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Come Rack! Come Rope!
Perhaps the best known of Msgr. Benson's works, this novel has been reprinted many times since its publication in 1912. The drama and the characters therein have their basis in the real life account of a Catholic family-and of the sufferings of Catholics in general under- Elizabeth I of England. In this story of deep tragedy and terror Msgr. Benson portrays the conflict between natural, tender human passion and divine love, and its heroic resolution worked out in the hearts of the two principal characters, along with the development of the doctrine of vocation. Descriptions of profound insight into the physical and spiritual suffering of one persecuted and tortured for the faith. Beautiful book, cream paper, sewn signatures, cloth hardcover.
377 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1912
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1030 people want to read
About the author
Robert Hugh Benson
320 books186 followersMrsgr. Robert Hugh Benson AFSC KC*SG KGCHS was an English Catholic priest and writer. First an Anglican pastor, he was received into the Catholic Church in 1903 and ordained therein the next year. He was also a prolific writer of fiction, writing the notable dystopian novel Lord of the World, as well as Come Rack! Come Rope!.
His output encompassed historical, horror and science fiction, contemporary fiction, children's stories, plays, apologetics, devotional works and articles. He continued his writing career at the same time as he progressed through the hierarchy to become a Chamberlain to Pope Pius X in 1911, and gain the title of Monsignor before his death a few years later.
His output encompassed historical, horror and science fiction, contemporary fiction, children's stories, plays, apologetics, devotional works and articles. He continued his writing career at the same time as he progressed through the hierarchy to become a Chamberlain to Pope Pius X in 1911, and gain the title of Monsignor before his death a few years later.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
April 11, 2023
This has long been on my ‘to-read’ list. I thought it was one of those vegetable books. By that I mean, a book which is good-for-you rather than interesting. How wrong I was!
It was a romance, yes, but in the best, i.e. genuine, sense of the word, between two people who really love each other. Robin Audrey and Marjorie Manners are young when the story opens but we get to follow the course of their unusual love story over the course of many years. Theirs can’t be a normal relationship as it is set in Elizabethan England and they are both recusants during a time when it was dangerous enough to be Catholic much less engage in the type of illegal activities they eventually find themselves doing.
Although Robin and Marjorie are fictional characters, their story is woven in amongst a number of historic persons many of whom readers will recognize, including: the very real martyr, Edmund Campion; the foolhardy, hapless Anthony Babington who lent his name to the Babington Plot; his intended benefactress, Mary Queen of Scots; Elizabeth I, of course; and the notoriously despicable Richard Topcliffe, Elizabeth’s executioner who so delighted in torturing his victims he had his own personal rack at home. Plus many more.
The dramatic tension builds throughout the novel. You quickly get caught up in the lives of all the characters and just have to know how things turn out! Or I did anyway... There is NO gratuitous violence nor maligning of persons or beliefs. What a relief. As soon as the book was published in 1912 it became known for its uniquely balanced portrayal of a very controversial time period.
Once I started this book I could NOT put it down. I want to read more by Robert Hugh Benson
Oh! And did I mention, I learned a bit history along the way...?! Everything in the book checked out too.
Jul 20, 2016: I have stayed up late the last two nights reading this...
Can't believe how good it was!!!
Haven't got time to write a review at the moment, but soon! Soon!
It was a romance, yes, but in the best, i.e. genuine, sense of the word, between two people who really love each other. Robin Audrey and Marjorie Manners are young when the story opens but we get to follow the course of their unusual love story over the course of many years. Theirs can’t be a normal relationship as it is set in Elizabethan England and they are both recusants during a time when it was dangerous enough to be Catholic much less engage in the type of illegal activities they eventually find themselves doing.
Although Robin and Marjorie are fictional characters, their story is woven in amongst a number of historic persons many of whom readers will recognize, including: the very real martyr, Edmund Campion; the foolhardy, hapless Anthony Babington who lent his name to the Babington Plot; his intended benefactress, Mary Queen of Scots; Elizabeth I, of course; and the notoriously despicable Richard Topcliffe, Elizabeth’s executioner who so delighted in torturing his victims he had his own personal rack at home. Plus many more.
The dramatic tension builds throughout the novel. You quickly get caught up in the lives of all the characters and just have to know how things turn out! Or I did anyway... There is NO gratuitous violence nor maligning of persons or beliefs. What a relief. As soon as the book was published in 1912 it became known for its uniquely balanced portrayal of a very controversial time period.
Once I started this book I could NOT put it down. I want to read more by Robert Hugh Benson
Oh! And did I mention, I learned a bit history along the way...?! Everything in the book checked out too.
Jul 20, 2016: I have stayed up late the last two nights reading this...
Can't believe how good it was!!!
Haven't got time to write a review at the moment, but soon! Soon!
August 16, 2010
Having read two of Robert Hugh Benson's novels I have been looking to read Come Rack! Come Rope! which has been highly recommended. When I was looking over the new Catholic Digital Downloads section at Aquinas & More Catholic Goods I noticed they had this novel available and so bought and downloaded it.
This historical novel takes place during the reign of Elizabeth I of England with a mixture of fictional and historic figures such as St. Edmund Campion. This is the time of the Recusants where not attending an Anglican church resulted in a heavy tax. Attending both a Catholic Mass and the Anglican service had been disallowed by the Pope. This was a time of increased persecution and the martyrdom of many priests and lay people. A time where the famous priest-holes were built where priests could hide in what were sometimes quite elaborate hidden rooms.
The novel starts by telling the story of a father who decides to stop paying the Catholic tax and to attend the Anglican parish while his son can not do so in obeying his conscience. This conflict between father and son is written so well you have to wonder how much of it was in a sense autobiographical. Robert Hugh Benson was the youngest son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and he left the Anglican priesthood to be ordained a Catholic priest and was later named a monsignor. It is easy to imagine that he drew upon this real life tension and experience when writing of the relationship between the father and son in the novel.
The whole novel is in fact is extremely well written with totally believable characters. I was totally wrapped up and involved in the story and the history of this time period. The inevitable conclusion also had me emotionally involved in a way similar to classics such as Shusaku Endo's Silence or Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory, but with a more faithful priest. Just reading about this sad era almost makes laughable the complaints Catholics have against the anti-Catholic media. We are only in danger of being slandered or slimed, but not getting stretched on the rack or being hanged, drawn and quartered. I loved Evelyn Waugh's novel Edmund Campion and Come Rack! Come Rope! reminds me of it, but it also has a more expansive look at this era. Highly recommended.
This historical novel takes place during the reign of Elizabeth I of England with a mixture of fictional and historic figures such as St. Edmund Campion. This is the time of the Recusants where not attending an Anglican church resulted in a heavy tax. Attending both a Catholic Mass and the Anglican service had been disallowed by the Pope. This was a time of increased persecution and the martyrdom of many priests and lay people. A time where the famous priest-holes were built where priests could hide in what were sometimes quite elaborate hidden rooms.
The novel starts by telling the story of a father who decides to stop paying the Catholic tax and to attend the Anglican parish while his son can not do so in obeying his conscience. This conflict between father and son is written so well you have to wonder how much of it was in a sense autobiographical. Robert Hugh Benson was the youngest son of the Archbishop of Canterbury and he left the Anglican priesthood to be ordained a Catholic priest and was later named a monsignor. It is easy to imagine that he drew upon this real life tension and experience when writing of the relationship between the father and son in the novel.
The whole novel is in fact is extremely well written with totally believable characters. I was totally wrapped up and involved in the story and the history of this time period. The inevitable conclusion also had me emotionally involved in a way similar to classics such as Shusaku Endo's Silence or Graham Greene's The Power and the Glory, but with a more faithful priest. Just reading about this sad era almost makes laughable the complaints Catholics have against the anti-Catholic media. We are only in danger of being slandered or slimed, but not getting stretched on the rack or being hanged, drawn and quartered. I loved Evelyn Waugh's novel Edmund Campion and Come Rack! Come Rope! reminds me of it, but it also has a more expansive look at this era. Highly recommended.
January 10, 2019
I apologize to my followers, because they already know, like Spanish I am pleased the day of the Epiphany, and that day I like to give them my followers a critique of a book that has been read by these dates.
In the year 2019 could have chosen the sleeve of the Bible of Siku, which, at the moment, despite being a Protestant version of the Bible converted into sleeve has been the book that has most liked https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... without However I have decided to opt for writing the critique of a novel written by one of my writers Favorites (discovered me the great Joseph Pearce. Writer which should be read by all readers, whether they are Catholic or non-Catholic https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... I am referring to Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/ 330845.Robert_Hugh_Benson to whom he dedicated his article "The unsung genius" , also I recommend people to become familiar with the figure of Robert Hugh Benson study that has made him Sergio Gómez Moyano https://www.goodreads.com/ author/show/7831783.Sergio_G_mez_Moyano
. Perhaps it is more difficult, but if you can read the biography of Shane Leslie on Robert Hugh Benson better
https://www.Goodreads.com/book/show/3... I do not know if this would be the biography that this Irish Catholic writer wrote about Robert Hugh Benson).
I must be honest had long been wanting to read historical novels of Robert Hugh Benson. In Spain the word publishing, Bibliotheca Homolegens, and RIALP (also the BAC, and Trèbes)
they had translated something Robert Hugh Benson, but they had not dared to translate "Come rack come rope" although the first director of Bibliotheca Homolegens Andrés Rojo promised, and had it in their catalog, but the change of director, and the crisis they prevented this editorial editing this book. So I thought Knights, that you could never read this book in Spanish, and that therefore it would be me without reading it, but I found this courtesy to the Publisher Word whom I thank for giving me this opportunity. When I saw the book in the library of the Pauline I was shouting excited in such a way that the shop thought I was crazy so I explained the reason for my reaction to them, and were delighted to hear it.
