Title: Luther and Katharina
Author: Jody Hedlund
Publisher: Waterbrook Press
Pages: 386
The book begins on a cliff hanging note. Katharina von Bora,
dedicated to the convent as a five-year-old, is preparing to jump off the
second storey window, and escape to a new life, along with eleven other nuns.
In the outside world, Martin Luther’s writings have already
begun to incite a revolution. Katharina and her fellow nuns who have read his
writings, which were smuggled into the abbey, have been infused with hope that
God’s salvation will not be denied to those who have a family.
When it becomes too hard for the sisters to stay in the
Black Cloister, Luther arranges homes for them. Katharina is assigned as a
servant in the home of Elsa Reichenbach, the mayor’s wife.
Both Luther and Katharina struggle against the growing
attraction they feel for each other. Luther’s own life is in danger and he cannot
bear to endanger another’s. Katharina, having long been deprived of the
privileges that are hers by birth, longs for them and cannot bear to think of
herself as a commoner.
I found myself warming to the character of Katharina from
the beginning. She is an amazing character and we begin to appreciate her in
the slow manner that Luther does, even though her character failings are all
too apparent. She feels entitled by virtue of her high-class birth and wishes
to live a life of ease. She cannot see the sliminess of Jerome Baumgartner, a
rake who only wants to bed her. Of course, she has spent the greater part of
her life in the abbey, and has therefore no idea about the true nature of
people. Even so, the obstinacy with which she clings to the trappings of high
class is annoying.
These failings are offset by her deep sense of compassion,
her willingness to help those in need, her deep affection even for her maid,
Greta, and the sense of rejection and abandonment she carries with her ever
since her father left her at the convent.
It is this good nature that causes Katharina to deny herself
to Luther, first out of loyalty to her friend, Margaret, who is infatuated with
him. Over the course of the book, I admired the transformation in her as she
slowly began to understand that birth and status mean nothing.
I also liked the character of Justus Jones, Luther’s friend,
for his biting sense of humour, his support of Luther and his willingness to
speak to Katharina, when Luther won’t.
The writing is beautiful in its simplicity, evoking tender
word images, Her blue eyes frosted like the water in his wash basin most spring mornings, that make the book come alive like a slowly crackling fire on a
cold day. The descriptions are the kind that you would not want to skip. The
account of the grisly sight of the hangings brought a lump to my throat.
Slowly we become aware of how Martin Luther’s preaching
incites a revolution among the long-oppressed peasants who have been harassed
by the clergy and the nobility. His outspokenness against the corruption and
the dishonesty rampant amid the clergy of the time comes through clearly. He dismisses
the relics in the abbey with these words: There are enough pieces of the true
cross here to build a house. We also get an idea of how the peasants took the
law into their own hands, plunging the countryside into chaos.
The history of the protests against the Catholic Church of
the time comes alive. We realize the extent of the profligacy of the clergy,
the corruption in the sale of relics and indulgences, the reign of fear practiced
by the clergy and the nobility.
I found the Germanic custom of consummating the union in the
presence of a witness rather weird.
It helped that I did not know anything about the life of
Luther and Katharina. I wasn’t caught up in wondering which parts were true and
which were fiction. It was only after I had finished reading the book that I began
to read about the history of Luther and Katharina, and was amazed at how true
Jody had stayed to the original account, while adding some uniquely fictional
touches to build her story up.
The author succeeds in weaving history into this love story
at appropriate moments well enough, in order to bring back memories of our
history lessons learned decades ago, particularly the period of the Reformation
against the Catholic Church of the time. Her research on the historical events
that transpired at the time is commendable. We get a sense of the Reformation
coming to a culmination, even as the unacknowledged love of Luther and
Katharina comes to a crescendo.
Of course, the love story irritated me at times because neither
party seemed to be willing to admit their feelings, hiding behind the façade of
obligation, and Katharina just would not let go of her regret at having to
marry a commoner.
I have not read love stories in a long time so the enjoyment
that I derived from this one came as a total surprise to me.
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