Review of Karen Maitland's THE OWL KILLERS

Karen Maitland's THE OWL KILLERS is a compelling and often unsettling exploration of the clash between the pagan undercurrents in medieval England and the growing strength of the Christian faith. Set in a backwater town plagued by a despotic overlord and group of masked men who call themselves the Owl Masters —dedicated to preserving their power at any costs by exacting tribute from the downtrodden villagers and enacting terrifying nightly rites— the novel follows a number of characters from their points of view, each of whom has his or her reasons for liking or resenting a group of foreign women who have come to settle outside in the village.

Part of a medieval phenomenon called a beguinage, these woman hail from different sections of society, united in their commitment to an ascetic lifestyle that includes caring for the less fortunate. However, not all is as it seems under the hard-working, disciplined exterior of the beguinage and it is precisely here where Ms Maitland deftly weaves the strands of discord, suspicion, resentment, and eventual fear that thrust the women into the heart of a horrific plot hatched by the Owl Masters.

The characters are finely wrought and include a vengeful priest with a secret; an ancient cunning woman who lives like a wild thing on the hill; her feral granddaughter; and various women of the beguinage, including the stalwart leader, Servant Martha, and an unbalanced acolyte, Beatrice. The arrival of the manor lord’s disgraced daughter, who has witnessed a terrifying rite in the forest where a demon allegedly was unleashed, sets off a chain of events that will ensnare each of these characters in a deadly struggle to preserve his or her way of life— a struggle that foreshadows the crumbling of the foundations of a much older, matriarchal system of belief under the onslaught of a virile and aggressive Church. While the changing viewpoints within Ms Maitland’s narrative may prove confounding to some readers, those who persist will find unexpected moments of transcendent beauty, as Ms Maitland excels in depicting not only the people of her savage, rarely explored world but also the shifting landscape which they inhabit.

From a catastrophic flood to the beatific sufferings of a starving anchorite to a heart-stopping chase through the forest as a winged beast flies overhead, THE OWL KILLERS is not for the faint of heart, evoking a medieval vision that offers stark contrast to our often overly-romantic imaginings. Ms Maitland's latest novel, THE GALLOW'S CURSE will be released this month. For more about her and her work, visit http://www.karenmaitland.com/

Back from the Holidays

It seems like ages since I last posted and I wanted to wish you all a very happy holiday season and New Year. I actually am just getting over the most evil cold in the universe, which felled me shortly before Christmas. I'm on the mend but still a bit woozy from the massive amounts of decongestants I imbued.

On the book news front, I've received some new revision requests from my editor for The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, which I'm currently at work on. While it feels as though this book simply refuses to leave me, in truth my editor's comments were very insightful and so I'm tackling this latest- and hopefully, final - revision in the spirit that it gives me an opportunity to highlight the book's characters and themes. I'm quite excited about the revisions, which is great, as I'll need all the passion I can muster to make my March 15 deadline! If all goes as planned, the book will be on the spring 2010 publication schedule.

And lastly, while I was sick, I read a terrific debut novel titled Company of Liars by Karen Maitland. Set in 14th century England during the time of the Pestilence, this is a chilling, riveting tale of nine travelers who come together seemingly by accident and forge an uneasy alliance in order to outwit the black death. As narrated by the one-eyed relic hawker, Camelot, we journey with them through a collapsing world of flood, fear, and famine, where townships are abandoned overnight to the plague and the road harbors both criminals and fugitives. As the travelers begin to sense an unseen presence stalking them, they must either face the secrets within their midst or fall prey to a force intent on destroying them. Along the way they will confront who they are to each other, and most importantly, who they are to themselves. This is a captivating novel; beautifully rendered, dark, frightening, and engrossing, replete with details of medieval life in a time when all semblance of order breaks down and magical in its depiction of the invisible collusion between the physical and the spiritual.

You can read more about Karen Maitland and her work here: http://www.karenmaitland.com/

The book is available both in the UK and the US. The featured cover is the UK version.