The Sword and the Miracle

Rating:
Summary: Romeo and Juliet- only twisted
Review: When I first expressed an interest in this book, I thought it would be a work of fantastic historical fiction, with enough unexplained events to warrant the title's "miracle" and enough struggle to warrant the "sword" part. In fact, it sounded almost Arthurian. I was extremely disappointed to discover that instead, I was faced with two people in blissfully ignorant love who were torn apart by Christianity. How unfortunate. Padric, young prince of a small British kingdom, is called to defend his father's lands against a quasiChristian Saxon/Briton (known later as the "English") host. Bega, on the other hand, feels all the required guilt to enter the service of her god- a god which, somewhere in his "kind and merciful" heart, felt it was necessary to separate her and her beloved for life. She has been "blessed" with a piece of the True Cross, and she feels compelled and is commanded to keep it hidden from the public. She spends her life trying to please her god, and in so doing, is denied the simple pleasures of life on earth- like LOVE. In any case, I found some of the behavior of the supposedly saintly characters to be very unsaintly. The greed of Wilfrid, the envy of Hilda.. and the presumptuousness of Bega herself. She tells young Bede (yes, the same Venerable Bede of the "Histories"): "I wish to make God a gift of your life and your talents." As if someone has the right to give someone else as a gift! It was as if Bega were trying to buy her way to her Heaven, as if she was sure her earthly deeds were not enough for her god. Apparently there were no bounds for those who were out to "seek sainthood". Starvation, self-flagellation, and the deprivation of contact with civilization were all the roads to salvation- or death and insanity. I still fail to see what was so admirable in such religious fanaticism. One redeeming quality of this book would have to be the character Reggiani, the pagan priestess whose settlement was close to Bega's settlement. She provided a quirky, easy-going side to the story, and to me she was the root of reality lost in a sea of zealots. But she got the short end of things in that, as a pagan, she was discounted as a human being until she could be converted. She was "evil" and "lascivious" in her freedom to love and be loved. She was to be conquered, not respected- and in this way I do parallel the Christians to the Saxons, in their lust and determination to "own" everything in sight. Bragg retains his "historical" part by including real figures of the time- Venerable Bede, Cuthbert, Hilda, Oswy, and also by referring to literary works and events: "The Dream of the Rood", "Caedmon's Hymn", the Synod of Whitby, the plagues. All in all, I was dissatisfied with this book. I found it frustrating and offensive most of the time; the characters seemed focused on their religion and little else, which I'm sure was a normal occurrence at the time. But I found very little edge on the "sword", and it was a "miracle" when the book finally came to a long, arduous, painfully Shakespearean end.