Herrens bødler

by Maria Helleberg

Ribe i begyndelsen af 1600-tallet. Under Guds og kongens beskyttelse blomstrer handlen i den voksende købstad. Der hersker lov og orden, og hver søndag mødes byens borgere i domkirken, hvor alle kender deres plads. Men lige under det velordnede byliv lurer angsten for mørke kræfter og hekses usynlige magt.

En dag bliver Anne Skomagers opsøgt af den nye præst i sognet. Han er bleg og frygtsom, taler om sort magi og advarer Anne imod at gå den ondes ærinde. Hun må læse sine bønner og salmer, hun må holde op med at sidde i mørket og byde sig til for den onde. Forveksler præsten hende med en anden? Anne er sikker på, at hun aldrig har gjort nogen ondt, men hvad ved hun overhovedet om sig selv? Da hendes gamle frier Henrik pludselig dukker op, må hun indse, at der findes kræfter i hende, som hun aldrig før har kendt.

Herrens bødler er en fængslende roman om overtro og hekseri, kærlighed og brændende begær i en tid, hvor ethvert smil er en sprække ind til dæmonerne.

356 pages, Hardcover

First published October 29, 2024

Reviews

[Siri Olsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Herrens Bødler (The Lord's Executioners) is a historical novel set in Ribe in the early 17th century, during the reign of King Christian 4. It follows Anne, the wife of the city shoemaker, who gets involved in the witch hysteria gripping the city and eventually ends up getting accused of witchcraft, which she responds to by in turn accusing her accusers of witchcraft. The book also follows her complicated relationships with her father, her husband Mårten, and Henrik, a man with a very different personality to the otherwise grey, repressed townspeople. Herrens Bødler is set in a very interesting period of Danish history, and it depicts the tense, suspicious atmosphere of a smaller provincial town during the witchcraft crazes in intense detail. Anne is no revolutionary, which I found very refreshing. Fundamentally, she wants nothing more than to live her life without fear, without constantly having to look over her shoulder, and without always having to curb and suppress any behaviour which might make her stand out or attract negative attention. The sense of claustrophobia and the sickening feeling of being always under surveillance pervades the novel and is, in my opinion, the most well-functioning aspect of the book. The plot, on the other hand, is a bit meandering, and I found it a little difficult to figure out exactly how the reader was meant to interpret the character of Henrik and his relationship with Anne. Does the ending imply Anne's liberation from repression? Is it meant to be romantic? Or should you instead interpret it as showing how the intense social repression Anne has experienced and the emotional neglect from her husband and father have led her to make her decision in desperation, against her better judgement and to her own detriment? Essentially, a 17th century version of what drives a woman to ignore 50,000 red flags. I think I prefer the second interpretation, but I couldn't be certain that it was the author's intention. In addition, the ending felt a bit rushed and somewhat out of left field, which somewhat cheapened the conclusion to the story. Nevertheless, there were many aspects of the book that I enjoyed. A mixed bag, I would say.

[Birgitte (Casa dei libri DK) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok bog, men desværre var jeg ikke helt så imponeret, som jeg har været af tidligere fortællinger fra Maria Helleberg...

[Christina Birk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lidt hastigt afsluttet, næsten forceret i sætnings konstruktioner til tider. Flade personer. Ikke lig Helleberg synes jeg

[Anne Marie Bøcker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Herrens bødler handler om en grum tid i Danmarks historie nemlig hekseafbrændinger. Den handler også om forbudt kærlighed, som kunne få enorme konsekvenser for datidens kvinder.

Maria Helleberg forsøger ikke at tegne et billede af hovedpersonen, som man kun får sympati for, hvilket er fint. Derimod savner jeg flere historiske facts om emnet.