I can say of "Come Rack come rope" it is true that despite the five-star expecting much more than her, because Benson had me used to the best, and I can not deny that the book I liked a lot, but not as much as expected, for the reasons which I will explain later. However, we can say something good from "Come rack come rope" is a book that puts a note of light and clarifies a truth that the anti-Catholic official historiography has endeavored in hide, and denied over and over again. This book is required to read, to understand that consisted first lie of the English Reformation, that turned the State into a modern Leviathan, which robbed the freedom of his subjects, and It increased the differences in existing classes, and the second shows This novel denouncing the brutal repression suffered by Catholics
(in this case during the reign of Elisabeth I). Benson, who was always influenced by Shorthouse "John Inglesant" book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... and converted to Catholicism in 1903 gives voice in this novel to the martyrs of the Elizabethan persecution. It is true that the protagonists are two characters from fiction Robin Audrey and Marjorie Manners, but thanks to this pair of fiction we are witnessing a shamefully quiet and silenced page part of the history of England, which many want what you do not know. In Spain particularly left thinkers, and the sector filo-luterano, which occupies our universities with few exceptions of course. It is true that this novel has flaws including Benson speaking of classes, or that on the front page to look like more the behavior of the characters of Benson to the gentlemen of the Victorian era or Edwardian, than to the Elizabethan era. The action sequences are also really improved. However, Benson doesn't surprise with masterly passages such as for example the apostasy of the father of the protagonist, who is one of the more lurid passages I've read throughout my career as reader Audrey seems more a robot than a human being.
It is true that this novel has flaws including Benson speaking of classes, or that on the front page to look like more the behavior of the characters of Benson to the gentlemen of the Victorian era or Edwardian, than to the Elizabethan era. The action sequences are also really improved. However, Benson doesn't surprise with masterly passages such as for example the apostasy of the father of the protagonist, who is one of the more lurid passages I've read throughout my career as reader Audrey seems more a robot than a human being. See also for the same reason the betrayal of Thomas Fitzherbert locked up and tortured by cruel Topcliffe an ominous figure, who many apologists of reform do not want that you know, but it existed. Priests who are unlike other fiction novels are authentic and existed, perhaps being the most charismatic Edmund Campion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
one of the most beautiful passages of the novel is when Campion shows Marjorie and Babington the Elizabethan London, and his tete a tete with Topcliffe is admirable reminds me of when Calloway hangs in his office his enemy Harry Lime photo https://www.goodreads.com/book/ do show/48800.The_Third_Man? ac = 1 & from_search = true and which concludes showing Isabel Tudor and with a typical sign of the love that the English felt by their kings, since it concludes with what Belloc had called as the deification of the King, but that "Viva the" Queen"shows one thing love of English Catholics for their country, and their services to it. Part of that included sketches that traces Simpson Benson, Ludlam, and Garlick, who died in praise of Holiness, and the shadow of Southwall, appearing once quoted in the novel, as the intrepid Persons (surprisingly not appears the brain of the) English counter-espionage the fascinating William Allen).
However, Benson is an objective and rejects to Catholics, who use violence to achieve their goals as it is the case of Babington, which to rid the Catholics of their oppression plans an attack against Queen Elizabeth, to save María Estuardo. There are theories about the assassination I'm not going to position neither for or against them. With all Benson despite denouncing the errors of these extremes no doubt to praise the courage of the Ballard parent, or Fortesue, if someone wants to know, as she is desbarato the conspiracy of Ballard recommend "The dead man in Deptford" https:// www.goodreads.com/book/show/59796.A_D...
It is a novel about Marlowe written by Anthony Burgess. At least in contrast to Ken Follett, who by their condition of Socialist aims to make us believe that there is only one side of the terrorists (as what I explained in my unreadable and very extensive criticism of "Pillar of fire" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...? (book_show_action = false & from_review_page = 1 that Follet is inspired by the Socialist theories of Raymond Williams Welsh filoprotestantes). It is interesting to see the parallel between Robin and one of the villains of history roll Fitzgerald, which looks like something out of pamphlets anti-Catholic as "Religious" or "Monk" M.G. Lewis. Also it is interesting to note to Marjorie with Maggie giving us the feeling of Ken Follett was proposed to write an anti "Come rack come rope". I'm going to say, but enough that are anti-Catholic and apostates, and people who hate our country the authors to fill the shelves of our libraries and I think of people when I say this like Karen Amrstrong (Prince Asturias prize), Cythia Nixey, Jill Patton Walsh, Hilary Mantel, because as says Rodney Stark who is able to heed to such partial people, and with a so hostile view of their former religion?. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... of course Robin shows both heroism, or more than the informer and torturer character of "Pillar of fire" Ned Willard (more torturer Severian to https://www.goodreads.com/series/4147...
There is now a Catholic literature of high quality, which deserves the attention of the Spanish publishers, and it is that that edit, and leave already blame the victims and executioners, victimizing since, as with wisdom says Sigrid Undset "reform wasn't ma s that a rebellion of Christians against the Church". Returning again to "Come rack Come rope" best novels of Robert Hugh Benson are its secondary characters in this case deserve a special monitoring of the reader apart from the priests of Basset and Bidell characters. This novel and in this we agree my friend Alfonseca
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and I have a defect and is the scene of Robin with Mary Stuart here Benson draws its own conclusions and decide for a fictitious witness, which Mary Stuart is innocent of conspiracy of Babington (without denying the innocence of the Scottish Queen in Babinton conspiracy. In any case if there was a matter of survival, as Queen Isabel instigated by Lord Barleigh and Walsingham imprisoned it without any reason, when they could have it led to France, or Spain. Not to mention that Isabel payment upon the enemies of Mary Stuart so they removed from his throne it, and speaking of feminism would have tolerated the Queen and current feminist someone as John Knox that seemed to have an opinion so hostile to women were Queens?) We recommend this biography of Mary Stuart https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... (now that Hollywood makes a film in the making of this historical character)
With all those defects identified by Hilaire Belloc https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , who preferred his friend Maurice Baring novel "Robert Peckham" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... with everything I translation of Word have not observed one of the criticisms of Beloc that Benson exaggerates the number of Protestants, if defects indicated at the beginning of my review. Yet the novel much better at the end, and torture are graphic, although not so brutal that portray Brian Moore in "Black Robe" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... or Shusaku Endo https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... to highlight us underline the emotional end, and the beautiful Parliament of Robin that exemplifies the opinion of the majority of English Catholics because these men did not die with hatred, but forgiving, and for his faith Ad maiorem gloriam dei.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Pido disculpas a mis seguidores, porque ya saben, que como español yo celebro el día de la Epifanía y ese día me guste regalarles a mis seguidores una crítica de un libro que haya leído por estas fechas.
En este año 2019 podría haber escogido el Manga de la Biblia de Siku, que de momento pese a ser una versión protestante de la Biblia convertida en Manga ha sido el libro que más me ha gustado https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... sin embargo he decidido optar por escribir la crítica de una novela escrita por uno de mis escritores favoritos (me lo descubrió el gran Joseph Pearce. Escritor que debería ser leído por todos los lectores ya sean católicos, o no católicos https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... me estoy refiriendo a Monseñor Robert Hugh Benson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... a quien dedicó su artículo “The unsung genius” , también recomiendo a la gente que quiera familiarizarse con la figura de Robert Hugh Benson el estudio que ha hecho de él Sergio Gómez Moyano https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . Quizás sea más difícil, pero si se puede leer la biografía de Shane Leslie sobre Robert Hugh Benson mejor https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... aunque no sé si esta sería la biografía que este escritor católico irlandés escribió sobre Robert Hugh Benson).
Debo seros sinceros llevaba mucho tiempo deseando leer las novelas históricas de Robert Hugh Benson. En España la editorial Palabra, Bibliotheca Homolegens, y RIALP (también la BAC, y Trebes) habían traducido algo a Robert Hugh Benson, pero no se habían atrevido a traducir “Come rack come rope” aunque el primer director de Bibliotheca Homolegens Andrés Rojo lo había prometido, y lo tenía en su catálogo, pero el cambio de director, y la crisis impidieron a esta editorial editar este libro. Así que pensé caballeros, que jamás podría leer este libro en español, y que por tanto me quedaría sin leerlo, pero debo esta cortesía a la editorial Palabra a quien doy las gracias por brindarme esta oportunidad. Cuando vi el libro en la librería de las Paulinas me puse a gritar emocionado de tal manera, que las de la tienda pensaron que estaba loco así que les expliqué el motivo de mi reacción, y estuvieron encantadas de oírlo.
Que puedo decir de “Come Rack come rope” es verdad que a pesar de las cinco estrellas esperaba mucho más de ella, porque Benson me tenía acostumbrado a lo mejor, y no puedo negar que el libro me ha gustado muchísimo, pero no tanto como esperaba, por las razones, que explicaré más adelante. Sin embargo, cabe decir algo bueno de “Come rack come rope” es un libro que pone una nota de luz y esclarece una verdad que la historiografía oficial anticatólica se ha empeñado en ocultarnos, y en negar hasta la saciedad. Este libro es necesario leerlo, para comprender en que consistieron primero la mentira de la Reforma Inglesa, que convirtió al Estado en un moderno leviatán, que robaba la libertad de sus súbditos, y agiganto las diferencias de clases ya existentes, y lo segundo muestra esta novela de denuncia la brutal represión que sufrieron los católicos (en este caso durante el reinado de Isabel I). Benson que siempre estuvo influido por el libro de Shorthouse “John Inglesant” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... y se convirtió al catolicismo en 1903 da voz en esta novela a los mártires de la persecución isabelina. Es verdad que los protagonistas son dos personajes de ficción Robin Audrey, y Marjorie Manners, pero gracias a esta pareja de ficción asistimos a una página vergonzosamente callada, y silenciada parte de la historia de Inglaterra, que muchos quieren que no sepas. En España particularmente los pensadores de izquierdos, y el sector filo-luterano, que ocupa nuestras universidades con honrosas excepciones por supuesto.
