The Good Men: A Novel of Heresy (Paperback)

~ (Author) "LONG BEFORE A woman called Echo was tried for the crimes of heresy and incest, before even her mother was born a bastard, the boy..." (more)
Key Phrases: inquisitorial office, old rector, Mother Rives, Prades Tavernier, Jean Marty (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Good Men, Charmaine Craig's fascinating tale of medieval torments and unrequited love, is brutally illuminating. The story concerns Pierre Clergue, a 14th-century French rector. Pierre is a small man plagued for a lifetime by his bad hip and the maddening tension between dutiful celibacy and plain old lust. In love with his brother's lover, the pregnant Marquise, Pierre takes her and her illegitimate daughter (Pierre's niece), Fabrisse, under his wing. In time, Pierre becomes the top cleric in the town of Mantaillou and abuses his position, having a number of secret affairs, one of them with Fabrisse and eventually with the latter's daughter, Grazida, who marries a Cathar.

Here is where the author's juxtaposition of fiction and history really begins to pay off by intensifying Pierre's inner conflicts. The Cathars, also known as the Good Men, are a real-life Christian sect from medieval southern France. They enter Montaillou declaring that all things mortal are creations of Satan. They preach renunciation of the flesh and, of course, women. Pierre is initially drawn to the Cathar's stated determination, but he finds, as all Cathars do, that renouncing sins of the flesh just makes such sins more tempting. Craig's use of alternate points of view creates a world rich in texture and emotional resonance, one that lends itself to meditations upon religious conviction and crises. The dense writing could be leaner on descriptive detail, which would speed up the sometimes slow character development, but otherwise, The Good Men is a fine experience. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Chronicling the uncertainties and ethical crises of a village rector in early 14th-century France who struggles as much with his bodily yearnings as with his spiritual needs, this heady novel draws on depositions given during the French Inquisition to fictionalize the strange story of the Cathars, a Christian sect of medieval southern France. When the Cathars, or the Good Men, as they are known, enter rector Pierre Clergue's village of Montaillou, professing Satan's creation of all things mortal and preaching the renunciation of the flesh, Clergue, who has suffered mentally and physically from degenerative hip disease since age 11, is drawn to their teachings. In particular, he is strengthened by their determination to renounce women. And yet, like his masters, his renunciation of the flesh makes human communion even more tempting, and he finds he cannot help surrendering to his desire for Grazida Lizier, the 15-year-old daughter of his brother's bastard child. Although Craig relies a bit too heavily on biblical allusions to get her point across an inquisitor, Bernard, is left, like Moses, as a babe "planted among the reeds" her use of alternate vantage points creates a believable, poignant story based on themes of religious conviction and spiritual crisis. Her splendid use of imagery and fully fleshed out characters add depth to the novel, as do period details. The density of the material means the book will be best appreciated by those with some knowledge of the period, but resolute general readers will be helped along by several sharp and satisfying plot twists. Foreign rights sold in Denmark, Finland, France, Holland, Italy.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade (March 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573229733
• ISBN-13: 978-1573229739
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #163,383 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I have never before been so moved by a book, March 2, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Good Men (Hardcover)

Charmaine Craig's The Good Men is at the top of my most cherished books list, and I can't recommend it more highly. I have not submitted an online review before, but I loved this book so much, I felt compelled to comment. The novel entirely drew me in from beginning to end, and I couldn't put it down once I started. I still find myself reflecting on the three generations of characters, feeling for them as if they were real to me. In particular, I was struck by the author's most honest portrayal of the human condition. Her characters were true to life -- complicated and imperfect, wanting goodness, but invariably stumbling along their interconnected paths. Through their struggles and triumphs, Craig cut straight to the core of what it means to be human, in all its pain and beauty. Though the story takes place in medieval France, its essence is absolutely timeless, and just as relevant today as ever. I am in awe of this talented, first time novelist, and can't wait to see what's next on her horizon.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your Spielberg inquisition, February 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Good Men (Hardcover)

Charmaine Craig has recreated the world of medieval France, a time when a peasant's perception of theology could end him up to his chin in flaming cordwood. What is especially subtle and honest about the book is that it admits that spiritual doubt is not always beneficial--contrary to our contemporary values--nor is heresy necessarily more attractive than orthodoxy.

In a Spielberg version, the heretics would be good and right, unfairly persecuted, and the Church presented as bad, corrupt and doctrinally reprehensible. But in the case of the Good Men, as presented in this meticulously researched novel, the heretics are even worse than the church, which at least holds that God created the world and that life and creation are good. Yet who can stop them, but the inquisition? Religion, power politics and personal vengeance all play a part in the outcome.

The central character of the book, the village priest, is drawn with a similar complexity and realism. A man both capable of deep love and shocking heartlessness, spiritual longing and the basest betrayal, his conflicts form the axes upon which the book turns. I believed the world of The Good Men in way I would not have a more simplistic treatment of the same period. Anyone who thinks that the lives of common country people were better, safer or more peaceful in the past should read Craig's elegant, suspenseful novel.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YOU HAVE GOT TO READ THIS BOOK!!, February 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Good Men (Hardcover)

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!!! This is one of the best novels I've read in the last five years, without question. The Time Magazine review called Ms. Craig the real deal, and it wasn't kidding. From the very first page, I was hooked, and I had to put my life on hold for two days to finish the book. This isn't an ordinary historical novel---this is literature, at the level of Flaubert, Hugo, Tolstoy. All the characters are complex and flawed and striving---just like people are in real life, and Craig writes about them with empathy and compassion. But what I loved the most about this novel was the wisdom it offers on life, and how Craig isn't afraid to probe the deeper questions about what it means to be alive and to try to live a moral life while still living in the material world. And the last part of the book had me crying all over the pages. I won't give it away, but the ending was transcendant.