In this time of restricted travel, many people feel confined or even trapped in their circumstances—valid emotions, of course!
But just imagine what your options might have been if you were Hildegard of Bingen, born in 1098 as child #10 to a family of the German lower nobility.
Her name probably means nothing to most of us. During her lifetime, her activities createdenemies as well as admirers.
Why doesthe Roman Catholic Church consider her a saint?
Hildegard’s parents sent her to an anchorite convent to become a religious recluse when she was between 8 and 14. (This was a permanent enclosure in a cell built against a wall of the village church.)
In spite of her limited opportunities, Hildegard stirred up the Roman Catholic Church and accomplished amazing things:
Founded 2 monasteries
Created her own language, Lingua Ignota
Wrote:
many poems and composed songs, hymns, and many chants
lives of saints
texts about medicine, botany, and natural history
3 volumes of theology (describing and interpreting her visions)
a morality play, Ordo Virtutum
If you’re a musician or writer, be aware that the Roman Church considers Hildegard as your patron saint.
In my book review below, I talk about why I thoroughly enjoyed The Greenest Branch, (Hildegard of Bingen Book 1).
Hildegard’s story can inspire us to make the most of our circumstances, however humble.
I’m happy to report I’m nearing the end of the first draft of my work in progress (the sequel to Lucia’s Renaissance).
Readers, what activities has confinement motivated you to try?
The Greenest Branch, by P.K. Adams, is one of the most enjoyable novels I’ve read in some time. Why?
I loved the voice of the protagonist (Hildegard of Bingen)—intelligent, but not anachronistic
I sympathized and rooted for her from the start, due to her lack of freedom to make choices about her life
It’s clean and not overly violent, but not ignoring the realities of life
The engaging plot kept me reading because of the drama and conflict of human interactions
Coming-of-age novels are among my favorites, especially if the young person matures into an heroic adult whose values I admire
I enjoy historical novels based on actual historical figures
The ending left me wanting to read more to find out how Hildegard confronted her challenges
The life details, herbal remedies, and description transported me to a distant time and place and kept me there
As an historian, I enjoy reading novels set within the context of historical events, especially when they play into the novel’s plot.
Possible con: Since I don’t know this specific era well, I can’t judge whether the life of Hildegard was as extraordinary as the author portrays it.
Audience: YA to adult, based on its clean plot and details, plus a heroic protagonist, in spite of the many struggles she faced.
Rating: Mild + for mild violence and brief kissing
If you think the Middle Ages are boring, this novel about a medieval girl’s extraordinary life at an isolated anchorite convent will change your mind, keep you turning pages, and broaden your worldview by immersing you in her time and place (and a second volume, The Column of Burning Spices, awaits readers). Highly recommended!
People, places, historical objects, or time periods—which interests you more when you’re choosing a novel?
This month, we’re focusing on a recent trend—time-split novels, in which stories from the past impact the present, sharing a key element: often a place, sometimes an object, person, or theme.
A few examples:
Heidi Chiavaroli, The Tea Chest
Melanie Dobson, Memories of Glass
Laura Morelli, The Night Portrait
Debbie Garneau Griffin, The Eternal Conductor
What sparked my interest?
The two time-split novels I’ve read most recently:
TheEternal Conductor, which came out this spring. I was fascinated by its focus on the sites and participants in the Underground Railroad, which helped enslaved people escape to freedom, especially in the decades before the Civil War.
The Night Portrait, which focuses on a Renaissance paintingand its fate over the centuries.
Personally, when I read a time-split novel, I prefer a greater focus on the distant past than the more recent period.
Readers, how about you?
Do you enjoy novels set entirely in one era, or do you prefer novels combining at least two time periods?
Keep reading for an interview with Debbie Garneau Griffin, the author of The Eternal Conductor. Also see her website: https://theeternalconductor.com/ (Rating information for readers: This novel contains scenes that include violence, sexuality, and profanity.)
My interview with author Debbie Garneau Griffin:
What drew you to a story set in Vermont in the 1850s?
Debbie Griffin: When I decided to write about the Prescotts’, a fugitive slave family seeking freedom in Canada, I decided to begin the story in October of 1850, where the family arrives during the night at a waystation in Vermont. The reason I began then is because in September, 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act went into effect in the country. It offered a bounty on any blacks who were captured, regardless of whether they were free or not. Plus, anyone not helping law enforcement capture runaways could be fined up to $1,000. Previous to the Act, fugitives could travel ‘above board’ in the North with little fear of slave hunters. Once the Act went into effect, it pit neighbor against neighbor and fugitives had to be hidden on their route to Canada.
