From Amazon: "The narrator of Sheri Holman's debut novel is Father Felix Fabri, a 15th-century monk on a pilgrimage to Alexandria, Egypt, to visit his "wife," Saint Katherine. The fact that Katherine is long dead, her various body parts distributed among reliquaries from Greece to Palestine, does not dilute Felix's passion for his spiritual mate. Indeed, from the day he first offered himself to her as a boy, it has been his life's ambition to travel to the Sinai, where she was martyred, visiting each relic along the way. But every time Felix arrives at one of these holy places, he finds a piece of Katherine gone. First her hand, then her ear, then her tongue -- all stolen."
This is a very odd book about saint's relics, a monk on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and a madwoman. By the end of the book, I was starting to believe most of the other characters were mad, as well. The plot moves slowly, and the mystery is illogical at times, but the book is filled with fascinating information about religion and travel in the Middle Ages.
This is a very odd book about saint's relics, a monk on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and a madwoman. By the end of the book, I was starting to believe most of the other characters were mad, as well. The plot moves slowly, and the mystery is illogical at times, but the book is filled with fascinating information about religion and travel in the Middle Ages.