Es verdad que esta novela tiene fallos entre ellos que Benson hable de clases, o que en las primeras páginas el comportamiento de los personajes de Benson se parezcan más al de los caballeros de la era Victoriana, o Eduardiana, que al de la época isabelina. También las secuencias de acción son francamente mejorables. Sin embargo, Benson no deja de sorprendernos con pasajes magistrales como por ejemplo la apostasía del padre del protagonista, que es uno de los pasajes más espeluznantes que he leído en toda mi trayectoria como lector Audrey parece más un autómata que un ser humano. Vemos también por el mismo motivo la traición de Thomas Fitzherbert encerrado y torturado por el cruel Topcliffe una figura ominosa, que muchos apologetas de la Reforma no quieren que tú conozcas, pero existió. Los sacerdotes, que aparecen a diferencia de otras novelas de ficción son auténticos y existieron, quizás siendo el más carismático Edmund Campion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... uno de los pasajes más bellos de la novela es cuando Campion muestra a Marjorie y a Babington el Londres isabelino, y su tete a tete con Topcliffe es admirable me recuerda a cuando Calloway cuelga en su oficina la foto de su enemigo Harry Lime https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... y que concluye mostrándonos a Isabel Tudor y con una muestra típica del amor que los ingleses sintieron por sus reyes, ya que concluye con lo que Belloc hubiera denominado como la divinización del Rey, pero ese “Viva la reina” muestra una cosa el amor de los católicos ingleses por su país, y sus servicios al mismo. A parte de eso cabe destacar los esbozos que traza Benson de Simpson, Ludlam, y Galick, que murieron en loor de santidad, y la sombra de Southwall, que una vez aparece citado en la novela, igual, que el intrépido Persons (sorprendentemente no aparece el cerebro del contraespionaje inglés el fascinante William Allen).
Sin embargo, Benson es objetivo y rechaza a los católicos, que utilizan la violencia para conseguir sus objetivos como es el caso de Babington, que para librar a los católicos de su opresión planea un atentado contra la reina Isabel, para salvar a María Estuardo. Hay teorías sobre el magnicidio yo no me voy a posicionar ni a favor ni en contra de las mismas. Con todo Benson a pesar de denunciar los errores de estos extremismos no duda en alabar el coraje del Padre Ballard, o Fortesue, si alguien desea conocer, como se desbarato la conspiración de Ballard les recomendamos “El hombre muerto en Deptford” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... que es una novela sobre Marlowe escrita por Anthony Burgess. Por lo menos a diferencia de Ken Follet, que por su condición de socialista pretende hacernos creer que sólo hay un bando el de los terroristas (ya lo expliqué en mi extensísima e ilegible crítica de “Columna de fuego” https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... que Follet está inspirado por las teorías socialistas filoprotestantes del galés Raymond Williams). Es interesante ver el paralelismo entre Robin y uno de los villanos de la historia Rollo Fitzgerald, que parece salido de panfletos anticatólicos como “La religiosa” o “El monje” de M.G. Lewis. También es interesante destacar a Marjorie con Maggie dándonos la sensación de que Ken Follet se propuso escribir un anti “Come rack come rope”. Que voy a decir, sino que ya basta de que sean anticatólicos y apostatas, y gente que odian a nuestro país los autores que llenen las estanterías de nuestras librerías y pienso en gente cuando digo esto como Karen Amrstrong (Premio Príncipe de Asturias), Cythia Nixey, Jill Patton Walsh, Hilary Mantel, porque como dice Rodney Stark ¿Quién es capaz de prestar oídos a gente tan parcial, y con una visión tan hostil de su antigua religión?. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Desde luego Robin muestra tanto heroísmo, o más que el delator y torturador personaje protagonista de “Columna de fuego” Ned Willard (más torturador que Severian https://www.goodreads.com/series/4147... . Ahora hay una literatura católica de gran calidad, que merece la atención de las editoriales españolas, y es esa la que hay que editar, y dejar ya de culpabilizar a las víctimas, y victimizar a los verdugos, puesto, que como dice con sabiduría Sigrid Undset “La Reforma no fue más que una rebelión de cristianos contra la Iglesia”.
Volviendo otra vez a “Come rack Come rope” lo mejor de las novelas de Robert Hugh Benson son sus personajes secundarios en este caso merecen un especial seguimiento del lector aparte de los sacerdotes los personajes de Basset, y de Bidell. Esta novela y en ello estamos de acuerdo mi amigo Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (continua en los comentarios).
In the year 2019 could have chosen the sleeve of the Bible of Siku, which, at the moment, despite being a Protestant version of the Bible converted into sleeve has been the book that has most liked https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... without However I have decided to opt for writing the critique of a novel written by one of my writers Favorites (discovered me the great Joseph Pearce. Writer which should be read by all readers, whether they are Catholic or non-Catholic https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... I am referring to Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/ 330845.Robert_Hugh_Benson to whom he dedicated his article "The unsung genius" , also I recommend people to become familiar with the figure of Robert Hugh Benson study that has made him Sergio Gómez Moyano https://www.goodreads.com/ author/show/7831783.Sergio_G_mez_Moyano
. Perhaps it is more difficult, but if you can read the biography of Shane Leslie on Robert Hugh Benson better
https://www.Goodreads.com/book/show/3... I do not know if this would be the biography that this Irish Catholic writer wrote about Robert Hugh Benson).
I must be honest had long been wanting to read historical novels of Robert Hugh Benson. In Spain the word publishing, Bibliotheca Homolegens, and RIALP (also the BAC, and Trèbes)
they had translated something Robert Hugh Benson, but they had not dared to translate "Come rack come rope" although the first director of Bibliotheca Homolegens Andrés Rojo promised, and had it in their catalog, but the change of director, and the crisis they prevented this editorial editing this book. So I thought Knights, that you could never read this book in Spanish, and that therefore it would be me without reading it, but I found this courtesy to the Publisher Word whom I thank for giving me this opportunity. When I saw the book in the library of the Pauline I was shouting excited in such a way that the shop thought I was crazy so I explained the reason for my reaction to them, and were delighted to hear it.
I can say of "Come Rack come rope" it is true that despite the five-star expecting much more than her, because Benson had me used to the best, and I can not deny that the book I liked a lot, but not as much as expected, for the reasons which I will explain later. However, we can say something good from "Come rack come rope" is a book that puts a note of light and clarifies a truth that the anti-Catholic official historiography has endeavored in hide, and denied over and over again. This book is required to read, to understand that consisted first lie of the English Reformation, that turned the State into a modern Leviathan, which robbed the freedom of his subjects, and It increased the differences in existing classes, and the second shows This novel denouncing the brutal repression suffered by Catholics
(in this case during the reign of Elisabeth I). Benson, who was always influenced by Shorthouse "John Inglesant" book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... and converted to Catholicism in 1903 gives voice in this novel to the martyrs of the Elizabethan persecution. It is true that the protagonists are two characters from fiction Robin Audrey and Marjorie Manners, but thanks to this pair of fiction we are witnessing a shamefully quiet and silenced page part of the history of England, which many want what you do not know. In Spain particularly left thinkers, and the sector filo-luterano, which occupies our universities with few exceptions of course. It is true that this novel has flaws including Benson speaking of classes, or that on the front page to look like more the behavior of the characters of Benson to the gentlemen of the Victorian era or Edwardian, than to the Elizabethan era. The action sequences are also really improved. However, Benson doesn't surprise with masterly passages such as for example the apostasy of the father of the protagonist, who is one of the more lurid passages I've read throughout my career as reader Audrey seems more a robot than a human being.
It is true that this novel has flaws including Benson speaking of classes, or that on the front page to look like more the behavior of the characters of Benson to the gentlemen of the Victorian era or Edwardian, than to the Elizabethan era. The action sequences are also really improved. However, Benson doesn't surprise with masterly passages such as for example the apostasy of the father of the protagonist, who is one of the more lurid passages I've read throughout my career as reader Audrey seems more a robot than a human being. See also for the same reason the betrayal of Thomas Fitzherbert locked up and tortured by cruel Topcliffe an ominous figure, who many apologists of reform do not want that you know, but it existed. Priests who are unlike other fiction novels are authentic and existed, perhaps being the most charismatic Edmund Campion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
one of the most beautiful passages of the novel is when Campion shows Marjorie and Babington the Elizabethan London, and his tete a tete with Topcliffe is admirable reminds me of when Calloway hangs in his office his enemy Harry Lime photo https://www.goodreads.com/book/ do show/48800.The_Third_Man? ac = 1 & from_search = true and which concludes showing Isabel Tudor and with a typical sign of the love that the English felt by their kings, since it concludes with what Belloc had called as the deification of the King, but that "Viva the" Queen"shows one thing love of English Catholics for their country, and their services to it. Part of that included sketches that traces Simpson Benson, Ludlam, and Garlick, who died in praise of Holiness, and the shadow of Southwall, appearing once quoted in the novel, as the intrepid Persons (surprisingly not appears the brain of the) English counter-espionage the fascinating William Allen).
