The Priest's Madonna

This is a beautifully written book. An absorbing, well-researched novel filled with mystery, romance and touches of humor. Set in southern France in the late 19th century, the novel tells the story of young Marie Dernanaud and her life in the village of Rennes-le-Chateau, her family, friends and fervent love for Father Berenger Sauniere. The forbidden romance between Father Berenger and Marie is believable and is one of the most striking aspects of this book. Their relationship was not an easy one, but rather full of confusion, anxiety and guilt. Beneath these struggles, however, was an unyielding love that neither could deny. This moved me significantly. Together, they embark on a journey of faith that leads them to question the bond between the divine and things of worldly origin. Entwined with the story of Father Berenger and Marie is a narrative of Mary Magdalene set at the time of Christ. Here, the author appears to jump on the current bandwagon of considering a royal bloodline originating from Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. I am Roman Catholic and do not take the notion of such a bloodline seriously. However, it is with this fictional aspect that the author neatly ties in the mysteries in the village of Rennes-le-Chateau. It is worth mentioning that Father Berenger Sauniere and Marie Dernanaud are not complete works of fiction. Though their legacies are interspersed with rumor and mystery, they indeed lived in Rennes-le-Chateau in the 19th century. The Priest's Madonna is a captivating read. Very few books will I consider rereading, but I will most certainly revisit this one.

Do you like a good mystery? A love story? An historical novel? A theological inquiry? In "The Priest's Madonna" Amy Hassinger manages to give us all of these in a well-paced and lush novel that never suffers from an identity crisis. This book deals with some of the same themes as Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," but in a very different way. While Brown's book satisfies in the way an order of salty French fries satisfies after a night of overindulgence, "The Priest's Madonna" satisfies like a five course French meal with an excellent bottle of wine. Sophomore novelist Hassinger writes with a maturity that is extraordinary. She uses parallel and paradox to unfold the stories of Marie (and Berenger) at the end of the 19th century and Miryam (and Yeshua) at the time of Christ. Her female protagonists have that same quality of combined strength and vulnerability with which Margaret Atwood imbues many of her most interesting female protagonists. At times I found that I wanted a bit more development of Berenger's and Yeshua's characters, but in the end I concluded that because Marie's story was told from the first person and Miryam's story was told from the personal third person, the development of the male characters was just right to evoke that sense of mystery that the female protagonists found attractive in them. Reading this book left me with the same feeling and question I had years ago when I read "Snow Falling on Cedars" - how can a book that is so descriptive and literary make me want to turn the pages so fast?

Hassinger does a great job presenting a clear, absorbing story centering on a relationship between an enigmatic priest who has committed himself to supporting the church, and a young woman who finds herself increasingly skeptical. The young woman's voice and the life of the 19th-century French town are convicing, and the author never lets the real-life mystery of Berenger Sauniere lead the story into ridiculous speculation. The pace never drags (a real achievement for a book with open religious themes), and the book's mysteries kept me hooked.

I found The Priest's Madonna to be a compelling and delightful read on many levels. It is a love story, a mystery, an adventure, a treasure hunt, a meditation on faith, and a vivid historical reconstruction of both late 19th century southern France and Palestine in the time of Jesus. It is very well written and researched. I like things spiritual and this book grapples with the mystery of faith: how to keep it, how to lose it and how to regain it. Amy Hassinger convincingly inserts herself into the minds of two young women: Marie of late 19th century France and Mary Magdalene. Marie is a young intelligent passionate heroin confronted with the incredibly attractive person of a priest who is also a family friend. He contrasts so vividly with the narrowness of the local male population. She falls in love and struggles with the elicit nature of her love (the object of her love equally struggles). The details are totally compelling. The author has a great imagination. There is a parallel story of Mary Magdalene in which New Testament episodes are presented through her eyes. They are vividly recreated and some brought me to tears in their beauty. Just as Marie yearns for the priest, Mary Magdalene yearns for Jesus. This is a different, more human, but still divine Jesus. It was very interesting to learn about the Cathars. Their story is the historical background for the action in the main story and provides the connecting link to the Mary Magdalene episodes.

Hassinger's second book shows the significant maturation of her craft. The Priest's Madonna, set in 1890s France, is indeed a literary novel - a romance noir a la Wuthering Heights that is also possessed of a Poirot-like mystery. It is deftly written and researched and evidences complex relationships between characters and to place. More importantly, however, it's a damn good read, something that can't always be said about the thousands of other literary novels that have flooded the market in recent years. Hassinger melds introspection with action - her characters do things rather than merely brood and wring their hands, and yet like real people, their actions do not always fulfill their desires. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in the all-too-rare combination of a thought-provoking, empassioned read with a fast-moving plot.