The Grail of Hearts

by Susan Shwartz

A magical retelling of the legend of the Wandering Jew follows Kundry--the harlot who is condemned to wander the Earth for all eternity for laughing at the crucifixion of Christ--the evil sorcerer Klingsor, and Parsival the fool.

Genres: Fantasy, Arthurian, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Writes with Shariann Lewitt as Gordon Kendall.

She received her B.A. in English from Mount Holyoke College in 1972 and a PhD in English from Harvard University.

Reviews

[Thegazzardian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A local charity in my city does a book sale each year.
This year, I missed the sale, but found out after the last day, they give all the unsold books away free (or as many as they can before - I don’t know what they do with them, probably recycle?)

So I went with my two year old daughter and picked up a bunch of books, and found at some point she had picked this book off one of the tables and put it in my box. I had never heard of it, it hadn’t caught my eye as I went by, and I knew nothing about the author, but something about the “book my daughter picked for me” struck my fancy, and despite a long tbr, this was the first book I read from my haul.

It felt like going blind in a lot of ways. Even Goodreads didn’t have much to say about this book (only one other review without spoilers, which said the story was good but the prose was confusing).

The book ended up being a Grail legend, with hints of Camelot, the Christ myth, and the Parcifal myth (which I am unfamiliar with). It largely had to do with the idea of salvation, and followed a cursed woman, Kundry, and her involvement with a wicked sorcerer, the keeper of the grail, and how she was cursed in the time of Jesus.

I ended up enjoying the story, although as the other reviewer noted, the prose wasn’t perfect. Unlike the other reviewer, I never found myself unclear on what had just happened, but found the sense of time and space to be fuzzy. (This wasn’t just because of Broceliande, the forest that was known to not follow the rules of time and space). More like, I would read about something that happened, then realize a paragraph or two later is was months later and only then realize that what I thought had happened in a single scene, happened over a lot of time. This mostly occurred over the last section of the book, which took place over 20 years or so.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the book, and figured out the story well enough. It would have been 4 stars if not for the issues with the prose, I think. I do think the ability to enjoy the book is based somewhat on your familiarity with the source material, as the author doesn’t always explain the significance of people or events, so knowing them in advance helps.

[Brian Paterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this maybe two decades ago and today, the last page still moves me. I had to get sticky tape out to repair the covers (the inside surface of which are so dark brown that it is clear that all books eventually burn, it is merely best for all of that they get to burn slowly on a shelf). Of course, on re-reading Grail of Hearts I knew that gorgeous ending was coming- and I'm there again to cheer Kundry on.
Otherwise, I'd quite forgotten what Kundry gets up to in the middle of this book (Doh! Hits-head-on-desk). There is no back cover blurb see- so all I dare say is that the middle chapters are apparently based on um.... real... events.
In closing, supposedly 'loathly' or 'savage' damsels populate the Arthurian tradition. This book is a worthy origin story for a character who controversially joined the dramatis personae of the Grail Romances quite late. Nevertheless, Kundry reminds us that what some people call 'The Greatest Story Ever Told' overshadows a catastrophe.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

It blends elements of Grail mythology, the Gospels, and Arthurian legend into a story about belief and mercy and believing in mercy, which can be so difficult.

[Kathi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but it never really grabbed me. Maybe I needed more background--I read the author's note at the end of the book and realized that, with more context, I may have appreciated it more. I love stories related to the Arthurian legends, but I was somewhat disappointed with this one.

Although I understand the connection between the Grail and the story of Jesus (Joshua in this book), I was surprised at how much of the story was devoted to Kundry's time with Joshua and his followers. I never quite understood how she was cursed, nor why her return to that time and the things she changed didn't seem to make much difference to either the outcome for Joshua and his disciples or Kundry herself.

[Dawn Cancellieri · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the concept and storyline in this novel a lot, but I just could not connect with the author's style. I found her diction and syntax convoluted and confusing. I constantly found myself getting to the end of a page or even a paragraph and asking myself "What did I just read?" I had to keep going back and rereading to understand what had just happened to the characters. Eventually found myself just skimming to follow the plot because I was intrigued by the story itself and was curious to find out how she resolved it.