However, Benson is an objective and rejects to Catholics, who use violence to achieve their goals as it is the case of Babington, which to rid the Catholics of their oppression plans an attack against Queen Elizabeth, to save María Estuardo. There are theories about the assassination I'm not going to position neither for or against them. With all Benson despite denouncing the errors of these extremes no doubt to praise the courage of the Ballard parent, or Fortesue, if someone wants to know, as she is desbarato the conspiracy of Ballard recommend "The dead man in Deptford" https:// www.goodreads.com/book/show/59796.A_D...
It is a novel about Marlowe written by Anthony Burgess. At least in contrast to Ken Follett, who by their condition of Socialist aims to make us believe that there is only one side of the terrorists (as what I explained in my unreadable and very extensive criticism of "Pillar of fire" https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...? (book_show_action = false & from_review_page = 1 that Follet is inspired by the Socialist theories of Raymond Williams Welsh filoprotestantes). It is interesting to see the parallel between Robin and one of the villains of history roll Fitzgerald, which looks like something out of pamphlets anti-Catholic as "Religious" or "Monk" M.G. Lewis. Also it is interesting to note to Marjorie with Maggie giving us the feeling of Ken Follett was proposed to write an anti "Come rack come rope". I'm going to say, but enough that are anti-Catholic and apostates, and people who hate our country the authors to fill the shelves of our libraries and I think of people when I say this like Karen Amrstrong (Prince Asturias prize), Cythia Nixey, Jill Patton Walsh, Hilary Mantel, because as says Rodney Stark who is able to heed to such partial people, and with a so hostile view of their former religion?. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... of course Robin shows both heroism, or more than the informer and torturer character of "Pillar of fire" Ned Willard (more torturer Severian to https://www.goodreads.com/series/4147...
There is now a Catholic literature of high quality, which deserves the attention of the Spanish publishers, and it is that that edit, and leave already blame the victims and executioners, victimizing since, as with wisdom says Sigrid Undset "reform wasn't ma s that a rebellion of Christians against the Church". Returning again to "Come rack Come rope" best novels of Robert Hugh Benson are its secondary characters in this case deserve a special monitoring of the reader apart from the priests of Basset and Bidell characters. This novel and in this we agree my friend Alfonseca
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... and I have a defect and is the scene of Robin with Mary Stuart here Benson draws its own conclusions and decide for a fictitious witness, which Mary Stuart is innocent of conspiracy of Babington (without denying the innocence of the Scottish Queen in Babinton conspiracy. In any case if there was a matter of survival, as Queen Isabel instigated by Lord Barleigh and Walsingham imprisoned it without any reason, when they could have it led to France, or Spain. Not to mention that Isabel payment upon the enemies of Mary Stuart so they removed from his throne it, and speaking of feminism would have tolerated the Queen and current feminist someone as John Knox that seemed to have an opinion so hostile to women were Queens?) We recommend this biography of Mary Stuart https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... (now that Hollywood makes a film in the making of this historical character)
With all those defects identified by Hilaire Belloc https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... , who preferred his friend Maurice Baring novel "Robert Peckham" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... with everything I translation of Word have not observed one of the criticisms of Beloc that Benson exaggerates the number of Protestants, if defects indicated at the beginning of my review. Yet the novel much better at the end, and torture are graphic, although not so brutal that portray Brian Moore in "Black Robe" https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... or Shusaku Endo https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... to highlight us underline the emotional end, and the beautiful Parliament of Robin that exemplifies the opinion of the majority of English Catholics because these men did not die with hatred, but forgiving, and for his faith Ad maiorem gloriam dei.
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Pido disculpas a mis seguidores, porque ya saben, que como español yo celebro el día de la Epifanía y ese día me guste regalarles a mis seguidores una crítica de un libro que haya leído por estas fechas.
En este año 2019 podría haber escogido el Manga de la Biblia de Siku, que de momento pese a ser una versión protestante de la Biblia convertida en Manga ha sido el libro que más me ha gustado https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... sin embargo he decidido optar por escribir la crítica de una novela escrita por uno de mis escritores favoritos (me lo descubrió el gran Joseph Pearce. Escritor que debería ser leído por todos los lectores ya sean católicos, o no católicos https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... me estoy refiriendo a Monseñor Robert Hugh Benson https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... a quien dedicó su artículo “The unsung genius” , también recomiendo a la gente que quiera familiarizarse con la figura de Robert Hugh Benson el estudio que ha hecho de él Sergio Gómez Moyano https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... . Quizás sea más difícil, pero si se puede leer la biografía de Shane Leslie sobre Robert Hugh Benson mejor https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3... aunque no sé si esta sería la biografía que este escritor católico irlandés escribió sobre Robert Hugh Benson).
Debo seros sinceros llevaba mucho tiempo deseando leer las novelas históricas de Robert Hugh Benson. En España la editorial Palabra, Bibliotheca Homolegens, y RIALP (también la BAC, y Trebes) habían traducido algo a Robert Hugh Benson, pero no se habían atrevido a traducir “Come rack come rope” aunque el primer director de Bibliotheca Homolegens Andrés Rojo lo había prometido, y lo tenía en su catálogo, pero el cambio de director, y la crisis impidieron a esta editorial editar este libro. Así que pensé caballeros, que jamás podría leer este libro en español, y que por tanto me quedaría sin leerlo, pero debo esta cortesía a la editorial Palabra a quien doy las gracias por brindarme esta oportunidad. Cuando vi el libro en la librería de las Paulinas me puse a gritar emocionado de tal manera, que las de la tienda pensaron que estaba loco así que les expliqué el motivo de mi reacción, y estuvieron encantadas de oírlo.
Que puedo decir de “Come Rack come rope” es verdad que a pesar de las cinco estrellas esperaba mucho más de ella, porque Benson me tenía acostumbrado a lo mejor, y no puedo negar que el libro me ha gustado muchísimo, pero no tanto como esperaba, por las razones, que explicaré más adelante. Sin embargo, cabe decir algo bueno de “Come rack come rope” es un libro que pone una nota de luz y esclarece una verdad que la historiografía oficial anticatólica se ha empeñado en ocultarnos, y en negar hasta la saciedad. Este libro es necesario leerlo, para comprender en que consistieron primero la mentira de la Reforma Inglesa, que convirtió al Estado en un moderno leviatán, que robaba la libertad de sus súbditos, y agiganto las diferencias de clases ya existentes, y lo segundo muestra esta novela de denuncia la brutal represión que sufrieron los católicos (en este caso durante el reinado de Isabel I). Benson que siempre estuvo influido por el libro de Shorthouse “John Inglesant” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... y se convirtió al catolicismo en 1903 da voz en esta novela a los mártires de la persecución isabelina. Es verdad que los protagonistas son dos personajes de ficción Robin Audrey, y Marjorie Manners, pero gracias a esta pareja de ficción asistimos a una página vergonzosamente callada, y silenciada parte de la historia de Inglaterra, que muchos quieren que no sepas. En España particularmente los pensadores de izquierdos, y el sector filo-luterano, que ocupa nuestras universidades con honrosas excepciones por supuesto.
Es verdad que esta novela tiene fallos entre ellos que Benson hable de clases, o que en las primeras páginas el comportamiento de los personajes de Benson se parezcan más al de los caballeros de la era Victoriana, o Eduardiana, que al de la época isabelina. También las secuencias de acción son francamente mejorables. Sin embargo, Benson no deja de sorprendernos con pasajes magistrales como por ejemplo la apostasía del padre del protagonista, que es uno de los pasajes más espeluznantes que he leído en toda mi trayectoria como lector Audrey parece más un autómata que un ser humano. Vemos también por el mismo motivo la traición de Thomas Fitzherbert encerrado y torturado por el cruel Topcliffe una figura ominosa, que muchos apologetas de la Reforma no quieren que tú conozcas, pero existió. Los sacerdotes, que aparecen a diferencia de otras novelas de ficción son auténticos y existieron, quizás siendo el más carismático Edmund Campion https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2... uno de los pasajes más bellos de la novela es cuando Campion muestra a Marjorie y a Babington el Londres isabelino, y su tete a tete con Topcliffe es admirable me recuerda a cuando Calloway cuelga en su oficina la foto de su enemigo Harry Lime https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... y que concluye mostrándonos a Isabel Tudor y con una muestra típica del amor que los ingleses sintieron por sus reyes, ya que concluye con lo que Belloc hubiera denominado como la divinización del Rey, pero ese “Viva la reina” muestra una cosa el amor de los católicos ingleses por su país, y sus servicios al mismo. A parte de eso cabe destacar los esbozos que traza Benson de Simpson, Ludlam, y Galick, que murieron en loor de santidad, y la sombra de Southwall, que una vez aparece citado en la novela, igual, que el intrépido Persons (sorprendentemente no aparece el cerebro del contraespionaje inglés el fascinante William Allen).
