"Loving Luther" by Allison Pittman
Katharina von Bora, the youngest daughter of an aristocratic German family which had fallen on hard times, was handed over to the care of the Church at the tender age of six. Fresh on the heels of her mother's death, her father remarried a "new mama" who had little use for the mournful and sassy extra mouth to feed. Stripped of all personal belongings at the convent gate, save a locket hidden from the Sisters' watchful eyes, little Käthe clings to the hope that one day she will be reclaimed by the father who so easily surrendered her. Her hopes dwindle, however, as time passes with little communication from the outside world, so she dons the veil and joins the Sisterhood of nuns serving first in Brehna, then Marienthrone.
As the flame of the Reformation sweeps across Germany, Katharina is drawn into reading smuggled fragments of Martin Luther's incendiary writings to some of her less educated yet cautiously curious Sisters. These inflammatory ideas threaten to tear Katharina from yet another home and the only Sisters who claim her heart. When the time comes, can she possibly turn her back upon the vows she took to serve God and the Church? Can she find peace and happiness outside the walls of the convent?
While the 500th anniversary of the Reformation passed with little fanfare in many American churches, Allison Pittman's novel about the Reformation also escaped my notice until a recent trip to the library. I had previously read several of Ms. Pittman's books, which I enjoyed, but this one grabbed my attention immediately - the lovely cover lured me, the author's acknowledgements set the hook, and the first paragraph reeled me willingly into its pages well past my bedtime. Ms. Pittman's thrilling saga of the Reformation's reach through the gates of German convents is an absolute gem! Readers will be swept into medieval Europe and treated to a rich and splendid first person fictionalized account of Katharina von Bora's tumultuous tale.
Ms. Pittman develops the characters of well-known historic figures with a master's touch, breathing life into the well-known portrait of the father of the Reformation. Katharina, herself, is a masterpiece of bold femininity. Cloistered convents and medieval manors emerge in the reader's imagination, painted in vivid hues. Skillfully, the author draws stark contrasts and shades tender nuances.
I highly recommend this novel. My only criticism would be its somewhat precipitous ending. While it was a satisfying conclusion, my appetite was far from sated. Now I'll have to read more and learn, as Paul Harvey would say, "the rest of the story!" (Hmmm. More reading? I guess that's not such a bad thing.) That minor criticism aside, this book definitely belongs on your "to-read" list!