Book #39: Crossed
Crossed is a historical fiction novel by Nicole Galland set during the disastrous (but weren't they all?) Fourth Crusade. This book was everything I have come to expect and appreciate about Nicole Galland's work - impeccably thorough historical rendering, populated with well-written, intriguing characters, both real and imagined.
The narrator is a nameless Welshman, called the Briton. In the first chapter, he sneaks into the crusader camp in Venice as it readies for departure and attempts to assassinate its leader, Boniface. But Boniface is not the man he meant to assassinate, and this is actually the medieval equivalent of "suicide by cop" - he hopes to be killed in the process. But Boniface's son-in-law, the German knight Gregor of Mainz, spares his life, and takes him in as his ward. Gregor is genuinely pious and decides that the Briton's soul is now in his keeping. The Briton's sharp tongue, perceptive mind, and musical abilities (which allow him to spy with impunity, as no one pays attention to the lute player) eventually render him indispensable. He becomes part of Gregor's odd little "tribe" - Gregor's brother Otto, his mistress Liliana, and a woman named Jamila who the Briton rescues from the captivity of a Venetian merchant. Everyone thinks Jamila is an Egyptian princess, and though she maintains this image for as long as she has to, it soon becomes obvious to her friends that she is not. Jamila is a fascinating character - she is every inch a match for the Briton in wit and intelligence, but while he is cynical and impulsive, she is measured and careful. She strikes me as one of those people of powerful intellect and character who appears very still on the outside but is actually internally a ferocious storm.
The group's trials and adventures as they travel with the army are exciting and often (intentionally) frustrating. Gregor's faith and leadership are tested as Boniface takes the crusaders not to Venice but first to Zara on the Dalmatian coast and then to Constantinople. The complicated politics, manipulation of religion, and personality/ego clashes are well portrayed. This book manages to be both sweeping and personally intimate at the same time. Each character has a clear voice, and in spite of the serious subject matter, they each provide wonderful moments of humor that perfectly punctuate the story.
The narrator is a nameless Welshman, called the Briton. In the first chapter, he sneaks into the crusader camp in Venice as it readies for departure and attempts to assassinate its leader, Boniface. But Boniface is not the man he meant to assassinate, and this is actually the medieval equivalent of "suicide by cop" - he hopes to be killed in the process. But Boniface's son-in-law, the German knight Gregor of Mainz, spares his life, and takes him in as his ward. Gregor is genuinely pious and decides that the Briton's soul is now in his keeping. The Briton's sharp tongue, perceptive mind, and musical abilities (which allow him to spy with impunity, as no one pays attention to the lute player) eventually render him indispensable. He becomes part of Gregor's odd little "tribe" - Gregor's brother Otto, his mistress Liliana, and a woman named Jamila who the Briton rescues from the captivity of a Venetian merchant. Everyone thinks Jamila is an Egyptian princess, and though she maintains this image for as long as she has to, it soon becomes obvious to her friends that she is not. Jamila is a fascinating character - she is every inch a match for the Briton in wit and intelligence, but while he is cynical and impulsive, she is measured and careful. She strikes me as one of those people of powerful intellect and character who appears very still on the outside but is actually internally a ferocious storm.
The group's trials and adventures as they travel with the army are exciting and often (intentionally) frustrating. Gregor's faith and leadership are tested as Boniface takes the crusaders not to Venice but first to Zara on the Dalmatian coast and then to Constantinople. The complicated politics, manipulation of religion, and personality/ego clashes are well portrayed. This book manages to be both sweeping and personally intimate at the same time. Each character has a clear voice, and in spite of the serious subject matter, they each provide wonderful moments of humor that perfectly punctuate the story.