Sin embargo, Benson es objetivo y rechaza a los católicos, que utilizan la violencia para conseguir sus objetivos como es el caso de Babington, que para librar a los católicos de su opresión planea un atentado contra la reina Isabel, para salvar a María Estuardo. Hay teorías sobre el magnicidio yo no me voy a posicionar ni a favor ni en contra de las mismas. Con todo Benson a pesar de denunciar los errores de estos extremismos no duda en alabar el coraje del Padre Ballard, o Fortesue, si alguien desea conocer, como se desbarato la conspiración de Ballard les recomendamos “El hombre muerto en Deptford” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5... que es una novela sobre Marlowe escrita por Anthony Burgess. Por lo menos a diferencia de Ken Follet, que por su condición de socialista pretende hacernos creer que sólo hay un bando el de los terroristas (ya lo expliqué en mi extensísima e ilegible crítica de “Columna de fuego” https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... que Follet está inspirado por las teorías socialistas filoprotestantes del galés Raymond Williams). Es interesante ver el paralelismo entre Robin y uno de los villanos de la historia Rollo Fitzgerald, que parece salido de panfletos anticatólicos como “La religiosa” o “El monje” de M.G. Lewis. También es interesante destacar a Marjorie con Maggie dándonos la sensación de que Ken Follet se propuso escribir un anti “Come rack come rope”. Que voy a decir, sino que ya basta de que sean anticatólicos y apostatas, y gente que odian a nuestro país los autores que llenen las estanterías de nuestras librerías y pienso en gente cuando digo esto como Karen Amrstrong (Premio Príncipe de Asturias), Cythia Nixey, Jill Patton Walsh, Hilary Mantel, porque como dice Rodney Stark ¿Quién es capaz de prestar oídos a gente tan parcial, y con una visión tan hostil de su antigua religión?. https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
Desde luego Robin muestra tanto heroísmo, o más que el delator y torturador personaje protagonista de “Columna de fuego” Ned Willard (más torturador que Severian https://www.goodreads.com/series/4147... . Ahora hay una literatura católica de gran calidad, que merece la atención de las editoriales españolas, y es esa la que hay que editar, y dejar ya de culpabilizar a las víctimas, y victimizar a los verdugos, puesto, que como dice con sabiduría Sigrid Undset “La Reforma no fue más que una rebelión de cristianos contra la Iglesia”.
Volviendo otra vez a “Come rack Come rope” lo mejor de las novelas de Robert Hugh Benson son sus personajes secundarios en este caso merecen un especial seguimiento del lector aparte de los sacerdotes los personajes de Basset, y de Bidell. Esta novela y en ello estamos de acuerdo mi amigo Alfonseca https://www.goodreads.com/author/show... (continua en los comentarios).
October 5, 2022
From wikipedia:
The book was written nearly nine years after Benson's reception into the Catholic Church. The inspiration for the story comes from Dom Bede Camm's account of the recusant Fitzherbert family in Forgotten Shrines (1910), and from Benson's own visit in 1911 to Padley, home of the Fitzherberts, and scene of part of the novel, to preach at the annual pilgrimage there. The title of the book is taken from a letter of Saint Edmund Campion in which, after torture, he assured Catholics that he had revealed "no things of secret, nor would he, come rack, come rope." Most of the characters in the book are historical people; only the hero and heroine, their parents, and some minor characters are fictional.
It is perhaps the best known of Benson's novels, and has been reprinted several times.
For a Catholic, it is a must read. It so eloquently describes the effects of the Protestant Reformation.
Its characters evoke sympathy for some, mistrust for others. One of its strongest characters (to me) is a woman: Marjorie. Robin is a complex and sympathetic character as well.
4 stars
The book was written nearly nine years after Benson's reception into the Catholic Church. The inspiration for the story comes from Dom Bede Camm's account of the recusant Fitzherbert family in Forgotten Shrines (1910), and from Benson's own visit in 1911 to Padley, home of the Fitzherberts, and scene of part of the novel, to preach at the annual pilgrimage there. The title of the book is taken from a letter of Saint Edmund Campion in which, after torture, he assured Catholics that he had revealed "no things of secret, nor would he, come rack, come rope." Most of the characters in the book are historical people; only the hero and heroine, their parents, and some minor characters are fictional.
It is perhaps the best known of Benson's novels, and has been reprinted several times.
For a Catholic, it is a must read. It so eloquently describes the effects of the Protestant Reformation.
Its characters evoke sympathy for some, mistrust for others. One of its strongest characters (to me) is a woman: Marjorie. Robin is a complex and sympathetic character as well.
4 stars
December 3, 2018
Buddy read with Diana and Kelly.
Argh I hate writing reviews a month after I finish the book...
But seriously, this book was amazing. The writing was a bit clunky and it took its time getting on with the story but boy, are you awarded for it in the end!
Such an inspirational, amazing, true-event, story every Catholic should read!
Argh I hate writing reviews a month after I finish the book...
But seriously, this book was amazing. The writing was a bit clunky and it took its time getting on with the story but boy, are you awarded for it in the end!
Such an inspirational, amazing, true-event, story every Catholic should read!
April 12, 2018
ENGLISH: I liked this historical novel about the persecution against the Catholics in the days of Elizabeth I of England even more than the dystopian novel by the same author, "Lord of the World." The author has almost followed my three golden rules for historical novels: the main characters should be fictitious, the real characters should be secondary, and the latter should do practically the same things that they did in reality.
The novel only transgresses the third rule in a moment, and this is the only point I have against it. The complicity -or not- of Mary Stuart in the Babbington plot is a matter on which historians are not agreed. There are two parties: some maintain that Mary was innocent of complicity, others that she was personally involved. Benson takes sides with the first solution, and adduces in its favor an argument integrated with the fictional section of his novel.
Apart from this detail, the novel is very well written, with considerable dramatic force (especially in the last chapter), and his description of the executions is almost unbearable for today's people. Compared to the brutalities made in Elizabethan England, the executions of the Inquisition seem almost moderate.
ESPAÑOL: Esta novela histórica sobre la persecución contra los católicos en tiempos de Isabel I de Inglaterra me ha gustado incluso más que la novela distópica del mismo autor, "Lord of the World". El autor ha seguido casi a rajatabla mis tres reglas de oro para la novela histórica: que los personajes principales sean ficticios, los personajes reales sean secundarios, y estos últimos hagan prácticamente lo mismo que hicieron en la realidad.
La novela sólo transgrede la tercera regla en un momento, y este es el único punto que tengo que reprocharle. La complicidad -o no- de María Estuardo en el complot de Babbington es una cuestión sobre la cual los historiadores no se han puesto de acuerdo. Hay dos partidos: uno que sostiene que María fue inocente de toda complicidad, y otro que afirma que sí se vio involucrada personalmente. Benson toma partido por la primera solución, y aduce en su favor un argumento integrado en la parte ficticia de su novela.
Aparte de ese detalle, la novela está muy bien escrita, con una fuerza dramática considerable (sobre todo en el último capítulo), y su descripción de los ajusticiamientos es casi insoportable para el hombre de hoy. Comparadas con las barbaridades que se hacían en la Inglaterra isabelina, las ejecuciones de la Inquisición parecen casi moderadas.
The novel only transgresses the third rule in a moment, and this is the only point I have against it. The complicity -or not- of Mary Stuart in the Babbington plot is a matter on which historians are not agreed. There are two parties: some maintain that Mary was innocent of complicity, others that she was personally involved. Benson takes sides with the first solution, and adduces in its favor an argument integrated with the fictional section of his novel.
Apart from this detail, the novel is very well written, with considerable dramatic force (especially in the last chapter), and his description of the executions is almost unbearable for today's people. Compared to the brutalities made in Elizabethan England, the executions of the Inquisition seem almost moderate.
ESPAÑOL: Esta novela histórica sobre la persecución contra los católicos en tiempos de Isabel I de Inglaterra me ha gustado incluso más que la novela distópica del mismo autor, "Lord of the World". El autor ha seguido casi a rajatabla mis tres reglas de oro para la novela histórica: que los personajes principales sean ficticios, los personajes reales sean secundarios, y estos últimos hagan prácticamente lo mismo que hicieron en la realidad.
La novela sólo transgrede la tercera regla en un momento, y este es el único punto que tengo que reprocharle. La complicidad -o no- de María Estuardo en el complot de Babbington es una cuestión sobre la cual los historiadores no se han puesto de acuerdo. Hay dos partidos: uno que sostiene que María fue inocente de toda complicidad, y otro que afirma que sí se vio involucrada personalmente. Benson toma partido por la primera solución, y aduce en su favor un argumento integrado en la parte ficticia de su novela.
Aparte de ese detalle, la novela está muy bien escrita, con una fuerza dramática considerable (sobre todo en el último capítulo), y su descripción de los ajusticiamientos es casi insoportable para el hombre de hoy. Comparadas con las barbaridades que se hacían en la Inglaterra isabelina, las ejecuciones de la Inquisición parecen casi moderadas.
January 29, 2013
A painful reminder of the current soullessness of the world. Not even in a religious sense, although that is the most obvious parallel but publicly and privately the world today is a pale faded remnant when compared to the days when faith was a reason to die and something to die for. The hysterical shrieking and self righteous claims of modern Christians that they are being "persecuted" seems even more of an insult after thinking too deeply about people who had to pay for the privilege of worshipping their own way or not at all. Luckily Fr. Benson did not live to see how far the pillars of his faith have fallen. I would love to see a movie made of this book, but it would have no audience.
June 10, 2024
this work so deeply strengthened my love for the priesthood!!
April 30, 2022
Come Rack! Come Rope! is one of the greatest works of Catholic fiction that I have ever read, and is now one of my favorite books of all time! I could not put this book down. It made me laugh and it made me cry. The plot was both terrifying and beautiful, the historical setting of Elizabethan England was fascinating, and the hero and heroine, Robin and Marjorie, are two inspiring characters that I shall never forget.
