IN THE FALCON'S CLAW

by Chet Raymo ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1989

Raymo, who has written eloquently on nature in books such as Honey from Stone (1987), here makes an un-eloquent fictional debut; his historical novel spans the years between 900 and 1000 A.D. His protagonist is Aileran, an Irish monk. The novel's present is the 18-month period preceding the year 1000. Aileran is abbot of Skellig Michael, a barren stock rock off the Irish coast. Though once known as the ""Saint of Skellig"" because he converted the Viking Olaf Trygvveson to Christianity, he is now considered a heretic, even the Antichrist, for his insistence that the ""signs"" do not prefigure a Second Coming. His dispute with Pope Sylvester II will lead to his excommunication and transportation to Rome. The twist is that Aileran and the Pope (formerly Gerbert) have been best friends for almost 40 years, and the story cuts back and forth, clumsily, between their past friendship and the present. They met at a monastery in what was then Gaul, and became instant buddies (Gerbert: ""I like you, I really do""). Gerbert was both a brilliant scholar and a worldly and passionate man, and it was under his corrupting influence that Aileran, already tempted by ""the worm of concupiscence,"" succumbed, first to whores in Spain, later to the lovely Melisande, wife of a nobleman (Aileran had once been her tutor). Their trysts were discovered; Aileran was branded, but escaped death through Gerbert's intervention, and returned to Ireland, where he has lived chastely until the time he is now transported to Rome; once again, a last-minute intervention by Gerbert saves him from death. A disappointment. Plotting is feeble; Raymo has made scant use of the historical opportunities, the convulsions in the Christian world before the second millennium; and the story is wrapped in a style that Polonius would have called historical-pastoral: ""the silver bridles and bright caparisons of their mounts moved in colorful consonance against the green backdrop of the river reeds.

Pub Date: March 1, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1989

Categories: FICTION