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A Hidden Fire
Devout Catholic widow Katharine Machyn faces a hard life in the County Durham of James I’s England, where simply to practise her religion is against the law. Trying to raise her young children in that faith makes it even harder, especially when her kind neighbours don’t share her beliefs and seem to be leading her son Toby astray. Then her beloved brother comes to visit, after a long absence. Nicholas has left behind the wildness of his youth—who better then to influence her son for the good, to help him stay on the right path? But something about this new Nicholas doesn’t feel quite right. Kate is made uneasy by his rigid demands on her and her family, and Toby takes an immediate dislike to him. Yet when Nicholas offers to take Toby with him to the Northamptonshire household of the charismatic Robert Catesby, it seems to be exactly what her son needs. Kate sets her misgivings aside and gives way to her brother—only to find herself facing agonising choices that threaten to tear her family apart and overturn everything she holds dear.
423 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2020
4 people want to read
About the author
Helen Cannam
30 books3 followersI have been a writer all my life, at least since I could put pencil to paper. Writing - story-telling - has always been as natural to me as breathing, an essential part of who I am.
Sometimes using the pen names 'Caroline Martin' and ‘Mary Corrigan’, but mostly my own name, I’ve been a published writer since 1980 and a self-published writer since 2012.
For some years I wrote a column for the Northern Echo. I have also given talks to local groups on my writing (and once, at the Bowes Museum, on my early Laura Ashley dress!).
My occasional blog and details of all my books can be found on my website at www.helencannam.com. I also venture onto Twitter from time to time @HelenCannam.
And, yes, I am still writing...
Sometimes using the pen names 'Caroline Martin' and ‘Mary Corrigan’, but mostly my own name, I’ve been a published writer since 1980 and a self-published writer since 2012.
For some years I wrote a column for the Northern Echo. I have also given talks to local groups on my writing (and once, at the Bowes Museum, on my early Laura Ashley dress!).
My occasional blog and details of all my books can be found on my website at www.helencannam.com. I also venture onto Twitter from time to time @HelenCannam.
And, yes, I am still writing...
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June 4, 2024An interesting book about faith and shifts of power. Set in the early seventeenth century, the novel is focused on the persecution and marginalisation of Catholics (who think of their own religion as the 'true faith') and the newly powerful Christians who were Protestant or those of the Anglical Church. Catholics call them 'heretics' while the Protestants refer to the Catholics as Papists or Popists. Given the political churn, the danger of violence is very real.
This story is set at the margins rather than at the heart of power, which makes it more interesting to contemporary readers. Kate is a 'noble' but poor widow at Holywell in County Durham. Thanks to the fractious times, she has 'lost' one son (he's alive but not being brought up Catholic) and is at risk of losing another. Her brother is also lost in a different way - he has reformed his ways, only to turn into a fundamentalist. Their neighbours are kind 'heretics' and Kate is torn between socialising with them and cutting herself off in a total rejection of anything and anyone that is not Catholic.
The rift described in this novel may seem incomprehensible, now that Christianity appears to be a kind of coherent block with some shades of difference (especially to those who do not identify as Christian). However, in the 1600s, Catholicism was a whole different religion and many adherents of the 'new' faith were very much invested in stamping it out, even. On thing common to orthodox folks on both religions (or sects, as we describe them nowadays) is that women are seen as weak and not fit to control their own properties or serve as legal and spiritual guardians of their own children. This too may find some resonance in the present day.
The novel may also hold out lessons in nuance and acceptance for those who struggle with orthodoxy and rejection of 'others' around them, because of religious or racial differnces. People change, not only because of social or economic pressures, but also because they come to see what is truly important - loyalty, kindness, support, integrity - and that preserving one's soul means more
than the performance of rituals. Taking a long view of history helps us see that, five hundred years later, it is not just possible to think of Catholics and Protestants as co-religionists, it would seem very stupid to sever ties with people merely because they pray in different ways or in another language.
This story is set at the margins rather than at the heart of power, which makes it more interesting to contemporary readers. Kate is a 'noble' but poor widow at Holywell in County Durham. Thanks to the fractious times, she has 'lost' one son (he's alive but not being brought up Catholic) and is at risk of losing another. Her brother is also lost in a different way - he has reformed his ways, only to turn into a fundamentalist. Their neighbours are kind 'heretics' and Kate is torn between socialising with them and cutting herself off in a total rejection of anything and anyone that is not Catholic.
The rift described in this novel may seem incomprehensible, now that Christianity appears to be a kind of coherent block with some shades of difference (especially to those who do not identify as Christian). However, in the 1600s, Catholicism was a whole different religion and many adherents of the 'new' faith were very much invested in stamping it out, even. On thing common to orthodox folks on both religions (or sects, as we describe them nowadays) is that women are seen as weak and not fit to control their own properties or serve as legal and spiritual guardians of their own children. This too may find some resonance in the present day.
The novel may also hold out lessons in nuance and acceptance for those who struggle with orthodoxy and rejection of 'others' around them, because of religious or racial differnces. People change, not only because of social or economic pressures, but also because they come to see what is truly important - loyalty, kindness, support, integrity - and that preserving one's soul means more
than the performance of rituals. Taking a long view of history helps us see that, five hundred years later, it is not just possible to think of Catholics and Protestants as co-religionists, it would seem very stupid to sever ties with people merely because they pray in different ways or in another language.
Displaying 1 of 1 review