Written on Silk

Written on Silk by Linda Lee Chaikin

Zondervan, 2007

347 pages

Historical Fiction; Inspirational

2nd in Trilogy

Source: Library

Summary: Rachelle experiences firsthand the terror against Huguenots and joins with the other members of her family to stop the persecution while seeking romance and standing strong through the grace of God.

Thoughts: I was so confused when I started this. It picks up in a different place and doesn't immediately address any of the questions I had when I finished the first book. It also has a shift in that it is more explicitly religious with many prayers to God in the first sixty pages than in the whole of the first book, in my opinion (I didn't actually count). Chaikin also spends a lot of time stressing the revelations when one actually reads scripture and pressing the corruptions of the Roman Church and how they had disfigured those texts. One problem I had was the emphasis on justification by faith although I think the issue is more faith in salvation solely through Jesus Christ rather than through paying indulgences to corrupt church officials. I consider myself Protestant but I believe faith without works is useless and I did not like that element.

The influence of Spain in persecuting Huguenots is more emphasized in this book and the importance of the colonies is brought out more too. It could have been emphasized more instead of the angst.

I was sad that there was less about the royalty; Catherine Medici is one of the few we follow and even then it is not very much. Because there is less about the royalty, there is more about the other characters such as Andelot and Sebastian who were less prominent in the first book. There also didn't seem to be very much Rachelle although she is ostensibly the main character because it jumps around a lot to follow all of the other characters.

Overall: 3.5/5. Not as good as the first but setting up some interesting threads for the third.

Cover: I love the pink of the fan but I think the style is really ugly even if it's historically accurate.