Rating: 
Summary: the magical world of Mirabilis
Review: A beautifully written story about love, loss, faith, and desire, Mirabilis is set in the mystical town of Villeneuve--a place populated by mischevious dwarves, mercenary priests, magicians, and so-called saints. It is a place of magic and miracles, sickness and cruelty, and from the first sentence, this novel will transport you to the dark, ruthless world of medieval France. Cokal is a captivating story-teller, and this is one of the best historical novels that I've read. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect confection of a novel
Review: A beautifully-written story of a provincial French town in the late 14th-century. Our main character is Bonne, the bastard daughter of a woman who was said to have performed miracles. Twenty-two years later, Bonne finds herself as a nursemaid to a wealthy woman. When the town of Villanueve is besieged by the English, and the townspeople are starving, Bonne finds herself feeding most of them with her milk.
This is a strongly sensual book- but, oddly enough, it is not sexual. The act of breastfeeding is treated with matter-of-factness. Bonne is a fascinating character, and I enjoyed getting "inside her head" in this powerful book about love and longing during a time of famine and plague, at a time when it was a sin to be a dwarf or a Jew. We also see the viewpoints of some of the other major characters in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Medieval Saints and Sinners
Review: Bonne La Mere was a wet nurse who, history tells us, fed the entire town of Villeneuve, France, for weeks during a siege by the English in 1372. Susann Cokal takes the few snippets of information available about Bonne's life, and uses them to skillfully embroider her lush novel, Mirabilis. Cokal appears to have a firm grip on her time period, enough to thrust the reader into the sights, sounds and smells of medieval life. She's particularly adept at portraying the bizarre mix of superstition and faith that characterized medieval religious belief. The only false historical note, for me, anyway, was the supposition that Bonne, a poor girl and illegitimate to boot, would somehow have picked up the skill of reading and writing. That one was tougher to swallow than a heroine with miraculous breasts.The other characters in the book are strange and yet somehow believable. There's an ascetic sculptor with a penchant for self-flagellation, a manic-depressive dwarf, and a voluptuously pregnant noblewoman, all of them vying for Bonne's attention. Although I was prepared for just about any plot twist in this novel, the sexually charged relationship that develops between Bonne and her wealthy patroness struck me as somewhat gratuitous. It wasn't necessary for the plot, although my cynical take on the publishing industry tells me that it may have been necessary in order to get a manuscript about a dubious medieval saint into print. That, and the often impenetrable bits of narrative supplied by the dwarf, marred the book for me. Nevertheless, the novel is strangely compelling, and worth reading for the startlingly clear window that Cokal provides into another time and place.
Rating:
Summary: Medieval Saints and Sinners
Review: Bonne La Mere was a wet nurse who, history tells us, fed the entire town of Villeneuve, France, for weeks during a siege by the English in 1372. Susann Cokal takes the few snippets of information available about Bonne's life, and uses them to skillfully embroider her lush novel, Mirabilis. Cokal appears to have a firm grip on her time period, enough to thrust the reader into the sights, sounds and smells of medieval life. She's particularly adept at portraying the bizarre mix of superstition and faith that characterized medieval religious belief. The only false historical note, for me, anyway, was the supposition that Bonne, a poor girl and illegitimate to boot, would somehow have picked up the skill of reading and writing. That one was tougher to swallow than a heroine with miraculous breasts. The other characters in the book are strange and yet somehow believable. There's an ascetic sculptor with a penchant for self-flagellation, a manic-depressive dwarf, and a voluptuously pregnant noblewoman, all of them vying for Bonne's attention. Although I was prepared for just about any plot twist in this novel, the sexually charged relationship that develops between Bonne and her wealthy patroness struck me as somewhat gratuitous. It wasn't necessary for the plot, although my cynical take on the publishing industry tells me that it may have been necessary in order to get a manuscript about a dubious medieval saint into print. That, and the often impenetrable bits of narrative supplied by the dwarf, marred the book for me. Nevertheless, the novel is strangely compelling, and worth reading for the startlingly clear window that Cokal provides into another time and place.
