22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terror, turmoil and passion in 17th century Spain, September 4, 2000
This 1996 novel by Kathryn Harrison is a work of pure artistry. The reader is plunged into 17th century Spain and hurled into the contrasting lives of Francisca, the daughter of a poor Spanish silk grower, and Marie Louise de Bourbon, the young and tragic Queen of Spain.
The words are pure poetry and filled with fascinating historical details: silk worms and exotic poisons, court life and the dungeons of the Inquisition, wet-nurses and dwarfs, religion and politics. It's all there.
The world she describes made me squirm. Pulled me into the story, and kept me turning the pages.
Against this background, and with exquisite detail, the reader is thrust into the lives of these two women. Our hearts race with forbidden passion and we shudder with fear of the Inquisition carts. We visit the royal bedchamber as well as the torturer's rack.
There's love in this book, and lots of sadness. There are lessons to learn and metaphors for life. People to care about. Sin, deception, betrayal. And, when the book is over, there is the feeling of having lived for a short while through the terror and turmoil that defined 17th century Spain.
This book is not for the squeamish. Or for those who are looking for a light pleasant read. But for those who are willing to experience the harshness of the world it describes, this is a really fine book.
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Extremely Beautiful Book!, June 10, 2000
The language Kathryn Harrison uses to tell this story is exquisite. Reading this novel was like running your fingers over a fine brocade; the novel has a rich texture and an intriguing plot. I love the way Harrison approaches the questions of religion and heresy, making these themes of the novel particularly important by placing her narrative in the time frame of the Spanish Inquisition. I have to take issue with those who dismiss this novel as a glorified romance novel. There's a lot more to Francisca and Alvaro's relationship than sex, and the juxtaposition of the situations of the two women highlights this difference.
This was the first Kathryn Harrison novel I ever read, and it made Harrison one of my favorite writers, deservedly so. This novel will remain one of my top ten all-time favorite books, mainly because of Harrison's gorgeous prose.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a good read...but.., October 25, 2002
I fell in love with this book, with the darkness, with the hopeless love...*spoilers* I felt her love of Alvaro - I felt her need to have him..it felt real to me..but I did not enjoy what happened to her child and her journey to find a miracle - it was very depressing and her description of that time was unbearable -but I think this fact alone proves that Kathryn Harrison is a great author, she had the talent to destroy me with one sentence...even when describing the queens sickness - i too felt ill - I had to put the book down..!! I did wish however, that she would gain some type of vengeance against her sister, or at least the queen would be blessed with the knowledge that her killer did not go unpunished. there was NO happiness in this book, even the happy thoughts were clouded with the despair up ahead. I loved this book because it stayed with me even after I put it down. I still to this day remember how she described her love for her child.
phew..it is exhausting to think about.
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