The Age of Miracles - Hardcover

MacCoun, Catherine

3.46

59 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0871133121 ISBN 13: 9780871133120

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Pr, 1989

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Set in medieval England, this tale of romance and intrigue centres on Sister Ingrid, the infirmarian at Greyleigh Convent, who is famous for her miraculous powers of healing. When disgrace forces her to flee the convent, she finds her remedial power labelled as witchcraft.

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From Publishers Weekly:

First novelist MacCoun has come up with a potentially intriguing plot, done some research on 14th century England, the era in which her historical novel is set--and produced a disappointing book. In relating the story of Ingrid Fairfax, consigned to a convent at age four and now, at 18, apparently endowed with the power to heal--giving rise to a reputation as a living saint--MacCoun adds the traditional trappings of sexy romance. Naive and innocent, so pious she wears a hair shirt, Ingrid succumbs immediately to the advances of troubadour Jacques Brigand des Coeurs (aka former serf Jack Rudd), whose broken ankle she has healed. When Ingrid leaves the convent, facing "a life of penance for a night of pleasure," her mild crises of moral conscience are no more credible than her camaraderie and beer drinking with three Oxford students who frequent the tavern where she is now a serving girl. In fact, in her lack of credible anguish in breaking her vows, and her meek responses to verbal and physical abuse, she seems at times half-witted. The reappearance of Jack in Ingrid's life, her arrest for witchcraft and Jack's sacrifice on her behalf create some tension. But the novel is fatally undermined by its pedestrian prose: MacCoun makes sporadic attempts to use language appropriate to the period, but lapses all too often into the most banal contemporary vernacular, with grating anachronisms: "I must not make a scene"; "Now here's the good part." The romance between the troubadour and the runaway nun is simply run-of-the-mill commercial fare. 35,000 copy first printing; $35,000 ad/promo; Doubleday Book Club selection; Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Although she is only 18, Sister Ingrid has powers of healing that seem destined to win her sainthood. Within the convent, her work as infirmarian continues undisturbed until the arrival of Jacques Brigand des Cours, a troubadour. During his convalescence, he pines for the sexual and romantic liaisons of his travels. At first wary of one another, he and Ingrid draw increasingly close until she breaks her vows of chastity, then flees the only home she has known. Her flight leads her to knowledge of the world's pleasure at the same time Jack experiences a deepening spiritual hunger. Their stations in life slowly reverse until the plague sweeping England alters everyone's future. Although set in the 14th century, this first novel's exploration of life's values and love's power ties the medieval world to our own. Literary Guild alternate.
- Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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