Was there a triggering event that prompted you to begin writing?
DG: My single mother and I lived in a two-story farmhouse in Vermont, which was also inhabited by a spirit, who told us he was there to protect us from evil. We would also discover that he had a mean streak! In the mid-1990’s I had to move mom to a nursing home. In the process of cleaning out the property, we discovered a hidden chamber beneath the barn, which contained a number of items. Enlisting the help of the local historical society, we were able to determine it had been used to shelter fugitive slaves on their quest for freedom in Canada.
How did you discover a new angle about the Underground Railroad that hadn’t been written about?
DG: Well, I thought our experience of discovering our property had once been a waystation along the UGRR was interesting, and not completely unique in the Northeast. Many families harbored fugitives and properties are still being discovered that were part of their travels. I thought it an interesting premise to build the story upon.
How much did you have to deviate from history to create a satisfying story?
DG: A number of the characters in Part I, which begins in 1850, are true life Founding Fathers of Fair Haven, Vermont. They were staunch abolitionists as well as prominent business men in town. I kept their attitudes true to their beliefs as I included them in the story. The story of the escaped slave family, the Prescotts’ is based upon a compilation of multiple stories I researched, and is true to form in the history of Vermont.
Did you need to visit archives, or were most sources available online or in books from libraries?
DG: Initially when we discovered the history of our property, I thought it was
‘neat’, but didn’t have time to dwell on it as I had to get back to work in California. It was only after I retired from Silicon Valley, that I got more interested in the UGRR routes. I made numerous trips to Vermont, New York and Canada researching, as much of the history was kept ‘below the vest’. There are two museums where I researched their archives, which was a wonderful trove of information: Rokeby Museum near Burlington, VT https://rokeby.org/
And North Country UGRR Museum in upstate New York.
I also visited local libraries and private citizens whom had letters and documents of their family’s involvement in the abolitionist movement.
Were there points in your writing when you couldn’t find information you thought was critical to the story? If so, what did you do?
DG: I’ll admit that I took too much for granted as to what had or had not been invented in 1850. One of my critique partners, Peter, is British. At one point, I had Emma, the Conductor’s wife, making a pot of tea using tea bags. Upon reading the passage, Peter immediately informed me that tea bags weren’t invented until 1870! Who knew? After that, I became very careful about how I depicted daily life in the mid-1800’s to ensure that it was as authentic as possible. This is where I relied on the internet heavily.
What were the most challenging aspects of writing your novel?
DG: It took me eight years to research, write and edit the novel. My major challenge was that the book was too big, at over 1100 pages!
What did you enjoy most about writing your novel?
What I learned from my research of the UGRR in the Northeast. In school, we were taught about the Revolutionary War as there are many battle fields in the area. But the history of the slave migration to the north was often kept under wraps because of the ramifications of the Fugitive Slave Act on abolitionists. So researching archives first-hand was very valuable and tying it back to my family farmstead. And getting published, of course!
Thank you, Debbie, for these insights into your new novel!
The pandemic of the past year has given us all cause for mourning, but today I’m thankful for cows,modern science, and the speedy development of vaccines, and I’m hopeful that all the world’s peoples will gain access to this lifesaving protection.
Renaissance Italy, with great artists such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and many others, is viewed by lovers of art and culture as the golden age of civilization.
During this era, scientists also were learning about how the human body works, even as wave after wave of the Plague decimated Italy and much of Europe and England:
Girolamo Fracastoro
Girolamo Fracastoro (1478–1553), an Italian doctor and scholar, suggested that epidemics may come from pathogens outside the body. He proposed that these might pass from human-to-human by direct or indirect contact. He also suggested using mercury and the oil from the Palo Santo tree as acure for syphilis.
In 1536, Ambroise Paré became a surgeon in the French army. He developed his ideas practically during 20 years of work, and in 1575 published his book, The Collected Works of Ambroise Paré, proposing changes to the way surgeons treated wounds and amputations.
In 1537, Andreas Vesalius became professor of medicine at the University of Padua at the age of just 22. He insisted that his medical students should perform dissections to find out how the human body worked. In 1542, he published his book, The Fabric of the Human Body, with accurate drawings of the human body, giving doctors more detailed knowledge of human anatomy.
William Harvey was a physician to English kings James I and Charles I. In 1628, he published An Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, proving the principle of the circulation of the blood through the body.
Back in the 10th Century, the Chinese were believed to have inoculated themselves with the smallpox virus by blowing pulverized powdery smallpox scabs into a boy’s nostrils. They may have also scraped smallpox matter onto the skin of healthy individuals. Some scholars think this inoculation method was first discovered in India and then the practice spread to China.
But alas, no effective vaccine for the Plague existed for centuries in Europe! Vaccinations weren’t developed to prevent illness in the European world until 400 years after the Black Death first struck Italy.
Finally, the cow (and a wise physician) saved England from smallpox!
Edward Anthony Jenner (1749-1823), an English doctor and scientist, created the smallpox vaccine and pioneered vaccinations. He noticed that milkmaids tended to be immune to smallpox, but did come down with cowpox (milder than smallpox). He suspected the pus from the cowpox blisters might protect the girls from smallpox.
In May 1796, he found a young dairymaid who had fresh cowpox lesions on her hand.
On May 14, he used matter from her lesions to inoculate an eight-year-old boy who had never had smallpox. The boy became slightly ill over the course of the next 9 days but was well on the 10th.
On July 1, Jenner inoculated the boy again, this time with smallpox matter. The boy was immune to smallpox because of the cowpox “vaccine.”
Why was it called a “vaccine?” Jenner paid homage to the cow, which in Latin means “vacca,”
We can be thankful for the centuries of research which brought us the concept of vaccines, as well as modern-day researchers who worked so hard and quickly to develop them in the past year!
After only one week of this new year, you may agree with me that 2021 will be unique and unforgettable.
Just as new events emerge from the background of the past, so new stories (especially historical novels) spring up, building on the raw material of old stories.
This month, I’m pulling back the curtain to reveal a few of the pleasures and challenges of writing stories thatcombine the old with the new.
What’s fun?
immersing myself in a bygone, faraway culture (and visiting the location virtually or in person)
creating and getting to know my characters
getting to know actual people who lived then and there, sometimes giving them roles in my stories
developing a plot and themes
What’s challenging?
Staying true to history (what could have happened then)
Discovering details of life that make the story seem real
Creating an entertaining, believableplot
Hamnet, an acclaimed 2020 novel, is a recent example of a story built on an existing historical foundation.
Modern-day techniques and twists breathe new life into the life stories of William Shakespeare and his family.
Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son,died at the age of eleven (probably of the plague), and the novel focuses on the lives of his family members before and after his death.
Setting details (mostly unpleasant) made me feel I was there (and glad I didn’t live then)
Author Maggie O’Farrell’s deep emotional portrayals of her characters and focus on their unusual backgrounds, especially William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes/Anne, brought them to life
The exploration of the lasting and differing effects of grief on the characters raised questions about the plague’s impact—perhaps like PTSD?–on families and societies
The link between the life and death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, and the writing of the play, Hamlet, is a key part of the story. The author points out that in Shakespeare’s time, spelling wasn’t uniform, so Hamnet and Hamlet were considered the same name.
A few caveats:
Use of present tense can become tiring
Switching characters and time periods without warning in succeeding scenes is jarring and took me out of the story
Rating of Adult for an on-screen love scene
Readers,what new stories based on old ones have you enjoyed?
Quarantines are in the news again, as nations around the globe isolate people suspected of carrying a contagious, sometimes lethal, illness.
Believe it or not, quarantine is a practice that’s been around for over 500 years. The term came from the Italian word, quaranta, which means 40.
Why am I, a historical novelist, writing about quarantine?
The same research that prepared me to write Lucia’s Renaissance, my novel set mostly in Venice, also informed me about this important part of Venice’s history:
Not just once (in 1348), but multiple times, the black (Bubonic) plague ravaged Venice—killing up to 1/3 of the population.
Venice was a trade center with ships arriving from many places, so it’s not surprising it was the first city that forced people to stay quarantined for 40 days to stop diseases from spreading.
Venice was built on islands, and after its leader, Doge Giovanni Mocenigo, died of the plague in 1485, the city funded a hospital on a nearby island, eventually calling it the lazzaretto vecchio, (old quarantine site) which cared for people ill with the plague.
Another island, called the lazzaretto nuovo (new quarantine site), housed newcomers and traders who might bring diseases into the city. Reports indicated the food was good.
The lucky people who survived the lazzaretto vecchio and recovered convalesced at the lazzaretto nuovo.
At the end of each of five onslaughts of the plague, Venice built a church to thank God for deliverance (San Sebastiano, San Giobbe, San Rocco, Il Redentore, Santa Maria della Salute).
Redentore (Redeemer) Church in Venice, built after 1576 plague
Were quarantines
effective?
Although thousands died in Venice, quarantines certainly spared many lives
People who were sent to the quarantine island for the sick, lazzaretto vecchio, rarely survived. Recent archaeological excavations have revealed mass graves containing thousands of skeletons dating back to the plague epidemics.