It is at once a love story, an adventure tale, and a story of redemption and heroic sacrifice. It gives a glimpse into what it was like to be a Catholic during the “reign of terror,” and the lives of those courageous and holy Priests, who risked imprisonment, torture, and death to bring the Sacraments and the Mass to the faithful Catholics of England.
There are no words to fully describe how much I love this book! Not only was it just a wonderful story, but reading it made me want to be a better person, to grow closer to God, and to follow His holy will always.
According to Wikipedia, I found that the title of the book is taken from a letter of St. Edmund Campion in which, after torture, he assured Catholics that he had revealed “no things of secret, nor would he, come rack come rope.”
St. Edmund Campion makes a delightful appearance partway through the book.
“A broken heart and God’s will done would be better than that God’s will should be avoided and her own satisfied.”
Highly recommended! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Joseph Pearce wrote a great article about this book. Come Rack! Come Rope! is on his list of 100 books every Catholic should know.
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/r...
It is at once a love story, an adventure tale, and a story of redemption and heroic sacrifice. It gives a glimpse into what it was like to be a Catholic during the “reign of terror,” and the lives of those courageous and holy Priests, who risked imprisonment, torture, and death to bring the Sacraments and the Mass to the faithful Catholics of England.
There are no words to fully describe how much I love this book! Not only was it just a wonderful story, but reading it made me want to be a better person, to grow closer to God, and to follow His holy will always.
According to Wikipedia, I found that the title of the book is taken from a letter of St. Edmund Campion in which, after torture, he assured Catholics that he had revealed “no things of secret, nor would he, come rack come rope.”
St. Edmund Campion makes a delightful appearance partway through the book.
“A broken heart and God’s will done would be better than that God’s will should be avoided and her own satisfied.”
Highly recommended! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Joseph Pearce wrote a great article about this book. Come Rack! Come Rope! is on his list of 100 books every Catholic should know.
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2013/r...
December 4, 2013
Two things made this tale of Catholic persecution under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I stand out to me. First was the creeping nature of it, from people all turning a more-or-less blind eye to their Catholic neighbors bringing in priests to celebrate Mass which steadily progressed to active persecution, torture, and martyrdom. Second was the author's skillful accounting of a priest's torture from his own point of view. He didn't sugar coat it but I felt that his representation of the priest's muddled state of mind was fairly accurate. Muddled in the sense that he couldn't think straight or actually properly register much of the pain, that is. It gave me hope that should I ever be in a similar state, God forfend, I'd be lent the grace and fortitude to get through it.
A third thing (ok, amongst the many things) that stood out was how realistically life in that time was portrayed. Meals, various customs, what it was like to ride in the countryside, and all the little things of daily life stood out in a way that gave me insight to simply living in that age.
The three stars are because I felt the story bogged down greatly in the middle and I wound up skimming a lot of that part of the story. However, overall I definitely recommend the book because it may not strike another reader as bogging down.
A third thing (ok, amongst the many things) that stood out was how realistically life in that time was portrayed. Meals, various customs, what it was like to ride in the countryside, and all the little things of daily life stood out in a way that gave me insight to simply living in that age.
The three stars are because I felt the story bogged down greatly in the middle and I wound up skimming a lot of that part of the story. However, overall I definitely recommend the book because it may not strike another reader as bogging down.
December 30, 2014
This is a historical novel that takes place during the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics. The two protagonists are Robin and Margaret. As the book begins, they are sweethearts, but Margaret increasingly comes to believe Robin is called to the priesthood -- a destiny he comes to accept. From that point their love is transformed into a deeper, more spiritual love, like that of Saints Francis and Clare. Robin goes abroad to become a priest and returns as a covert outlaw to minister the sacraments to the recusant Catholics in his homeland. Margaret becomes the hostess of a safe-house and covert chapel from which priests may come and go in safety.
As a convert from an Anti-Catholic version of Christianity, I grew up hearing about the persecutions of "Bloody Mary" as described by Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Mary Queen of Scots as a scheming, vain, traitor, and the Reformers as heroes. Novels like this one, which are full of historical accuracy AND Catholic piety, are a wonderful corrective for the gaps and errors in my knowledge. But the non-Catholic who simply enjoys a story full of spies, human frailty and courage, and an intricate plot will find this an enjoyable experience.
There are certain passages in this book that are extremely painful and difficult to read, but integral to the story. Benson, in a preface, acknowledges this, but points out that it is in fact an accurate description of Catholic experience at the time.
This is the centennial year of the publication of this book, published on the feast of Thomas More (which is when I am writing this review). Pick up this book and give it a try; it's perfect for the season. As American Catholics begin to speak of martyrdom, it's good to remind ourselves what true martyrdom is -- and it is not just a few snide words in the break room.
As a convert from an Anti-Catholic version of Christianity, I grew up hearing about the persecutions of "Bloody Mary" as described by Foxe's Book of Martyrs, Mary Queen of Scots as a scheming, vain, traitor, and the Reformers as heroes. Novels like this one, which are full of historical accuracy AND Catholic piety, are a wonderful corrective for the gaps and errors in my knowledge. But the non-Catholic who simply enjoys a story full of spies, human frailty and courage, and an intricate plot will find this an enjoyable experience.
There are certain passages in this book that are extremely painful and difficult to read, but integral to the story. Benson, in a preface, acknowledges this, but points out that it is in fact an accurate description of Catholic experience at the time.
This is the centennial year of the publication of this book, published on the feast of Thomas More (which is when I am writing this review). Pick up this book and give it a try; it's perfect for the season. As American Catholics begin to speak of martyrdom, it's good to remind ourselves what true martyrdom is -- and it is not just a few snide words in the break room.
January 26, 2016
I was not disappointed in Robert Hugh Benson's most well-known story. In the beginning, I was worried that it would simply be a repeat of By What Authority?, but as I progressed I could see the difference more and more. By What Authority? is much more colorful, and to my mind, more emotional. By What Authority? made me cry. Come Rack, Come Rope! just hurt. But it is so, so beautiful. The way things are twined together in a sort of fate has always interested me, and I've seen it many times in my own life. I've often thought I was making it up, but to know that such an eminent priest as Robert Hugh Benson though the same is very encouraging. Some may say that Marjorie's relations to Mr. Audrey are too contrived; I say that they are frighteningly true to life. As always, the storyteller touches on things close and real, things we struggle with today.
October 10, 2022
This a very good novel. Four and a half stars to be precise but I rounded down. Why round down? It didn’t reach the sense of a classic for me. I had the same Four and a half rating for Benson’s great novel, Lord of the World, but with that I rounded up. I would say Lord of the World is an unheralded classic. I think the difference is that Come Rack! Come Rope! is a historical novel, and so is fixed to historical events while Lord of the World was an imaginative creation and so requires a bit more artifice. But if you love historical novels Come Rack! Come Rope! is definitely for you.
Benson puts you right into the Catholic subculture of Elizabethan England and using an actual historical event: the Babington Plot to kill Queen Elizabeth and install the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots. Benson develops a suspenseful tale of Catholic characters unconnected to the plot striving to exercise their faith but yet caught in the tragedy of their times.
The novel is set in the 1580’s in the English Midlands, the heart of the Catholic resistance to the Protestant wave. Though he is not mentioned in the novel, the period and region overlaps with William Shakespeare’s life and hometown, which was also part of the English Midlands, though Stratford-Upon-Avon is a little further south than the Derbyshire of the novel. Still it gives support to the theory that Shakespeare was a recusant Catholic. The region was populated with Catholics.
The novel centers on two fictional characters, Robin Audrey and Marjorie Manners. The two intend to marry but events compel Robin to become a priest so that the recusant Catholics can secretly celebrate Mass and receive the sacraments. In and about their lives is Anthony Babington, the real life person who plotted the assassination of Queen Elizabeth. The novel mixes fictionalized characters and real life characters seamlessly.
One thing you will not regret is reading Robert Hugh Benson’s prose. He is such a wonderful stylist. Let me provide an example. Here is a scene where Robin, the central character of the novel and now secretly a Catholic priest, stands in front of the castle where Mary, Queen of Scots is held prisoner and expected to be executed.
The dark steel of the sky foreshadows the blade that will behead the queen with the “gashes of pale light” suggesting the bloody nape of the severed head. Benson puts the reader right into the spectacle, full of medieval horns and rustic peasantry. Here is the climax of the scene later in the chapter.
The blare of music, the intervals of quiet hush and roar of the crowd, and the dramatic display of the Queen’s head, not even distinct, makes for such a dramatic scene.
His prose is exquisite, but I also find Benson to be masterly at plotting and pacing, masterly at descriptions, masterly at heightening suspense, and masterly at bringing abstract ideas into conflict in a narrative. His one limitation as a novelist I think is character psychological depth. His characters can be flat at times. But don’t get me wrong; I still think this is a fine novel.
Finally, the subject matter is heartbreaking. Family members in opposition with each other, even father against son. Courtship is aborted with lovers separated. Hopes are raised, but then shattered. Traditions are uprooted. An old way of life is persecuted and supplanted. Those who want to hold on to their deeply held beliefs and stay true to their conscience are tortured and killed. Say what you will about the Protestant Reformation, the human results were tragic. Benson captures this all.
Benson puts you right into the Catholic subculture of Elizabethan England and using an actual historical event: the Babington Plot to kill Queen Elizabeth and install the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots. Benson develops a suspenseful tale of Catholic characters unconnected to the plot striving to exercise their faith but yet caught in the tragedy of their times.
