Ned Hayes's Blog, page 72
November 20, 2014
Book Review - Flashlight Commentary
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Obtained from: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
Read: October 19, 2014
A terrible loss. A desperate journey. A mother seeks the truth. In December of the year 1377, five children were burned to death in a suspicious house fire. A small band of villagers traveled 200 miles across England in midwinter to demand justice for their children’s deaths. Sinful Folk is the story of this treacherous journey as seen by Mear, a former nun who has lived for a decade disguised as a mute man, raising her son quietly in this isolated village. For years, she has concealed herself and all her secrets. But in this journey, she will find the strength to claim the promise of her past and find a new future. Mear begins her journey in terror and heartache, and ends in triumph and redemption.
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Author Ned Hayes was entirely unfamiliar to me when Sinful Folk arrived in my mailbox and I’ll be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect from the book when I cracked it open. All I know for certain is that I was pretty ticked by the time I finished chapter eight.
Now before you jump down my throat, realize context is everything. I began reading Sinful Folk in August when I’d landed an excerpt of the novel in nationwide contest. An excerpt that only included chapters one through eight. Do you see what I’m getting at? If not, allow me to spell it out for you. I was hooked on this piece from page one and wasn’t exactly thrilled at only having part of the novel at my immediate disposal.
For two months the story hovered on the edge of my imagination, but thankfully, Sinful Folk turned out to be worth waiting for. I actually reread the opening chapters and finished the entire novel in two days, but that’s neither here nor there. What matters is that the delay and anticipation didn’t outweigh my ultimate admiration for Hayes narrative.
First and foremost, I liked the tone of the piece. It’s dark, heavy and desperate. Everything I’d imagine life in the fourteenth century to be. A lot of authors have a tendency to romanticize the era and I really appreciated the edginess of Hayes’ prose especially when you consider the material he covers over the course of the story. There’s a lot more in these pages than the jacket suggests – suspicion, anti-semitism, revenge, etc. – and here again, I think the layers and subplots bring a very authentic level of drama to the story.
Mear is also worth noting. Her situation and lifestyle allow her to be a somewhat androgynous narrator. At times she feels masculine, at others feminine and I thought it really interesting to see that voice develop as she came into her own. It’s not unusual to see a character evolve, but it isn’t every day that an author is so creative in illustrating that transition.
Sinful Folk is heavy reading and covers a substantial amount of historic material. There were a couple moments that I found almost overwhelming, but even so, I consider the time the time I gave this piece well spent and look forward to reading Hayes again in the future.
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The good, the bad, the virgin, and the harlot: no one is spared, all go rose-spattered with plague lesions. I see no sense, no judgment before doom strikes. Death takes us all with the black malady or the sweating sickness, or the white blindness or the winter croup, or the crops failing or bitter water in our mouths.
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Book Review – Flashlight Commentary was originally published on NedNote
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zephyrial:
elsajeni:
fralusans-ana-marein:
likeafieldmouse:
M...
Yamamoto’s works are mostly temporary, intricate, large-scale installations, or, “salt labyrinths”.
"Salt, a traditional symbol for purification and mourning in Japanese culture, is used in funeral rituals and by sumo wrestlers before matches. It is frequently placed in small piles at the entrance to restaurants and other businesses to ward off evil spirits and to attract benevolent ones.
Yamamoto forged a connection to the substance while mourning the death of his sister at the age of twenty-four from brain cancer, and began to create art out of salt in an effort to preserve his memories of her.
His art radiates an intense beauty and tranquility, but also conveys something ineffable, painful, and endless.”
Artist’s statement:
“Drawing a labyrinth with salt is like following a trace of my memory. Memories seem to change and vanish as time goes by; however, what I seek is to capture a frozen moment that cannot be attained through pictures or writings. What I look for at the end of the act of drawing could be a feeling of touching a precious memory.”
I don’t usually reblog art (and a lot of art crosses my dashboard, thanks to Annie and others), but this is appealing both aesthetically and conceptually.
… whoa.
it’s beautiful and I love it but….when I realized that was salt my only thought was ‘a demon would have a helluva time getting through that’
…….
November 19, 2014
Review - One More Chapter - SINFUL FOLK
Everything is gone, everything except my memories of a life where I was loved, where I was someone with a future, instead of someone with only a past.
A tragic loss. A desperate journey. A mother seeks the truth.
In December of 1377, four children were burned to death in a house fire. Villagers traveled hundreds of miles across England to demand justice for their children’s deaths.
Sinful Folk is the story of this terrible mid-winter journey as seen by Mear, a former nun who has lived for a decade disguised as a mute man, raising her son quietly in this isolated village. For years, she has concealed herself and all her history. But on this journey, she will find the strength to redeem the promise of her past. Mear begins her journey in terror and heartache, and ends in triumph and transcendence.
The remarkable new novel by Ned Hayes, illustrated by New York Times bestselling author/illustrator Nikki McClure, Sinful Folk illuminates the medieval era with profound insight and compassion.
****
I love historical fiction, there really isn’t any sub-genre that I haven’t tried and enjoyed, except one. That would be, gender role reversals. I love it when the author writes in such a fashion that I can be drawn in to the story and creates a world that I believe whatever is taking place. But I seriously had something in my little ole brain that makes it hard for me to believe that a woman can get away with pretending to be a man and have the story work. It’s not that I haven’t tried, because I did and it didn’t work out too well.
With Sinful Folk the cover was what grabbed my attention as well as the first 2 sentences of the synopsis, I really didn’t pay too much attention to the rest, which clearly stated that Mear, a former nun disguised as a mute man. By the time I realized this I’d already read the first chapter and was totally hooked.
If there is one word that I could use to sum up this book it would be ‘secrets’. Everyone seems to be hiding something, with Mear leading the pack. The plot of Sinful Folk was intriguing with all these secrets and subplots lingering around one would think it to be confusing and overwhelming. It wasn’t at all. There was dept to this story, between the suspicion characters, unsavory knights, fowl weather and much more the journey Mear and the fathers took was vividly described and realistic. The author definitely knows this time period well, to take a historical truth, the fire that killed 5 boys, and write this book was amazing and I loved the ending, it just finished this book off perfectly.
Ned Hayes has changed my view on gender reversal roles, he made Mear’s character easy to follow and believable, with the way she told this story had me empathizing with her and her situation.
Review – One More Chapter – SINFUL FOLK was originally published on NedNote
BOOK QUOTE:
“Fog lifts in the valley, rising as mist through the...
BOOK QUOTE:
“Fog lifts in the valley, rising as mist through the bare limbed trees. Far below, the deeping combe with our village in the heart of it. My whole world for nearly a decade has been contained in that place – and now the village of Duns is so small. I hold up my hand, form a circle with my fingers. Now the distant village seems a child’s plaything that I can hold in my own hand, wreathed in gossamer mist.”
PHOTO: therealbluerayne: now the sky is gold | via Tumblr on We Heart It.
November 18, 2014
"A Tale of Love and Power" - Book Review
Book Review from Broken Teepee
The synopsis of this book intrigued from the first time I read it. What must a woman be concealing to live for so long as a mute man? How in heaven’s name does she get away with it for so long? It piqued my curiosity; so many questions – what were the answers?
Mear is the narrator of the tale and it begins in great tragedy with a fire that kills four young men of the village. But the fire seems to be more than an accident. Why did someone want to kill their boys? It was a time of great resentment against the Jews so the immediate response is to blame them despite there being no evidence. Superstition was a powerful force in medieval times. The men of the village decide to take the bodies of their boys on the road to get justice. I have to admit that I didn’t understand this motivation plot point. Trying to do so just caused me all kinds of brain twists so I just went with the flow. Once I did it was easier to read the story.
Easier on one level anyway – there is a fair amount of violence in the book, particularly against Mear. It was honestly, a bit excessive at times. It was this that lowered the rating for me. The overall story was very compelling and full of twists and turns. It was a dark time in history for many reasons. Mr. Hayes portrays the period very well and I was carried along in his tale of love and power.
“A Tale of Love and Power” – Book Review was originally published on NedNote
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