Brigid's Charge: A Tale of Persecution with a Twist

A historical novel set in New Jersey in the 1700s, Brigid's Charge is the tale of the author's ancestor, who was accused of giving birth to a devil child.

From Library Journal

Lamb creates a very sympathetic story of Deborah Leeds, who comes to Colonial New Jersey to escape persecution and assure continuation of a maternal line devoted to the Celtic goddess Brigid. Practicing the traditional art of healing within a tolerant Quaker community, she marries and has a dozen children, but she must hide her secret faith. Becoming friends with a circle of other healers, especially her former servant Erin, her skills are appreciated and needed until a medical doctor suspects her powers and the kindred spirit of these female friendships. The tension between her dual worlds is well sustained as Lamb crafts the novel from her own family history, wiccan ritual, Quaker philosophy, and the legend of a devil that haunts the Jersey Pine Barrens, drawing from almost a decade of research. Cindy Hollenberg handles the accents and 18th-century speech patterns well. Highly recommended for mature audiences and for collections open to the subject matter of this historical novel.AJoyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Publisher

The print version of "Brigid's Charge" (Bay Island Books) was a silver winner in the Publishers Marketing Association Benjamin Franklin Awards (fiction). Author Cynthia Lamb has appeared on numerous radio and television programs nationwide, talking about the misunderstandings and misinterpretations which have led to witch hunts and which still plague goddess worshipers today. This novel is fiction, yet based on the author's real-life ancestor who was accused of birthing a devil in the New Jersey barrens. Lamb researched family anecdotes, regional folklore, and New Jersey news sources to bring us this fascinating tale. Award-winning narrator Cindy Hollenberg brings it to life for us in the unabridged recording, with parts read by the author herself.

From the Inside Flap

Only about one hundred miles south of New York City, in the isolated area of New Jersey known as the Pine Barrens, sightings of a frightening creature have continued into recent times. Today the Jersey Devil survives as the name of a professional sports team, but the lengend of this once-dreaded creature has roots that reach back two hundred sixty years to colonial America. In this fictionalized account of the Devil's origin, Cynthia Lamb has relied on an impressive combination of family history and fascinating research to bring this story to life. When America was a distant, wild country in 1704, a courageous young English woman emigrated to the colony of New Jersey to marry a man of her mother's choosing. Her most precious possession was a book containing her grandmother's ancient knowledge of herbal healing. Years of instruction had grounded her in the beauty and power of a long-ago time when women were close to a ruling goddess. But authorities of the Crown considered their rituals of witchcraft to be criminal acts, punishable by hanging. In the New World, Deborah Leeds discovered Quaker tolerance and a measure of womanly freedom, but still had to live cautiously because of her religious beliefs. She married, bore many children, and among colonists acquired a strong reputation as a healer. During her life, she befriended other female healers -- Erin in particular, a fiery indentured Irish servant who possessed powerful knowledge of her own. This formed the basis for a loving but dangerous relationship. Both women had to contend with the arrival of a hostile "Doctor of Physic" as they raised daughters who could follow in their footsteps and continue to fulfill Brigid's Charge. The story spans Deborah's maiden- and motherhood, and concludes just as she is about to enter her crone years of wisdom -- when an unexpected pregnancy shatters her world.

From AudioFile

Drawing from family history, Lamb tells of an extraordinary woman who is caught in a period of transition when medicine moved from the province of women to the realm of "educated" men. Cindy Hollenberg narrates smoothly and evenly, handling with ease the seventeenth-century mannerisms of Quaker speech. Her use of accent for the Irish servant is a bit spotty, but otherwise her characters remain consistent and true. The author joins with Hollenberg for some passages of choral reading related to Old Religion ritual and also is the voice of one particular ancestor in some portions of the book. The result is not overwhelming but does not detract. The sprinkling of chant and sacred song adds a sense of the characters' reality. J.E.M. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author

A direct descendant of her heroine in Brigid's Charge, Cynthia Lamb was born in New Jersey, which her maternal line has inhabited for three centuries. At the University of Missouri-Columbia she was awarded the Edward R. Murrow Memorial Scholarship for excellence in broadcast journalism, given by the actor Ed Asner. She earned an MFA in English and Creative Writing from Mills College. While writing Brigid's Charge she worked as a caregiver for people with AIDS. Currently, Lamb is living in California and working on her second literary novel, based on her search for the sister her parents gave up for adoption. She is also working on a screenplay for Brigid's Charge.

Reviews

News