The novel is set in the 1580’s in the English Midlands, the heart of the Catholic resistance to the Protestant wave. Though he is not mentioned in the novel, the period and region overlaps with William Shakespeare’s life and hometown, which was also part of the English Midlands, though Stratford-Upon-Avon is a little further south than the Derbyshire of the novel. Still it gives support to the theory that Shakespeare was a recusant Catholic. The region was populated with Catholics.
The novel centers on two fictional characters, Robin Audrey and Marjorie Manners. The two intend to marry but events compel Robin to become a priest so that the recusant Catholics can secretly celebrate Mass and receive the sacraments. In and about their lives is Anthony Babington, the real life person who plotted the assassination of Queen Elizabeth. The novel mixes fictionalized characters and real life characters seamlessly.
One thing you will not regret is reading Robert Hugh Benson’s prose. He is such a wonderful stylist. Let me provide an example. Here is a scene where Robin, the central character of the novel and now secretly a Catholic priest, stands in front of the castle where Mary, Queen of Scots is held prisoner and expected to be executed.
Overhead lay the heavy sky of night-clouds like a curved sheet of dark steel, glimmering far away to the left with gashes of pale light. In front towered the twin gateway, seeming in the gloom to lean forward to its fall. Lights shone here and there in the windows, vanished and appeared again, flashing themselves back from the invisible water beneath. About, behind and on either side, there swayed and murmured this huge crowd—invisible in the darkness—peasants, gentlemen, clerks, grooms—all on an equality at last, awed by a common tragedy into silence, except for words exchanged here and there in an undertone, or whispered and left unanswered, or sudden murmured prayers to a God who hid Himself indeed. Now and again, from beyond the veiling walls came the tramp of men; once, three or four brisk notes blown on a horn; once, the sudden rumble of a drum; and once, when the silence grew profound, three or four blows of iron on wood. But at that the murmur rose into a groan and drowned it again….
The dark steel of the sky foreshadows the blade that will behead the queen with the “gashes of pale light” suggesting the bloody nape of the severed head. Benson puts the reader right into the spectacle, full of medieval horns and rustic peasantry. Here is the climax of the scene later in the chapter.
Then suddenly the heads grew still; a wave of motionlessness passed over them, as if some strange sympathy were communicated from within those tall windows. The moments passed and passed. It was impossible to hear those murmurs, through the blare of the instruments; there was one sound only that could penetrate them; and this, rising from what seemed at first the wailing of a child, grew and grew into the shrill cries of a dog in agony. At the noise once more a roar of low questioning surged up and fell. Simultaneously the music came to an abrupt close; and, as if at a signal, there sounded a great roar of voices, all shouting together within the hall. It rose yet louder, broke out of doors, and was taken up by those outside. The court was now one sea of tossing heads and open mouths shouting—as if in exultation or in anger. Robin fought for his place on the projecting stones, clung to the rough wall, gripped a window-bar and drew himself yet higher.
Then, as he clenched himself tight and stared out again towards the tall windows that shone in bloody flakes of fire from the roaring logs within; a sudden and profound silence fell once more before being shattered again by a thousand roaring throats….
For there, in full view beyond the clear glass stood a tall, black figure, masked to the mouth, who held in his out-stretched hands a wide silver dish, in which lay something white and round and slashed with crimson….
The blare of music, the intervals of quiet hush and roar of the crowd, and the dramatic display of the Queen’s head, not even distinct, makes for such a dramatic scene.
His prose is exquisite, but I also find Benson to be masterly at plotting and pacing, masterly at descriptions, masterly at heightening suspense, and masterly at bringing abstract ideas into conflict in a narrative. His one limitation as a novelist I think is character psychological depth. His characters can be flat at times. But don’t get me wrong; I still think this is a fine novel.
Finally, the subject matter is heartbreaking. Family members in opposition with each other, even father against son. Courtship is aborted with lovers separated. Hopes are raised, but then shattered. Traditions are uprooted. An old way of life is persecuted and supplanted. Those who want to hold on to their deeply held beliefs and stay true to their conscience are tortured and killed. Say what you will about the Protestant Reformation, the human results were tragic. Benson captures this all.
April 3, 2016
Fascinating historical fiction. England in the late 1500s after the reformation. Queen Elizabeth made criminal the Catholic Mass and Catholic priests. This story involves a young man who was raised Catholic. But his father became Anglican because of the heavy fines imposed on Catholics. The son leaves England to be ordained a Catholic priest. The battle between father and son was intense. A story of persecution and bravery in its face. Also a story about selfless love and redemption.
The best character by far is Marjorie, a young woman who becomes one of the most important Catholics in the land.
And I must note that the author, a priest who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism, does not use this book to attack Anglicans. Elizabeth and her bureaucrats are the bad guys.
The best character by far is Marjorie, a young woman who becomes one of the most important Catholics in the land.
And I must note that the author, a priest who converted from Anglicanism to Catholicism, does not use this book to attack Anglicans. Elizabeth and her bureaucrats are the bad guys.
February 19, 2022
Novela muy interesante sobre la persecución a los católicos durante el reinado de la reina Isabel I (la de los peinados horribles en las películas).
Además de contar, aún de forma novelada, la realidad que sufrieron los católicos, el libro tiene pulso narrativo y la trama engancha. Está claro que R.H. Benson sabía escribir bien.
Esta novela es una de las varias que Benson escribió para dar a conocer la persecución de los protestantes sobre los católicos en Inglaterra, así que habrá que leer las otras.
Libro muy recomendable, que se lee muy bien y es muy entretenido.
Además de contar, aún de forma novelada, la realidad que sufrieron los católicos, el libro tiene pulso narrativo y la trama engancha. Está claro que R.H. Benson sabía escribir bien.
Esta novela es una de las varias que Benson escribió para dar a conocer la persecución de los protestantes sobre los católicos en Inglaterra, así que habrá que leer las otras.
Libro muy recomendable, que se lee muy bien y es muy entretenido.
August 5, 2021
Some great points in this story about Catholics under persecution during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It captures the essence of the persecution, the dishonesty of the government, the economic pressure to conform. The conclusion of the novel is a tour-de-force. It does a reasonable job of pulling you along, but the characterisation is nothing special, and we don't see as much of the day-to-day existence of Catholics at the time as I'd have liked.
July 16, 2021
This 1912 novel of the persecution of Catholics in Elizabethan England was surprisingly engaging and intense. Benson does not shy away from the sheer horrors that priests went through when on the run from the authorities. I only pray that I don’t need to face anything like this in my own life and if I do, I stand for the truth.
January 1, 2025
While it could’ve been 200 pages shorter, it’s still an enjoyable read by the time it picks up in the latter half. Lots of real history interwoven with the main story. Always a bonus to feel like you’re learning something! 3.8/5
June 21, 2024
A very inspirational read. The fight to continue to live out Catholicism in 1500s England under Queen Elizabeth’s repression is a story that brings out both the good and bad of Catholics at the time.
The two main characters, Robin and Marjorie, are true examples of pushing others to virtue and acknowledging virtue and heroism in another. They also in the course of the book exemplify saintly behavior by repeatedly choosing the mission of the church and Christ over their own desires.
Highly recommend reading this one!
The two main characters, Robin and Marjorie, are true examples of pushing others to virtue and acknowledging virtue and heroism in another. They also in the course of the book exemplify saintly behavior by repeatedly choosing the mission of the church and Christ over their own desires.
Highly recommend reading this one!
September 25, 2015
Young Robin Audrey becomes an enemy of the State when his father forces him to choose between Caesar and Christ. The Audreys are, or were, recusant Catholics; that is, Catholics who refuse to convert to the increasingly Protestantized Church of England. For years a gentle truce held in Derbyshire: its squire, Robin's father, absented himself from church but paid fees for doing so. Thirty years into Elizabeth's reign, however, times are changing. her reign imperiled by rumors of palace revolt and am impending invasion from Spain, the Virgin Queen wages war against her own people to maintain distance from Rome, going so far as to hunt down and execute any priest of the Catholic church. Fees and fears piling up, Old Audrey finally surrenders: but his son cannot. Raised in the ancestral faith of Europe, he cannot abandon it for mere convenience' sake. Seeking moral support and advice from his secret fiance, Marjorie Manners, he realizes a call to the priesthood. Retreating to France to take on holy orders, he thus becomes a hunted foe of the crown - and so begins a tragic romance and a stirring tale of resistance against religious persecution.
Our heroes here are of course Robin and Majorie, who sacrifice their own happiness out of devotion to higher deals. A Catholic priest, of course, cannot marry, and even if they could there would be little domestic bliss to be found when one party is constantly in hiding and the other constantly doing the hiding. Both resist the Crown's intrusion into matters of conscience in their own way; Robin, by traveling and ministering to the hidden faithful, and Marjorie by helping hide other priests who are engaged in the same business. In an ideal world, perhaps the Queen would have let her Catholic subjects be, but the English Reformation was far from ideal. Not only has the Pope issued a bull absolving Catholics from fealty to Elizabeth, thus casting a treasonous light upon them in her eyes, but there are serious threats of assassination to contend with. Who but Catholics would want to drive the Protestant prince of England out, and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots? And who but Catholics would welcome an invasion of England by Catholic Spain? Robin and Mary are not violent insurrectionists, and certainly no sympathizers to any Spanish invasion -- indeed, they urge their countrymen against rash actions. But war would not be the horror that it is if it did not consume the lives of innocents, and so it is that virtually every character introduced after the opening chapter will be executed at the hands of the State.
