Most historical fiction devoted to the Tudor era either sides with one of the two competing religious denominations determined to blame the other for all the evils of the time, or it attempts to take some nebulous high road of secularism which insists that religion itself is to blame for the wars and sufferings of mankind, as if the atheistic slaughter of the last century hasn’t more than disproved that theory. But the truly amazing thing about Hardy’s novel is how she manages to rise above the usual messy mudslinging in her story and reveal the truth. Henry needed money and the monasteries represented the largest source of untapped wealth available to the monarch and self-appointed head of the state religion. This work of historical fiction is set during the time immediately after the death of King Henry VIII’s third–and most beloved–of his six wives, Jane Seymour, in childbirth when she bore Henry’s only male heir. And only those who forgive are free to receive forgiveness.”’ This gentle truth haunts the young hero, Colin, as he flees Wales for the abbey at Glastonbury after trying to kill his own father who he blames for the death of his beloved mother. In the words of a dying abbot, ‘“…’tis a curious thing: Only those who are forgiven are able truly to forgive. And only those who forgive are free to receive forgiveness.”’ This gentle truth hau Perhaps the finest novel I’ve ever read about the Reformation, LeAnne Hardy manages to weave an incredibly suspenseful coming-of-age tale which also depicts the travesty of the dissolution–sacking-of the English Benedictine monasteries and yet teaches an unforgettable conundrum about forgiveness as well. Perhaps the finest novel I’ve ever read about the Reformation, LeAnne Hardy manages to weave an incredibly suspenseful coming-of-age tale which also depicts the travesty of the dissolution–sacking-of the English Benedictine monasteries and yet teaches an unforgettable conundrum about forgiveness as well.
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