Devoted - Softcover

Borchardt, Alice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451403967 ISBN 13: 9780451403964

Publisher: Signet, 1996

Synopsis

Bound by a shared determination to save their people from Viking conquerors, Elin, a mistress of the forbidden powers, and Owen, a warrior-bishop, discover a burning love for each other. Reprint.

About this title

Review

Do not pity Alice Borchardt. Her sister, Anne Rice, may be immensely better known, but Borchardt, the older sister, is Rice's equal in presenting lush otherworlds balanced with historical detail. Indeed, Rice, in an introduction to Devoted, cites Borchardt as an inspiration for her own fiction and an early collaborator in imaginative excess. Like the Brontës before them, the sisters' childhood was spent sharing a dream world peopled with heroes, heroines, pirates, and aliens.

As a first work, Devoted may presage the author's potential. It reads as though she were shaking the tree of her imagination to see what will drop. One story can hardly contain all the fruitful ideas that fall. Set in the year 900, the story centers on a medieval stronghold beset by invading Vikings, corrupt feudal landlords, and a traitor within. Owen, Bishop of Chantalon, is a Christian; Elin, beaten, raped, and forced into slavery by the Vikings, is of the Forest People, pagans with magical skills. Through their union, Borchardt explores the conflict between paganism and early Christianity and the flagrant inequalities between men and women, the nobility and the lesser born, and people with different beliefs. These large themes make the story overlong, sometimes threatening to take it over. But the monumental, blood-soaked clashes between the Saxons and the Vikings; the descriptions of household artifacts, weaponry, and fashion in the Middle Ages; and, of course, the heart of the tale: the love that is hammered into being like a coat of woven mail between Owen and Elin, make this first novel a worthwhile read. --Brenda Pittsley

From the Inside Flap

The Bookcassette® format is a special recording technique developed as a means of condensing the full, unabridged audio text of a book to record it on fewer tapes. In order to listen to these tapes, you will need a cassette player with balance control to adjust left/right speaker output. Special adaptors to allow these tapes to be played on any cassette player are available through the publisher or some US retail electronics stores.

Edition details

• Publisher: Signet
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0451403967
• ISBN 13: 9780451403964
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 524