Is there a lesson for
today?
Quarantines are a good idea anytime there is a deadly and infectious disease with no known
cure or vaccination
(This conclusion from a helpful physician friend—many thanks!)
Plague strikes Verona, killing many and causing panic
A scene takes place on one of Venice’s quarantine islands
After the 1576 plague in Venice kills over 25% of the population, families are upended by their losses
When the 1576 plague ends, Venice builds the magnificent Church of the Redeemer (Redentore),
Many other novels feature plagues and quarantine in their plots. I’m mentioning a few titles by well-known authors. I haven’t read them all, but suggest caution: given the topic, in some of these, details may be graphic:
The Decameron, by Giovanni Boccaccio—a rollicking story set during the plague, written in the Renaissance era
A Journal of the Plague Year, by Daniel Defoe—a fictional journal of a doctor working with the sick in London during the plague
The Betrothed, by Alessandro Manzoni—his best-known work, a three-volume historical novel that depicts a plague that struck Milan two centuries earlier
The Scarlet Plague, by Jack London—takes place far into the future, charting sixty years of the “Red Death” that depopulates the planet before the novel begins in 2073
The Plague, by Albert Camus—story of a cholera outbreak in Oran, Algeria
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman—incorporates both the great rhythms of history and the nitty-gritty of domestic life (including the plague)
World Without End, by Ken Follett– a sweeping tale that deals with the fallout from both the 100 Years war and the plague
Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks—set in an English town during the plague of 1666, deals with death, superstition, and paranoia
Can you recommend a favorite novel about quarantine or plague?
“The stubbornest bunch of people you would
ever want to meet“—a Waldensian family, as described by a contemporary
descendant.
Who were the Waldensians, and why did they become so stubborn? In about 1170, Peter Waldo, a merchant in Lyon, France, was inspired by the story of St. Alexis. In an effort to draw closer to God, gave away most of his possessions to the poor. He also had the Gospels and other Biblical passages translated into French, and he began to preach in the streets. He focused on teaching the Bible rather than the Church’s added doctrines, such as offerings or prayers for the dead, purgatory, and payments to get souls out of purgatory.
His movement, which became known as the Poor of Lyon, allowed lay people, including women, to preach. Their main source of inspiration was the Sermon on the Mount, and they advocated non-violence. They refused to swear oaths and also rejected any compromise by the Church with those having political power.
As this movement gained followers, religious leaders began to condemn it. Persecution began by 1215, when the Roman Church declared Waldensians were heretics, to be excommunicated and punished if they didn’t repent.
In spite or because of this, the movement spread from the south of France to Italy, from Lyon to Bergamo, from Provence, in south of France, to Guardia Piemontese in Calabria (south Italy), from the Waldensian Valleys, in Piedmont (northwest Italy), to Venice (northeast Italy), and finally to Austria, Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.
More
persecution followed:
1487-1507: anti-Waldensian crusade led by
Cremona’s Archdeacon
1545:
Waldensian community in Provence was exterminated
1560: first persecution of Waldensians by troops of Savoy’s Duke
Emanuele Filiberto
1561: Treaty of Cavour drove Waldensians out of the plains to
worship in remote mountains, halting the group’s spread
17th century:
persecution continued
1655: Piedmont Easter massacre–1700 Waldensians killed in a campaign of looting, rape, torture, and murder. News of these atrocities reached England and the Netherlands. John Milton wrote a poem about it, “On the Late Massacre in Piedmont.” Following are a few lines:
“Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughter’d saints,
whose bones
Lie scatter’d on the Alpine mountains cold,
Ev’n them who kept thy truth so pure of old,
When all our fathers worshipp’d stocks and stones…
Who were thy sheep and in their ancient
fold
Slain by the bloody Piemontese that roll’d
Mother with infant down the rocks…”
1685: after
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, all the Waldensians (12,000) were
imprisoned
1687: the
few survivors (2,700) were deported from Piedmont to Geneva
In 1689 the Waldensians returned to their valley, armed, to regain
their lands and their right to exist (The Glorious Return).
Like the Jewish people, if the Waldensians weren’t strong in their beliefs and personality, they would have converted to Catholicism centuries ago to avoid persecution.
In
addition to northern Italy, Waldensian survivors have established communities
in southern Italy, Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Uruguay, and Valdese, NC (see http://www.waldensianheritagemuseum.org/
Why do I care
about the Waldensians? Their villages
offered a potential refuge to characters in my novel-in-progress.
