Nicholas Cooke: Actor, Soldier, Physician, Priest. Stephanie Cowell. West End Productions, Inc./Amazon Digital Productions, Inc. August 2012. 371 pp./571 KB. ASIN B0094KFHJQ.
In the late 1500's a young man, whose father was hung as a thief and mother a woman forced to sell herself, is traumatized by a brutal childhood. He dreams of becoming a priest but due to his volatile temper he reacts before he thinks and must flee his boyhood village because he believes he has murdered the man to whom he was apprenticed. So begins the story spanning over thirty years in which this tortured young soul seeks love and guidance from others older and wiser. Yet always on the cusp of seeming to attain maturity, his yearnings and guilt arise and propel him elsewhere, frequently inflicting great frustration and pain on others who forgive him far beyond the threshold point of most human beings.
Arriving in London, he becomes an actor apprentice, falling in love with Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, and other great writers and actors of the time who at the time are fledglings in their craft and subject to the favor of Queen Elizabeth and those who fawn at her throne for power and riches. He must learn swordplay, tumbling, and other necessary skills and that he does very well indeed, also exhibiting an intellectual curiosity unusual for one in his social class. Years pass and after betraying his master's trust he flees to become a man by fighting with Lord Essex against the Irish who are rebelling against the Queen. Although he makes a great friend, Toby, he grows up fast after seeing the horrors and stupidity of warfare, a scenario of unprepared soldiers outnumbered and out-skilled by rebels passionate for their cause.
Returning to London, he takes up acting again. The coming of the plague begins to bring out his compassionate desire to be a healer and find a cure for this devastating illness that he himself will survive. Then follows a period of aspiring to be a deacon where his wife follows him into a bleak and lonely existence, compounded by a terrible, unspeakable loss that will scar and yet form him anew. He will thus meet scientists and clergy who will lead him back to what they believe is his clear call to become a priest.
The plot seems simple, yet Stephanie Cowell is a master at exposing every conflicting and inspiring thought that transpires in our hero's mind and soul. Multiple riveting details fill out the synopsis briefly stated above. Historical events of the times are cleanly and clearly interwoven naturally into the plot. One meets the grand and the poor in all their glory and squalor, scenes where the lines frequently cross mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. The reader feels he or she is right there in England as the theater develops from its shameful beginnings into its final professional status, when new discoveries in learning and science are thrilling the minds and spirit of this revolutionary century, and when men are learning to think for themselves about spirituality even in the midst of the "darkest" hours of their lives. The outcome is painfully positive and yet one couldn't imagine it any other way, and there are twists and turns that keep the reader alert and flipping the pages for more...more...more! There is so much more to say about Nicholas and his friends/ foes and the only way to catch it all is to read this magnificent historical story!
This reviewer loved this novel from beginning to end and believe it to be a true classic of historical fiction! Highly, highly recommended!
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