Helpful Score: 12
A historical novel set in 1610 France. Most of the action occurs in an abbey on an island off the coast. King Henry IV has recently been murdered and the boy king, Louis XIII has assumed the throne.
The heroine of the piece, Juliette (among other names) is an aerialist and actress with a minstrel troupe, led by a conman named Guy LaMerle. They have a love/hate relationship. The troupe is split when the minstrels are blamed for what looks like a recurrence of the plague. The pregnant Juliette goes to live at Abbey of Sainte Marie-de-la-mer where her daughter, Fleur, is born. She is leading a rather normal existence until the kind Reverend Mother dies. She is replaced by the powerful bishop's twelve-year-old niece who is under the thumb of LaMerle, disguised as her confessor.
Juliette knows that LaMerle is plotting something; she tries to leave with her daughter, but LaMerle, who wants to use her in his plot, kidnaps Fleur.
The suspense revolves around LaMerle's motivation in wanting to embarrass the bishop. What is there in his background that makes him hate the bishop so much? There's a twist.
The heroine of the piece, Juliette (among other names) is an aerialist and actress with a minstrel troupe, led by a conman named Guy LaMerle. They have a love/hate relationship. The troupe is split when the minstrels are blamed for what looks like a recurrence of the plague. The pregnant Juliette goes to live at Abbey of Sainte Marie-de-la-mer where her daughter, Fleur, is born. She is leading a rather normal existence until the kind Reverend Mother dies. She is replaced by the powerful bishop's twelve-year-old niece who is under the thumb of LaMerle, disguised as her confessor.
Juliette knows that LaMerle is plotting something; she tries to leave with her daughter, but LaMerle, who wants to use her in his plot, kidnaps Fleur.
The suspense revolves around LaMerle's motivation in wanting to embarrass the bishop. What is there in his background that makes him hate the bishop so much? There's a twist.
Helpful Score: 3
Holy Fools revolves around Juliet, one time acrobat and star performer of a circus troupe led by her lover, Guy LeMerle. Betrayed by him and pregnant with child, she seeks refuge in a nunnery off the Brittany coast and becomes Soeur Auguste. When the abbess dies, an 11-year old girl, niece of a powerful bishop, is appointed the new abbess. She arrives accompanied by LeMerle, disguised as a priest. As the two wield their evil upon the nunnery, Juliet must protect herself and her daughter. This novel is being hailed as one of Joanne Harris's best. Asian Review of Books says, "If you enjoy history, intrigue and characters who dance to life from the page, you'll enjoy Holy Fools."
Helpful Score: 3
Joanne Harris's books are always a little quirky but riveting. This one was no exception. It's about a nun in an abbey on a deserted island and how she came to be there. It's about a priest (who isn't) and his relationship to her in her earlier life. Your mind will swim until it all comes together.
Helpful Score: 3
Super book, a true page turner with an unexpected twist at the end. I truly enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it.
Excellent book. Well written story set back in the 1600's, about a woman living by her wits who ends up in a convent that is taken over by a figure from her past bent on revenging an old hurt inflicted by an elderly church official. It's just a coincidence they meet up there, but the emotional interplay between the two is fascinating.