Rating:
Summary: powerful medieval historical fiction
Review: In Anno Domini 1349, the Black Death has plagued the beleaguered the villagers of Villeneuve, France for two years. As the morale sinks lower, a miracle occurs at the Saint-Porchaire Church to provide hope that God has not abandoned the faithful. At the first communion of a teenage girl, Blanche Mirabilis levitates above the stunned townsfolk. Nine months later, she gives birth that many villagers believe is an Immaculate Conception. However, years later, the church burns the miracle girl at the stake for committing heresy. As a teen, that infant Bonne Mirabilis becomes a wet nurse, but with her heritage no one will hire her, treating her like a pariah. Wealthy Radegonde Putemonnoie is pregnant with her deceased spouse's child. If she gives birth to the heir she inherits her late husband's fortune. Radegonde hires Bonne as her wet nurse. As the town is under English siege and food becomes scarce except in the home of Radegonde, Bonne allows the less fortunate townsfolk, who previously avoided her like a leper, to drink from her ever flowing breasts. Mirabilis is a powerful medieval historical fiction that vividly brings to life the period as few books do. The story line flows deeply and graphically so that the audience tastes, feels, and smells the mid to late fifteenth century yet not all the descriptions are quite glowing and upbeat as is typical of novels depicting the period. However, the theme is not to turn Villeneuve into the Eerie, Indiana of fourteenth century France, but instead through a strong cast show how every body needs someone to care and cherish them. Susann Cokal presents a wild, wacky, but wonderful debut. Harriet Klausner
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Summary: A great work of historical fiction
Review: Mirabilis is a great work of historical fiction, with elements of the miraculous and a poetic, masterful use of language. Readers experience life, both the beautiful and the repulsive, in a medieval French town through a strong, yet saintly and sympathetic, wet-nurse heroine. The novel probably isn't for those who prefer an easy, straightforward, "quick read," but it will definitely reward most other readers. Suspense elements include a long siege of the town by an English army and the threat of a crafty priest who will gladly use imprisonment and torture to increase his own position and influence. As an author of recent, complex historical fiction myself (India Treasures), I admire how Susann Cokal deftly handles frequently changing points of view, yet maintains the continuity of the tale, and how she believably and seamlessly weaves the details of medieval life into the narrative.
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Summary: mirabilis: engaging...
Review: mirabilis is a wonderful book. i found it engaging my mind, heart, and spirit. this story is one of those few books that you want to keep reading well into the night/early morning just to see happens next. keeping some kleenix handy might be helpful too, since i got teary-eyed several times.
Rating:
Summary: mirabilis: engaging...
Review: mirabilis is a wonderful work. it engages your mind, heart, and spirit. it is a story beautifully written so that you feel for the heroine. definitely a book that you want to keep reading well into the night/early morning just so you can see what happens next. also, keep some kleenix nearby...a few should do! :D
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Summary: An original and candid novel
Review: Set in a small French village in the year 1372, Mirabilis is Susann Cokal's debut novel and the story a village wet-nurse who holds the key to saving the town from famine - an especially striking act of generosity, since the people of her home are responsible for locking her mother, two priests suspected of being her father, and all the village women who believed her conception to be immaculate within a church and burning it. Dubbed "God's bastard," she carries on the rode to sainthood among ascetics, mystics, lovers, and jesters. Mirabilis is an original and candid novel, unafraid to reveal the ridiculous between extremes, as well as the cruel melding of hypocrisy and piety that so often brings suffering. Highly recommended reading!
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Summary: Weird and Wonderful
Review: The novel MIRABILIS tells a strange story, and it tells that strange story beautifully.
Author Susann Cokal has done impressive research on the early medieval era in France, a moment in time when the Church--the original Catholic Church--promised heaven as the sole reward for life's difficulties. This was a time, remember, when the only difference between rich and poor was that the rich usually had enough to eat. There were no medicines, and it was normal to share one's quarters with one's animals.
Even mirrors were virtually unknown, more of a myth than a reality--and anything not understood and not able to be explained was attributed to witchcraft.
Mirabilis, also known as "Bonne Anne," is a girl born of a young woman who may have been a virgin mother. Yet was there really a second virgin birth? And, if there was not a second Immaculate Conception why, then, was the entire town convinced that they had witnessed the impregnation of this particular virgin?
Because, here, the insemination of the mother of this Bonne Anne may have taken place during a church service. She may have been carried high above the heads of the congregants while she was being impregnated. Or--maybe not.
The connotation of the phrase "Bonne" probably is tantamount to the English word "Goody," which was a medieval honorific meaning "Goodwife." This was a term of respect, but less respectful than "mistress" or "lady" would have been.
The "Bonne Anne" herself may be a witch. Or--maybe not.
The grandmother of Bonne Anne, who survives her daughter, also may be a witch. Or--maybe not.
The patroness of Bonne Anne may be a witch. Or--maybe not.
Maybe not. Maybe, they just are lesbian lovers. Yet by the standards of that day, were lesbians all considered to be witches? Did they consider themselves to be witches?
And what about the dwarf who grows, and the self-flagellating priest? And does the statue really look that life-like?
Cokal gives us many mysteries. Still, she offers no hard answers except for the fascinating way in which Mirabilis rescues her town from the famine that results following a siege brought by the English.
This is a weird and wonderful book, and even the afterword is mysterious. Is the scholarly note about the heroine on the level, and did she actually exist, or is this note fiction as well?
Read MIRABILIS and decide for yourself.
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