his criticisms struck a mark within me. It makes their duel all that more interesting. Bad things happen here, to be sure; Dame Keteler doesn't win one hundred percent - but at the end, I had a sense of a well-rounded tale that taught me something I needed to know about a great woman who's generally unknown, a heroine who rose above a dark time.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Spellbinder with eloquence, April 9, 2006

By 

Kathleen Barry (Santa Rosa, Ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burning Time (Paperback)

Eloquent prose with spell-binding mystery, The Burning Time gives ringing voice not only to the daring, courageous and creative Lady Alyce Kyteler of medieval Ireland but to the serfs of her coven as well. Locating witch trials in the context of the Inquisition, Morgan delivers new richness to the history of women and the history of Ireland with this well researched novel. And as if that is not enough to hold the reader, this novel is an herbal pharmacopia and healing based spirituality that becomes the story of what is at risk when greed and religious intolerance conquer not only lands but hearts.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At Once Epic and Intimate . . ., April 18, 2006

By 

Nimble Spirit - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Burning Time (Paperback)

"The Burning Time is at once epic and intimate. . . It gives the reader the privilege of a close-up view of the rituals, stories, poems, and potions of the Wiccan community and the women and men who populate it. Morgan's extended portrayal of the celebration of Lugnasad Eve, from the high priestess's self-anointing before the gathering to the final feast, is remarkable, spirited, celebratory writing. . . . The story is the thing in The Burning Time. The unstoppable course of events that makes this sophisticated book a genuine page-turner also makes it indelible, and the puzzling out of connections between our times and the Burning Time is an activity that is sure to follow this most entertaining and edifying read."--<a href="http://www.nimblespirit.com" target="_blank">Nimble Spirit: The Literary Spirituality Review</a>. For full review, click on link.