L'Égal de dieu

by Alain Absire

Winner of the Prix Femina award in 1987, this historical novel is set a thousand years ago in France, and follows the story of Odilon de Bernay, who serves as page to Liebaut de Malbry. Absire's books have won several prizes - "Lazarus" was his seventh award-winning novel.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

294 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Eric_W]

The narrator in God's Equal is a monk seeking absolution by writing about his sins just before his death. He tells of his youth, when as a squire for a Norman knight, he comes of age during battle defending a small town in northern France during the middle ages. He comes to love the knight passionately. The knight, however, falls in love with a mysterious peasant woman who seems to have supernatural healing powers. The squire jealously plots the death of the woman but only succeeds in accidentally causing the death of his beloved knight. The most interesting facet of the work, aside from its vivid recreation of the middle ages, was Absire's description of the monk's torment with himself; his guilt over having caused his master's murder, but more his relationship with God. As he brings his beloved knight back to life through the miracle of writing the story, he wonders if he is not trying to become God's equal, i. e. resurrecting the dead through his manuscript.

[Brittany]

This book was a revelation for me regarding the mentality of the middle ages person. In this case, the protagonist is a noble squire who heroically serves his lord, and at night he clings to his lord in a most homoerotic way to keep warm. The squire's character is a new favorite of mine.