What We Thought: Amsterdam 1634: French Philosopher Rene Descartes takes a room above Mr Sergeant’s bookshop to work on his Discourse. Helena Jans, sixteen years old, is the maid who takes his eye. Helena is an intelligent girl and, unusually for one of her class, can read and write. Slowly, through a very natural sharing of small events they come together. The Monsieur, as Descartes is known, is 20 years older, a controversial thinker, and a Catholic.
When the inevitable happens, Helena is sent away to hide her pregnancy while the Monsieur goes to live in Utrecht. Will he ever return? Will the child Helena bears ever know her father?
Based, very loosely, on what little is known of true events, this is the story of Descartes’ and Jans’ relationship over a number of years. Helena is portrayed as an almost modern-thinking woman, wanting to write, draw, create and be more than the skivvy she is. She must scrimp on paper, salvage quills and make her own ink. She must fit her learning in between her household duties. Trapped in her time, she is at the mercy of men and even the loving ones do not accord her full status. The frustrations of women’s lives are starkly drawn, constrasting with sensuous descriptive pieces.
Beautifully written, this is a fascinating story. I found the first part of the book to be more involving than the latter part but this did not at all spoil my great enjoyment of it.
You’ll enjoy this if you like: Tracy Chevalier, Jessie Burton etc
Avoid if you dislike: The realities of life for women in earlier centuries.
Ideal accompaniments: Experimenting with beetroot ink.
Genre: Literary/Historical Fiction
Available on Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment