Lamia: A Witch

A romantic, darkly erotic tale set in sixteenth-century France follows the destiny of a young witch, Lamia, and her three male champions as they battle the brutal Inquisition and a superstitious world that fears their uncanny powers. 20,000 first printing.

Briskly paced and with solid historical grounding, Taylor's ( The Infidel ) gothic novel concerns Lamia, a 16th-century waif who survives her mother's burning at the stake and a perilous childhood in a Loire Valley forest to become the dreaded "Red Witch of Nevers." Giles de Sade, riding to join his father, the overlord of the Nevers provence, saves Lamia from drowning. Charmed by the young girl, who's been living wild in the woods since her mother's death, Giles in time grows devoted to her, though he must marry another for family reasons. Meanwhile, Lamia is taken to live with Marco Cellini, an Italian cloth merchant who delves into witchcraft and alchemy. Although Marco is a family enemy of Giles, Lamia finds in him another champion. As Lamia grows into a free-spirited, lovely woman, a handsome deaf-mute Moor, Ghanim, who becomes her lover, teaches her mind control and how to feign death. Intrigue among the clergy, as well as graphically described torture and/or burning of suspected witches (" 'Turn the cranks,' the bishop cried. . . . 'The Devil is on her tongue. Turn the cranks, I say!' ") punch up the narrative as Lamia furthers her plan to see that the evil Bishop Geoffroi, who ordered her mother's death by fire, should suffer the same fate. Loaded with period detail and colorful scenes, the novel races to a fiery denouement that leaves matters wide open for a sequel. Literary Guild selection .
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Witchcraft, adventure, and romance intertwine in a rich tapestry of 16th-century France, by the author of The Infidel (1979). The Inquisition finds necromancy in every town and village, and women by the thousands are tortured and burned as witches, a fate that has befallen the mother and grandmother of nine-year-old Lamia. Living alone in the forest after her mother's death, the child is feared as a witch for her parentage, her wild ways, and her flaming red hair. When she stands in danger of imminent capture by superstitious churchmen, Lamia is befriended by the wealthy and cultured Marco Cellini, who secretly practices an enlightened sorcery that edges toward true science. Under his protection, she meets the gentle Peronnette, whose solitary ways prompt accusations that she is a witch; Giles de Sade, a Florentine nobleman reluctantly expatriated to France to claim his paternal birthright as Count of Nevers; and the handsome, sensual Ghanim, a Moor who possesses skills of medicine and mind control unknown in Europe. As she grows into womanhood, Lamia abandons her secure existence and seeks to avenge her mother's death, which was carried out at the direction of Bishop Geoffroi. In her daring plan to set the Inquisition against the Inquisitor by having the bishop himself convicted of Satanism, Lamia makes herself vulnerable to the Church's paranoia. As she tightens her trap around the prelate, he strikes back, and she is captured and accused of being the notorious Red Witch of Nevers. Her cool courage and an ingenious rescue scheme devised and smoothly carried out by Marco, Giles, and Ghanim, combine to turn the tables once again. In a satisfying resolution, evil churchmen and vulgar nobles meet their downfall, while the oppressed triumph. Taylor brings to life the pretensions and persecutions of a bygone era, spiking them with modernist philosophy and morality. A fairy tale for adults, and delectably escapist entertainment. (Literary Guild selection) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In the midst of the Inquisition, the Church retains its jealous hold on the citizens of France by encouraging fear and burning thousands of women as witches. Many of these so-called witches are budding scientists who believe that they must embrace demons and use magic as a means to study botany, anatomy, and chemistry. Protagonist Marco Cellini understands that scientific curiosity need not mean witchcraft; he constantly tries to show other members of his coven that they do not need "ridiculous incantations and atrocities, when, in truth, the powers are your own." He takes in Lamia, a wild child who has lived in the forest since her mother was burned as a witch, and teaches her such useful "occult" arts as hypnosis and herbalism. More radical still, he teaches her to read. Though "civilized," Lamia remains volatile and never forgets her vendetta against the bishop who burned her mother. Her desire for revenge is her motivation through most of the story. This novel is meant to be something of a romance, but more important is its vivid re-creation of the abysmal conditions that drove people to embrace witchcraft as the only possible alternative to a superstitious, power-hungry Church. [Literary Guild selection.]-A.M.B. Amantia, Population Action International, Washington, D.C.
--A.M.B. Amantia, Population Action International, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.