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Book
Jacket:
He
that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. Psalms 91:1 By 1740 hatred and persecution that so blackened
France in an earlier era has almost vanished from the land. Rachel Levin, a
Jewess pretending to be a Christian and secretly engaged, feels safe. But when
her fiancée and her parents are murdered by a vicious French army captain,
Rachel fears for her life. She flees her village with a young Huguenot, Pierre
Dupre, and Rachel and Pierre take refuge in a church. Dressed as a nun and a
monk, all goes well until the captain who killed her loved ones arrives.
Captain
Vallae is rich and powerful. He wants Rachel as his mistress, or he wants her
dead. After the captain leaves, Rachel and Pierre agree to a marriage of
convenience and manage to escape. Furious that Rachel refused his advances,
Captain Vallae demands revenge.
Will Rachel and Pierre reach Scotland in time? Or will the captain make good on his threat to end their lives on an English countryside?
Review:
Sanctuary
by Molly Noble Bull is a historical novel written in a compelling style: a true
historic event becomes the backdrop for a suspenseful romance. Bull tells a
story not often heard before, about the persecution of the Huguenots, in a
fascinating and fast-paced novel where the course of love is guaranteed not to
run smooth.
Huguenots
were French Protestants during the Reformation, and were commonly persecuted as
were Jews. In Sanctuary, the hero is a Huguenot, the heroine is a Jew, and they
experience trials from the start.
Rachel
and Pierre face devastating losses, even before they’re forced to run for
their lives from the army sent out to stamp out ‘their kind’ from the face
of the earth. They meet kindness as well as cruelty along their way to safety.
And they are pursued by the ever-menacing Captain Villae, who has taken a shine
to the beautiful and forbidden young Jewish woman, Rachel, and is determined to
hunt her to the ends of the earth.
It
is reminiscent of the historical novels Daughter of Liberty by J.M. Hochstetler
and Hannah Rose by Louise Gouge. All history should be taught this way.
Sanctuary is guaranteed to catch and hold readers’ interest, having so much
fun they won’t mind learning something new.
–
Mary Connealy, Christian Book Previews.com