Mirabilis Author:Susann Cokal In a French village beset by plague and under siege, something incredible is about to happen. Her name is Bonne Mirabilis, the illegitimate daughter of a saint burned at the stake. And she will provide deliverance in ways that will spark dread, awe, scandal, and secret delight... — "Once in a while a first novel introduces a writer with the unset... more »tling confidence to climb very high and jump right in. Susann Cokal...went ahead and did it. An absorbing medieval novel...a bounty of storytelling zest and a delight for readers...original and convincing...unsettling and bold." (Chicago Tribune)
"Evocative...vivid." (New York Times Book Review)
"Cokal's tale of miracles, magic, and madness is a double-decker coup: making the [14th century] seem real...and making it matter." -San Francisco Chronicle "[A] tender, touching, voluptuous book." (Washington Post)
"This beautifully crafted story about miracles and belief will not soon be forgotten. The characters are wholly believable, and the medieval world is presented in all its rich brutality. One expects to stay up late to finish the latest John Sandford, but a book about medieval wet nurses with dwarfs and monks and exotic, Sapphic witches? Yet readers will, for it is that compelling." (Library Journal, starred review)« less
Quite the odd read. Mixes of religious fervency and belief of witchcraft. The unusual or different are always held up to a different set of standards and it's outcome is always one of interest.
Bleah. I almost gave up after the first chapter or two...I should have. I didn't connect well with this book - it just didn't move me in the way it moved many of the reviewers listed in the description. I found it sloggy going.