A long strain of Catholic mystery fiction exists, from G.K. Chesterton to Ralph McInerney, all the way up to Dan Brown. Mystery writers love to use the pomp, sanctity and ritual of Catholic religion to express an outer mystery that often mirrors the inner mysteries of the religion itself. One can take almost any aspect of Catholicism’s history and turn it into a rip-roaring adventure story. From the Flagellants to the Cathars to lost tribes to the healing waters of Lourdes, an author can – and, in DA VINCI CODE‘s wake, almost certainly already has – spun a marvelous contemporary tale based on a largely misunderstood semi-historical understanding of one part of the supreme mystery of the divine.
For instance, the Knights Templar, who are involved in Julia Navarro’s THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY SHROUD, translated by Andrew Hurley. Here, Navarro weaves together four separate tales all surrounding the enigmatic Shroud of Turin – the cloth that is said to bear the image of Jesus, transferred by miracle when the cloth was laid over His body in the tomb.
To start, there is Marco Valoni, head of the Italian Art Crimes Department who is investigating yet another mysterious fire in the middle of the Turin Cathedral. He believes there is a trend among the mishaps occurring in the cathedral, and thinks that a group of thieves are out to steal or damage the Shroud. This story is paralleled with the history of the Shroud beginning in 30 A.D. and extending to the 1300s as we track the cloth through its travels from the Middle East into Europe.
Coupled with these tales are stories of two additional groups: one a powerful and rich cabal whose influence is so strong that they are all but invisible, and the other a group of very committed and pious men who burn off their fingerprints and cut out their tongues so they cannot be identified nor tell anyone the secrets they know. Intriguing and suspenseful, one must admit.
The book is a solid read, but it has some significant faults, which I doubt are due to the translation. Hurley is well-respected, having translated Jorge Luis Borges’ COLLECTED FICTIONS, so I believe the occasional plodding talk-talk-talk scenes of the police investigators are more the fault of Navarro, a first-time novelist but long-time journalist (her second novel, THE BIBLE OF CLAY, will be released in 2008). There also are way too many characters to follow with any coherence, and frequent irrelevant moments in the story that do little except pad the book’s length.
But with those warnings, there is still a rousing tale of religious mystery fiction here, with an ingenious explanation of why the Shroud of Turin has been carbon-dated to medieval times, but why the cloth is still authentic and sacred to boot. This may be an overly ambitious novel, but it is far better to try for too much than to settle for too little. If the mysteries of the altar are fascinating for you, then you will find much to enjoy here. –Mark Rose
Buy it at Amazon.
Discuss it in our forums.
Related posts:
- Grandmaster
- Seeking Whom He May Devour
- Transgressions
- My Lolita Complex and Other Tales of Sex and Violence
- BOOK WHORE >> 4.18.06
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }