Bohemian Gospel

September 7, 2015
Carpenter’s deliciously creepy debut novel explores 13th-century Bohemia through the eyes of a supernaturally gifted young woman. When Ottakar, the disputed “Younger King” of Bohemia, sustains a near-fatal arrow wound on the battlefield, he’s brought to the local monastery for treatment. There, he’s treated by a young girl known only as Mouse, who came to the monastery as a young orphan and whose healing abilities are unparalleled. Certain that this attempt on his life will not be the last, Ottakar insists that Mouse return with him to Prague as his personal healer. Over time, romance blooms. But Mouse’s mysterious origins are an obstacle to the couple’s happiness—not just because a commoner can never marry a king, but because Mouse’s emerging gifts are beginning to hint at darker secrets in her past. What’s more, dark creatures have emerged from the spirit world and are threatening to rain evil down on Prague. With the help of the priest who raised her, Mouse attempts to unravel the secret formula that will banish the spirits forever, but even as she succeeds in vanquishing them, Mouse isn’t prepared for the truth about her origins, or for the full extent of her abilities as her power grows. Carpenter’s vivid imagination creates a well-rounded, sympathetic heroine and an intricate world full of terrifying details. The volatility of the evil forces threatening Mouse’s world makes for an unpredictable journey, and while the final reveal of her origins feels a little cheap, readers will be too caught up in the action to mind. Agent: Susan Finesman, Fine Literary.

September 15, 2015
Thirteenth-century Bohemia: the kingdom is cursed by infighting, and a young girl with strange gifts struggles to heal and win the heart of a king, safeguard the kingdom, and fight some nasty demons in Carpenter's debut novel. Mouse has grown up in an abbey but finds herself ostracized from the rites of the Church. Trained in healing and possessing preternatural senses about the world and about human souls, she saves King Ottakar's life following an assassination attempt. He's taken with her beauty and her skill and insists she travel back to his court as his ward. Once there, she must not only navigate the dangerous political landscape, but also begin to come to terms with her own mysterious abilities, which earn her muttered accusations of witchcraft. Father Lucas, one of the men who raised Mouse and who calls her his "angel," returns to help her banish some ghosts who have been terrorizing her and the kingdom, and then he and Mouse travel to Houska, an abandoned fort that has been constructed over the gate to Hell. Carpenter's novel is an odd hybrid: part history, part horror, part love story, part Christian mythology, and this at first keeps it fresh and surprising. But all these parts fail to become a comprehensive whole, and the fragments splinter the narrative, rendering it uneven and each part of the story frustratingly incomplete. There will be some comparisons to Kostova's The Historian, and like that novel, this one does a good job of interweaving history with mythology and the supernatural, offering a new take on somewhat familiar themes. Unlike that novel, however, this one clocks in at an easily readable length; it should have been longer in order to fully develop the interesting seeds from which it springs. Brings the Dark Ages to strange and bewitching life for a time but proves too ambitious for its own good.

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October 15, 2015

Set in 13th-century Bohemia, this historical novel, which won Killer Nashville's 2014 Claymore Award, introduces Mouse, a young woman raised in a convent, whose life changes when her path crosses with a wounded young king. Mouse's unconventional healing skills save King Ottakar's life and he insists that she return with him to Prague to look after him until he recovers fully. Mouse hopes to prevent a further attempt on Ottakar's life as she fears it was no accident that injured him. She also wants to find out the truth about herself and escape the supernatural creatures that plague her. The otherworldly elements and the attempts on Ottakar's life add suspense to the narrative. Magic and the supernatural combine with court intrigue and romance in this absorbing but slightly uneven tale. Though the king is based on a historic figure (Ottakar II, 1233-78), many liberties are taken with fact to enhance the story. The strength of Carpenter's promising debut is its unusual Central European medieval setting and protagonist. The abrupt ending will jar readers. VERDICT Those who enjoy historical fiction with a paranormal twist such as Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian may find this book of interest.--Christina Thurairatnam, Holmes Cty. Dist. P.L., Millersburg, OH

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