There’s an interesting trend in historical fiction writing to search out the lesser known characters from our past and shine a light on their lives. Anne Boileau has chosen to base her debut novel on the life of Katharina van Bora, an ex nun who becomes the wife of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Little is known about Katharina or indeed about the day to day life of Martin Luther himself, but Anne Boileau successfully takes the known facts and weaves them into an intriguing tale by allowing Katharina to write her own story up to the birth of her first child while she is confined to bed after a threatened miscarriage.
It all starts a bit slowly and isn’t the most compelling of reads, but it picks up pace as the tale progresses and is worth persevering with. I particularly liked the vivid and very visual descriptions of the German countryside, and the detail of meal preparation, food preserving, keeping house, herbal medicine and the education and care of children. Anne Boileau is a poet as well as a novelist and it shows in her writing, as does her interest in the countryside and land management. The period detail is good and the glimpses into the thought processes of Martin Luther and the turmoil his views caused at the time are well handled and intriguing. And if that is the sort of historical fiction you enjoy, then this is one for you.
Katharina Luther: Nun, Rebel, Wife by Anne Boileau is published by Clink Street Publishing and available in paperback priced £8.99 or on Kindle priced £3.79 from 4 October 2016