Another Four Star Book!!!

The book review below was found HERE.

I have my doubts about historical fiction as a genre, and generally stay away from it, since it is so hard to tell where the history ends and the fiction begins, and vice versa. But sometimes (as long as we go in with our eyes open) it is fun to allow an author to create a picture of history for us, and Taylor Caldwell is a master at this form. Here she gives us a deeply interesting picture of the clash of cultures that created Luke, apostle and author of the third gospel. We know very little about Luke other than that he was a physician, that he also wrote the Book of Acts, that he was a companion of Paul, and that he did not personally know the Savior. With this as a premise Caldwell places him in a home raised by Greek parents who serve a Roman Lord who employs an Egyptian tutor for his own daughter and young Lukanus (as he is called). Later, in the great medical school at Alexandria he becomes the pupil of an Israelite scholar who introduces him to the beliefs of the Jews. Always, Lucanus is seeking something, or someone, who haunts his dreams. It is, of course, the Lord.

Caldwell has a remarkable facility with the technical aspects of life. Most interesting to me were her descriptions of medical procedures and even surgeries as they were performed at the time. I have read that her descriptions are historically correct and filled with the kind of detail that makes physicians admire her work. She is equally at home in discussions of philosophy, scripture and religion. Her weakness, to my mind, is a tendency to preach her political point of view. Caldwell was a conspiracy theorist who was convinced that a small group of individuals controlled the economies and political destinies of nations. The older she got, the more these views found expression through her characters, and this gets in the way of the story.

For those of us who have spent years studying the gospels, it is fascinating to imagine what kinds of experiences prepared them to become the chroniclers of the life of our Lord. Certainly we can sense a strong personality and a particular point of view in each gospel. Though Caldwell’s version of Luke’s life is recognizably Catholic (he is celibate, of course, and has the mystical powers of a saint) her picture of the kind of life he must have led gave me a richer view of the times. Here is a moment that is a fine example of Caldwell’s descriptive power: Lucanus, who has avoided his young step-brother because he reminds him of a lost loved one, melts toward the young boy, whom he has healed from a serious ailment:

“Priscus screamed with joy. He released Lucanus’ nose and grasped the young man’s curling forelock and pulled. Lucanus marveled at his strength. Here was a child who only six months ago had lain in his arms like a limp puppet, breathless and blue, limp as melting wax. All at once Lucanus was filled with pride and affection. He held out his arms for the boy, and Priscus promptly threw himself into them. The warmth of his small and sturdy body pierced to Lucanus’ very heart; he kissed the bare brown shoulders, the dimpled knees and elbows. He kissed the eyes so like Rubria’s, and then, very tenderly, the mouth that was a small replica of hers. His eyelids prickled and his throat tightened. Oh, let me not love again! He prayed to some faceless deity.”

This book took me forever to read...but not because it was slow or boring...on the contrary...
I have just been terribly distracted this last month or so.
Loved this book.
Its an old book, and Im not sure how I missed it before now, but Im grateful I plucked it from the library shelf.