Status
Available
Call number
Collections
Publication
Vintage (2020), Edition: 01
Description
"The Middle Ages have just begun when Vigdis Adelaïs, a young woman from a prosperous French family, falls in love with David Todros, a student at the city's yeshiva, and the son of a rabbi. To be together, they must flee their city, Vigdis renouncing a life of privilege and comfort. Pursued by her father's knights and in constant danger of betrayal, the lovers embark on a dangerous journey to the south of France, only to find their brief happiness destroyed by the vicious wave of anti-Semitism that sweeps Europe with the onset of the First Crusade. Stefan Hertmans meticulously retraces Vigdis's epic journey, first across France and then beyond, to Palermo and the Middle East. Blending fact and fiction, and with immense imagination and stylistic ingenuity, he painstakingly imagines her terrible trials, bringing the Middle Ages to life, and illuminating a chaotic world of passion, hate, love, and death"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member bartje
I really, really enjoyed this book. I have to admit it is not the easiest read, but that is exactly what I was hoping to find.
The story about Hamoutal is really fascinating and it is a miracle that her story can be told again. It is illuminating how rough, hard and ruthless life was in those days,
What got stuck in my mind though, was the understanding that her story is not a story of the past. This is still happening today and in present times we often still are as rough, hard and ruthless as a thousand years ago.
I closed this book with the sad feeling we have not learned anything over the ages and I'm wondering if in almost thousand years from now someone will write a novel about a fugitive from our present times.
The story about Hamoutal is really fascinating and it is a miracle that her story can be told again. It is illuminating how rough, hard and ruthless life was in those days,
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which actually means how rough, hard and ruthless the people in her life were.What got stuck in my mind though, was the understanding that her story is not a story of the past. This is still happening today and in present times we often still are as rough, hard and ruthless as a thousand years ago.
I closed this book with the sad feeling we have not learned anything over the ages and I'm wondering if in almost thousand years from now someone will write a novel about a fugitive from our present times.
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LibraryThing member Castlelass
Combination of historical fiction and non-fiction travelogue. The fictional thread is based on a true story. It starts in 11th century France, where a young Christian woman, Vigdis, falls in love with a young Jewish man. In order to marry, they must flee the area. Vigdis converts to Judaism and
The narrative alternates between the couple’s journey and the author’s attempt to reconstruct it. It is a story of the violence of the time. The imagined story is full of obstacles, hardships, violence, and anti-Semitism. There are several narrow escapes. It includes the period of the Crusades. The present-day segments read almost like a detective story, and the two threads fit together remarkably well for being written in such different styles. Hertmans offers an analysis of history as well as a comparison of the earlier time period and how it has changed over the years. It is obvious that the author cares deeply for his subject matter. I also enjoyed and highly recommend this author’s War and Turpentine, which is set during WWI.
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changes her name to Hamoutal. The present-day memoir relates the author’s attempt to retrace their steps. It is based on his research and documentation he finds. The Jews were heavily persecuted during this time period. The narrative alternates between the couple’s journey and the author’s attempt to reconstruct it. It is a story of the violence of the time. The imagined story is full of obstacles, hardships, violence, and anti-Semitism. There are several narrow escapes. It includes the period of the Crusades. The present-day segments read almost like a detective story, and the two threads fit together remarkably well for being written in such different styles. Hertmans offers an analysis of history as well as a comparison of the earlier time period and how it has changed over the years. It is obvious that the author cares deeply for his subject matter. I also enjoyed and highly recommend this author’s War and Turpentine, which is set during WWI.
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LibraryThing member Gypsy_Boy
I read Hertmans’s War and Turpentine a year or two ago, a remarkable combination of history (World War I) and supposition about the life of Hertmans’s grandfather, a painter. Speaking as a professionally trained historian, both that work and this one—which tells the imagined story of a
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marriage between a Christian woman and a Jewish man in late 11th century France—are extraordinary works of historical reconstruction. This book is based on fragments of documents nearly 10 years old and rediscovered in Cairo in the last century. Hertmans has not only undertaken immense research but he has the rare gift of being able to tell a captivating story that is filled with academic history in the shape of a novel. He wears his learning very lightly indeed and is a terrific storyteller. It may not be “serious” literature but it’s beautifully done (though, personally, I preferred War and Turpentine, this is a great achievement). (P.S. I should note that Hertmans--at least in both these books--weaves the "story" he is telling with his own story. In The Convert, that means his own (part-time?) residence in France and his driving through the country to follow where his researches lead him in telling the novelistic recreation.) Show Less
Awards
National Jewish Book Award (Finalist — Sephardic Culture — 2020)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2016
Physical description
7.87 inches
ISBN
1784706981 / 9781784706982