The book might appeal to fans of religious fiction, but those looking for a good historical tale will be disappointed. In fact, had the headings of the chapters not given the dates, I wouldn’t have known that parts of the book took place in the 5th century. Another reader here says that there’s not a lot of historical detail here, and I agree with their assessment. The author’s grasp of early medieval Christianity is sound, but I thought she resorted to clichés in many places, especially when it came to the Irish people. Where’s her personality? Even Brigid herself wasn’t that appealing of a character, suffering from a lack of character development over the span of about 15 years. It’s rare that I complain that a book I don’t like is too short but I thought that the story could have been fleshed out a lot more, especially the characters of Alexandra, who never comes across as more than a cold appraiser. The idea of the story is appealing, but the execution of the book is rather lackluster, I’m afraid. The story is told as both a straight narrative and a series of letters written by a Roman spy named Decius, sent to Ireland to uncover possibly heresy. The story goes back and forth between Bridgid, a 5th-century woman chosen by Saint Patrick himself to convert the Irish into Christianity and a modern-day appraiser of medieval objects named Alex, who is invited to Kildare to appraise a book that the nuns there own. How I acquired my copy: ARC through the Vineīrigid of Kildare is a split-time novel. Why I decided to read: Interest in the subject matter
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