At the recent History Unbound Festival at Parramatta, I discovered a feast of historical fiction by Australian authors. By chance, two of the novels I’ve read since feature orphaned female protagonists who end up living in a religious order. In the 9th and 10th centuries, this arrangement offered opportunities for women which would not otherwise be available.
Emily Maguire’s Rapture tells the extraordinary tale of Agnes who begins her life in a small German village and rises to become Pope in Rome. The story is based on historical rumour, denied later by the Church, of a woman pope in the 800s.
To avoid marriage and the restrictions of life as a nun, her only options as an orphan, Agnes disguises herself as a man and joins a Benedictine order of monks to live a life of theological learning and devotion to God. Her ascent to the papal throne and her constant fear of discovery come to a head in a truly startling climax.
Rapture is an apt title for this novel. Maguire conveys the spiritual fervour of Agnes in a most effective way, linking it constantly to her love of nature. From its sumptuous cover to its beautiful writing, Rapture is imbued with religious feeling and detail about the Church, its monasteries and the Vatican in those early times.
Marion Taffe’s By Her Hand is set a century later. Its action takes place in Mercia, part of England. Freda is a girl living with a hostile father and loving sister, her mother having died in childbirth. She is fascinated by the beauty of religious manuscripts and the act of writing itself.
A Norse raid puts an abrupt end to Freda’s family life. Her village is burnt to the ground, her sister violated and killed, and her father nowhere to be found. A patron of Freda’s father treats her miraculous escape as intercession by a saint and arranges for her to join a nunnery. With his help, Freda learns to write and is allowed to work in the nunnery’s scriptorium. As her skill grows, so does the political intrigue that engulfs her.
Taffe’s knowledge of Old English emerges in the novel in words used for everyday objects, the names given to characters, and references to literature of the time. While the use of these old words lends great authenticity, a glossary would have been a useful addition.
If you enjoyed Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, a present-day account of living in a religious community, you would love Rapture and By Her Hand.