But where sin abounds, there grace does much more abound -- and there is grace to be found here. Robin lives a life of grace, risking torture and death so that he might offer comfort to the hounded - - even listening to the confession of Mary, the imprisoned Queen of Scots. Some of the tragic beauty here comes from the relationship between Marjorie and Robin; even though they cannot marry, love still unites them. It is not an erotic love, but they are very much partners in the same great enterprise. Another of the tale's wrenching aspects is the relationship between Robin and his father, who have become enemies: in the last hour, it is the father's unwitting signature on the warrant which damns him -- and yet there is absolution. The finish is heartrending, but fitting.
Our heroes here are of course Robin and Majorie, who sacrifice their own happiness out of devotion to higher deals. A Catholic priest, of course, cannot marry, and even if they could there would be little domestic bliss to be found when one party is constantly in hiding and the other constantly doing the hiding. Both resist the Crown's intrusion into matters of conscience in their own way; Robin, by traveling and ministering to the hidden faithful, and Marjorie by helping hide other priests who are engaged in the same business. In an ideal world, perhaps the Queen would have let her Catholic subjects be, but the English Reformation was far from ideal. Not only has the Pope issued a bull absolving Catholics from fealty to Elizabeth, thus casting a treasonous light upon them in her eyes, but there are serious threats of assassination to contend with. Who but Catholics would want to drive the Protestant prince of England out, and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots? And who but Catholics would welcome an invasion of England by Catholic Spain? Robin and Mary are not violent insurrectionists, and certainly no sympathizers to any Spanish invasion -- indeed, they urge their countrymen against rash actions. But war would not be the horror that it is if it did not consume the lives of innocents, and so it is that virtually every character introduced after the opening chapter will be executed at the hands of the State.
But where sin abounds, there grace does much more abound -- and there is grace to be found here. Robin lives a life of grace, risking torture and death so that he might offer comfort to the hounded - - even listening to the confession of Mary, the imprisoned Queen of Scots. Some of the tragic beauty here comes from the relationship between Marjorie and Robin; even though they cannot marry, love still unites them. It is not an erotic love, but they are very much partners in the same great enterprise. Another of the tale's wrenching aspects is the relationship between Robin and his father, who have become enemies: in the last hour, it is the father's unwitting signature on the warrant which damns him -- and yet there is absolution. The finish is heartrending, but fitting.
March 25, 2015
I just finished listening to this book on librivox. Much of what I'm feeling right now is righteous anger. It's not an easy read. We were warned that the Faith would turn families against each other. That was certainly evident in Elizabethan England. The recusancy laws for being Catholic forced many to give up their faith and turn on their own families and neighbors. There were many who were steadfast but lived their faith in secret, fearful of horrendous punishment if caught. Priests traveled incognito, fearful of spies, hiding in secret rooms in 'safe houses.' If caught, the penalty was torture by the rack, hanging but cut down before dying, then disemboweling, castrating, beheading, quartering, etc. My heart cries for these men who were so steadfast.
While this is a novel, some real people are in the story. We have Queen Mary, Edmund Campion, and Elizabeth's chief torturer Richard Topcliffe. Between 1581 and 1588 sixty-four priests were executed in England, so this is pretty much based on truth.
Robert Hugh Benson was a superb writer. This book has the suspense of a modern mystery, but is poetic in its descriptions of the time and the English countryside. I recommend it to everyone. In fact, I think it should be mandatory reading, no matter what faith one is. How can religion become so twisted that humanity can forget compassion? History seems to repeat itself. We need to be alert.
While this is a novel, some real people are in the story. We have Queen Mary, Edmund Campion, and Elizabeth's chief torturer Richard Topcliffe. Between 1581 and 1588 sixty-four priests were executed in England, so this is pretty much based on truth.
Robert Hugh Benson was a superb writer. This book has the suspense of a modern mystery, but is poetic in its descriptions of the time and the English countryside. I recommend it to everyone. In fact, I think it should be mandatory reading, no matter what faith one is. How can religion become so twisted that humanity can forget compassion? History seems to repeat itself. We need to be alert.
July 20, 2016
“There should be no sight more happy than a young man riding to meet his love” says Benson of young Robin Audrey as he travels to meet his beloved Marjorie Manners. Yet, Robin is troubled. He has some heartbreaking news to impart about his father. And more sadness is to follow. Despite their great love for one another, both Marjorie and Robin come to realise that Robin belongs to another … he is to become a priest. This is a heroic decision on both their parts and even more so because this is no time to become a Catholic priest and expect to live long. Queen Elizabeth is ruthlessly purging England of Catholics by racking and hanging them. Nevertheless, Robin answers the call to the priesthood and Marjorie goes on to play her own part in heroically preserving the deposit of the Catholic faith in England regardless of the personal cost to themselves.
This is a story of love - not of sentimental romanticism, but of true heroic love. Both Robin and Marjorie are asked to make unthinkable sacrifices for the sake of love and both fully embrace the challenge. It is also an exposition of the terrible sufferings of Catholics during the Reformation to which all modern Catholics owe a debt of gratitude. Be brave. Read this book. It’s amazing!
If you want an updated dystopian version of the Reformation, read I Am Margaret trilogy by Corinna Turner.
This is a story of love - not of sentimental romanticism, but of true heroic love. Both Robin and Marjorie are asked to make unthinkable sacrifices for the sake of love and both fully embrace the challenge. It is also an exposition of the terrible sufferings of Catholics during the Reformation to which all modern Catholics owe a debt of gratitude. Be brave. Read this book. It’s amazing!
If you want an updated dystopian version of the Reformation, read I Am Margaret trilogy by Corinna Turner.
April 9, 2020
So if you're like me and you get giddy when you hear about the English martyrs, this is the book for you (note, I Am Margaret is NOT the book for you).
The weaknesses would be that it dragged a bit in the middle, and the great span of time that it covers during that section can make it a bit harder to follow.
However, the beginning romance and conflict is excellent and once the full conflict in the end comes into view it moves at a breakneck pace toward the conclusion. I was hard-pressed to put it down after about the 45% mark.
The weaknesses would be that it dragged a bit in the middle, and the great span of time that it covers during that section can make it a bit harder to follow.
However, the beginning romance and conflict is excellent and once the full conflict in the end comes into view it moves at a breakneck pace toward the conclusion. I was hard-pressed to put it down after about the 45% mark.
April 26, 2020
I have always had a special love for and devotion to the English martyrs and this book brought to life the struggles, joys, and sacrifice of Catholics living in the later rule of Elizabeth. The two main characters, Robin Audrey and Marjorie Manners, are seventeen years old, secretly engaged, and secretly Catholic. Living under the rule of Queen Elizabeth I, this story opens the lives of Catholics who have to hear Mass in secret and are forced to pay recuscant fines for refusing to attend the Anglican service. Their lives are changed when Robin’s father announces that he is going to receive communion at the Anglican church on Easter. Robin’s choice to embrace his Catholic faith despite this impacts his life and the lives of many others. In its simplicity this book explores faith, loyalty, martyrdom, transition into adulthood, and mercy.
January 26, 2019
I live this book! Although it is a fictional story about Elizabethan persecution, it is still phenomenal! Monsignor Benson is an amazing writer, and an even better storyteller! You will fall in love with the main characters, and you will find even his lesser characters interesting! Hus scene of the tortures of the Tower of London is iconic, and possibly one of the best descriptions of medieval torture I have ever seen. This novel shows the hardships of the Catholics of the day, their struggles, pain, and choices. It shows the heroes and villains of the Elizabethan persecution, and is an inspiring read. I one hundred percent reccomend it!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 13, 2017
Intimate Look at the Suffering of English Catholics
Not many novels are written about the persecution of English Catholics under Queen Elizabeth. This was done very well. The writing delves into the thoughts and emotions of these suffering Catholics as well as the dangers priests underwent to administer the sacraments and lay persons to receive them. The last chapters of the book are very touching.
Sometimes, the book's plot seems to meander or drag, and that is the book's main downside.
Not many novels are written about the persecution of English Catholics under Queen Elizabeth. This was done very well. The writing delves into the thoughts and emotions of these suffering Catholics as well as the dangers priests underwent to administer the sacraments and lay persons to receive them. The last chapters of the book are very touching.
Sometimes, the book's plot seems to meander or drag, and that is the book's main downside.
February 11, 2024
An impressive account of the heroic acts many did in the time of Elizabethan persecution, in England.
The relation of the two main characters, and others, inspire thinking about how works the communion of the saints, in ways we never suspect, but always are insuperable, as beatiful as is the art of God writing History.
The last chapter is really moving. As I can see, very arquitechtonic, beacause God always rewards his soldiers taking care of those who love them, even imperfectly.
The relation of the two main characters, and others, inspire thinking about how works the communion of the saints, in ways we never suspect, but always are insuperable, as beatiful as is the art of God writing History.
The last chapter is really moving. As I can see, very arquitechtonic, beacause God always rewards his soldiers taking care of those who love them, even imperfectly.
April 19, 2008
An excellent and heroic story of a young priest's rise to glory in Protestant England. I found this book very enjoyable (yes, I know I took forever to read it) and much better than Benson's other books, such as "The Kings Achievment" and By "What Authority?" which I found to be long and somewhat boring.
April 24, 2023
How can I begin to review such a masterpiece? This book had everything one could want in a book. Romance, drama, and suspense, twists and turns, and page-gripping moments are all found here. All of it is woven together in such an expert way. Robert Hugh Benson was an author unlike any other I have read. This will most certainly be a repeat-read.
August 20, 2011
An absorbing account of the lives of fictional and historical characters blended in an accurate portrayal of Elizabethan England. This book is a tragedy, but an enlightening one. This novel is also available unabridged and illustrated from Lepanto Press.
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