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Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Uneven pacing and extraneous subplots outweigh interesting facets of narrator Sara Lathbury's personality in this romantic suspense novel set during the Reformation. In 1556, English widow Sara takes her young widowed niece Bess Marwick to Antwerp to find a new factor, or representative, on the Continent for Sara's inherited shipping business. Handsome, intelligent Bartholomew Catlin agrees, also allowing Bess to train in his countinghouse. Romance blooms slowly between Bess and Catlin, impeded by the young man's conviction that he's bring haunted by the ghost of his father's vengeful business partner, by his fascination with quack physician and astrologer Nicolas van Wouwere, by his continued dalliances with whores and by his own belabored indecisiveness. When van Wouwere cheats Catlin and flees to Rome, Bess and Sara follow to retrieve the money and exact revenge for an evil horoscope. Their triumphant return proves Catlin's ghostly obsessions are unfounded. While there is some interesting period detail, first novelist Soister fails to provide adequate background on the Inquisition, which figures in the plot. And Catlin's inordinately lengthy psychological torment leaves the reader with lttle sympathy for his struggle. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
When widowed English trading partner Sara Lathbury takes her spirited, more recently widowed niece Bess Marwick to the Continent to find a new local manager, the two of them enter a storm of romantic and religious intrigue in 1550's Antwerp and Rome. The storm, however, takes a while to gather: though it's clear from the beginning that the new factor, Bartholomew Catlin, has a troubling reputation--he's been smuggling anticlerical tracts for the likes of a grotesque zealot called Damascus; he's made room in his house for Sara and Bess (with the latter of whom he shortly starts an affair) by breaking off with a strumpet; and his obsession with the deaths of his father and his father's unsavory partner has led him to sinister astrologer/necromancer Nicolas van Wouwere--all goes well for the principals until van Wouwere assaults Bess and runs off leaving part of his beard in her hand. Quick to retaliate, van Wouwere adds to his earlier treachery (he's already swindled Catlin of 700 pounds) by forging documents revealing Bess as a witch. The two women set off for Cologne in pursuit of van Wouwere; but they don't catch up to him until they're in Rome and Bess has been arrested by the connivance of slimy Cardinal Carafa and his repulsive nephew Jacopo and thrown into prison by the Inquisition. Most of these complications are resolved with improbable ease, but first-novelist Soister, insisting that fate doesn't rule her characters' lives, still manages a downbeat ending. Readers whose idea of historical evocation is sword-wielding heroines who speak in inversions (""Like you it?"") will enjoy this thick slice of Reformation gothic. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Soister's remarkable first novel is set in Antwerp during the mid-1500s. The narration by English merchant Sara Lathbury, a widow who has taken over her husband's trading business, draws the reader straight into the congested streets of the Flemish port and straight into the most threatening elements of the Reformation. Ruled by Philip II of Spain, Flanders is as dangerous a locale for Protestant mutterings as Sara's native England under the rule of Philip's bride, Queen Mary. Sara has come to Antwerp to find a new business representative and happens upon one who is not only engaged in smuggling heretical pamphlets but is also haunted by the ghost of his father's partner. To complicate matters further, Sara is traveling with her widowed niece, who falls in love with the new representative and is determined to rescue him from his haunted state. Political and religious intrigue are drawn with heart-stopping tension; the scenic and period details are just as engrossing. Soister has made a stunning debut. --Denise Perry Donavin
Library Journal Review
A superbly conceived tragedy of good versus evil in 16th-century Antwerp, this work examines religious torment, guilt, retribution, and the role of fate. Sara and Bess, English widows of two merchants, seek a factor (agent) on the Continent and find Catlin, a wealthy merchant obsessed with past ghosts, astrology, and a new ``heresy'' (Protestant philosophy). When evil touches them in the persons of physician and black arts practitioner Nicholas van Wouwere, sinister monk Brother Gerard, and Damascus, a pauper who is evil incarnate, the eerie, gripping conclusion gives us much to ponder. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy mystery and danger in a historical setting.-- Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
