The Witch of Cologne [Paperback]

Tobsha Learner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 28, 2005

A Time of Peril

The Inquisitor, Carlos Vicente Solitario, charges a young Jewish midwife, Ruth bas Elazar Saul, with heresy. Ruth may be the daughter of the city's chief rabbi, but this is no protection against the Inquisition's accusations.

A Quest for Justice

Detlef von Tennen, nobleman and canon, cousin to the Archbishop, suspects that something other than religion drives Solitario to persecute Ruth. Determined to ensure that justice is done, Detlef joins the investigation-and finds his passions fully aroused by Ruth's impressive intelligence and darkly exotic beauty.

Two Hearts' Desires

All her life, Ruth bas Elazar Saul has thirsted for knowledge, despite the price she paid by concealing her gender and being cast out of her father's house. Her faith sustained her through all, even the attentions of the Inquisition. Then, in the very heart of danger, God blessed her with the greatest love she had ever known.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a sensuous 17th-century saga set in German Catholic Cologne, Learner (Quiver) transports readers to a time when studying the ancient Kabbalah could prove deadly for a young Jewish midwife. Ruth bas Elazar Saul is the headstrong daughter of the chief rabbi of Deutz, Cologne's Jewish ghetto. She undertakes the forbidden course of mystical study, her Sephardic mother's legacy, before absconding to Amsterdam to escape an arranged marriage. There, Ruth acquires the contemporary midwifery skills she will combine with her sacred learning, and upon her return to Cologne she delivers wealthy burghers' babies using new lifesaving methods, earning a reputation for more than medical genius. Word of her skills travels quickly, and as the Spanish Inquisition stretches its tentacles to the Rhineland, Ruth is arrested for sorcery by the sadistic archbishop Carlos Vicente Solitario, whose persecution of her is fueled by a stymied youthful obsession with her mother. Ruth's keen intelligence and bravery in prison win her an ally, Canon Detlef von Tennen, who falls passionately in love with the "Jewess." The two marry, and Learner has readers rooting for the survival of their unlikely alliance. This steamy, riveting page-turner is also a paean to the triumph of a woman's spirit. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

In the tradition of books about strong Jewish women, which includes The Red Tent (1997)and Sarah (2004), comes this story of Ruth, a woman of the Middle Ages who fights against the prejudice that surrounds her gender and religion. The daughter of an influential rabbi in Cologne, 23-year-old Ruth is a highly skilled midwife, but she is also the obsession of Solitario, a Dominican inquisitor. Spurned by Ruth's mother, he is determined to destroy the daughter and uses Ruth's practice of kabbalah--seen as a form of Jewish magic--to launch his attack. Ruth is even more vulnerable to the inquisitor after she falls in love with Detlef von Tennan, a churchman struggling with his loyalty to Catholicism. Fans of sweeping historical dramas will be enthralled by Ruth's story; remarkably, Learner writes with equal power about the intensity of Ruth's spirituality, the passion of her forbidden love for Detlef, and the horror of the torture she suffers at Solitario's hands. This is the kind of all-consuming novel that readers hate to see end. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (July 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765314304
• ISBN-13: 978-0765314307
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,536,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complex? You bet!, January 10, 2006

By 

C. Bittay Dintino (Lakehurst, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Witch of Cologne (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:

5.0 out of 5 stars A novel of contrasts, February 7, 2006

By 

Susan L. Leach "lit teacher" (Kennedy, New York) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Witch of Cologne (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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review by Caroline Tully, November 12, 2005

By 

Caroline Tully (Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Witch of Cologne (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.