Going Back in Time

The last book I reviewed, The Mark of the Plague, was set in the mid 17th century. As a lover of historical fiction, it was a delight to read a book set in a time period that rarely appears in kid lit. Today’s book, The Passion of Dolssa,  by Julie Berry is set even further back in time.

Publisher’s Summary: Buried deep within the archives of a convent in medieval France is an untold story of love, loss, and wonder and the two girls at the heart of it all.

Dolssa is an upper-crust city girl who’s been branded a heretic, on the run from the friar who condemned her mother to death by fire and wants Dolssa executed, too. Botille is a matchmaker and a tavern-keeper, struggling to keep herself and her sisters on the right side of the law in their seaside town. When their lives collide by a dark riverside, Botille rescues a dying Dolssa and conceals her in the tavern, where an unlikely friendship blooms. Aided by her sisters and Symo, her surly but loyal neighbor, Botille nurses Dolssa back to health and hides her from her pursuers. But all of Botille’s tricks, tales, and cleverness can’t protect them forever, and when the full wrath of the Church bears down upon them, Dolssa’s passion and Botille’s good intentions could destroy the entire village.

From the author of the critically acclaimed and award-winning All the Truth That’s in Me comes a spellbinding thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final page and make you wonder if miracles really are possible.

Set  in the 13th century, the book gives readers a taste of the religious persecutions of the times just after the crusade that wiped out the Cathars of southern France. Berry manages to take  complex religious ideas and make them understandable by centering them in the lives of ordinary people, especially women. She gives us just enough detail to understand how horrible the Inquisition was, without being graphic.

The book is narrated in multiple voices and, given the setting, it took me a few chapters to get a real feel for the book. But my perseverance was rewarded with an excellent piece of historical fiction.

Kudos to Julie Berry writing this compelling story set in a time period unfamiliar to most readers.