Review by Therese Heckenkamp
A Powerful Catholic Historical Adventure Novel, October 4, 2011
By Therese Heckenkamp "Author of Past Suspicion"This review is from: Poor Banished Children: A Novel (Hardcover)
Poor Banished Children by Fiorella De Baria is a truly unforgettable historical novel about rejection, survival, despair, and redemption. I feared it might be a ponderous read, but in contrast it was swift-paced and completely compelling. Scenes will be seared in your mind long after you close the book.
Set in the 1600s, this tale is about a young Maltese girl who is spurned by her family, taken in and nourished in both body and soul by a physician priest, before being torn from her religious life by Barbary pirates and sold into a savage world of slavery in Muslim North Africa.
Be warned that this is no story for light entertainment. Exciting as it is, and as hard to put down as it is, it is also hard to read because it is fraught with the most wretched of abuses and suffering, unspeakable atrocities made painfully vivid by such expert writing. Not for weak stomachs or the faint of heart! Make sure that you can handle the strong depictions of degrading, inhuman treatment of slaves, the merciless torments, misery and horrors. In many ways, Poor Banished Children is more frightening than inspiring.
And yet . . . I couldn't put it down (even when I should have been sleeping). I had to read on, hoping for mercy and redemption. The main character struggles and fights and prays and despairs as she relives her tale during what she feels must be her death-bed confession. She clings and falls from her Catholic faith, convinced that she is unworthy of love, unable to be saved, and yet she yearns for absolution.
Poor Banished Children is a powerful Catholic historical adventure story in which the main character fights for survival of both her body and soul. It is gripping and haunting, filled with many religious elements that enrich the story and are never superfluous. Poor Banished Children is highly recommended for adult readers, Catholic or not--just make sure you are up to the challenge of a truly soul-shaking journey!
Reviewed by:
Therese Heckenkamp
Author of "Past Suspicion"
and Reviewer for:
Catholic-Fiction.com
TraditionalCatholicNovels.com
and Ivory Tower Press
By Therese Heckenkamp "Author of Past Suspicion"This review is from: Poor Banished Children: A Novel (Hardcover)
Poor Banished Children by Fiorella De Baria is a truly unforgettable historical novel about rejection, survival, despair, and redemption. I feared it might be a ponderous read, but in contrast it was swift-paced and completely compelling. Scenes will be seared in your mind long after you close the book.
Set in the 1600s, this tale is about a young Maltese girl who is spurned by her family, taken in and nourished in both body and soul by a physician priest, before being torn from her religious life by Barbary pirates and sold into a savage world of slavery in Muslim North Africa.
Be warned that this is no story for light entertainment. Exciting as it is, and as hard to put down as it is, it is also hard to read because it is fraught with the most wretched of abuses and suffering, unspeakable atrocities made painfully vivid by such expert writing. Not for weak stomachs or the faint of heart! Make sure that you can handle the strong depictions of degrading, inhuman treatment of slaves, the merciless torments, misery and horrors. In many ways, Poor Banished Children is more frightening than inspiring.
And yet . . . I couldn't put it down (even when I should have been sleeping). I had to read on, hoping for mercy and redemption. The main character struggles and fights and prays and despairs as she relives her tale during what she feels must be her death-bed confession. She clings and falls from her Catholic faith, convinced that she is unworthy of love, unable to be saved, and yet she yearns for absolution.
Poor Banished Children is a powerful Catholic historical adventure story in which the main character fights for survival of both her body and soul. It is gripping and haunting, filled with many religious elements that enrich the story and are never superfluous. Poor Banished Children is highly recommended for adult readers, Catholic or not--just make sure you are up to the challenge of a truly soul-shaking journey!
Reviewed by:
Therese Heckenkamp
Author of "Past Suspicion"
and Reviewer for:
Catholic-Fiction.com
TraditionalCatholicNovels.com
and Ivory Tower Press
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