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About a year ago, I read The Awakening. It's about a Lutheran pastor assigned to a little German village in the 1850s. Yet when he arrives, he soon discovers that there is demonic activity going on. The Awakening is a summarization of his journal entries together with helpful editing. His efforts to inform his superiors, etc are even discussed. Very interesting read! and all true and documented.
And then the next book I read was A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Historical fiction written about a small village in England in the 1660s that was wracked with plague, and thus quarantined from the surrounding world. Nowhere is it ever mentioned that it could be demon possession, but having just read The Awakening, the thought crossed my mind. The village did try to burn the local midwives as witches, but we all know that not all midwives are witches. (I probably have come across a few midwives that are though.) So even though the author is using license in the book, there's still an element of history taken from fact. I could not ignore the constant question of demonic activity in the village. another book group discussion....
And then the next book I read was A Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. Historical fiction written about a small village in England in the 1660s that was wracked with plague, and thus quarantined from the surrounding world. Nowhere is it ever mentioned that it could be demon possession, but having just read The Awakening, the thought crossed my mind. The village did try to burn the local midwives as witches, but we all know that not all midwives are witches. (I probably have come across a few midwives that are though.) So even though the author is using license in the book, there's still an element of history taken from fact. I could not ignore the constant question of demonic activity in the village. another book group discussion....
Labels: Books
posted by Noel @ 9:14 PM
3 Comments:
At May 21, 2005 at 5:56 AM,
Dana in Georgia said…
I enjoyed Year of Wonders. And I think many villagers perceived the illness as demonic activity. I enjoyed the characterizations as demonstrated by individual responses to the unknown (origin of sickness). The Awakening did not grab me as Wonders did, but I do hope to finish it.
Seems like there is a new Miss Julia out. Have you read it?
At May 23, 2005 at 7:26 PM,
Noel said…
No, I've not read that yet, but I think it would be a welcome refreshment. It's about Miss Julia and a Beauty Salon, or something. I'll have to see if my library has it :-)
At May 24, 2005 at 8:00 AM,
Donna Boucher said…
Both sound very interesting.
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