Dramatizing the fight to save medical knowledge during the European witch-burning times 1465-1540, "The Mandrake Broom" has been called "riveting".
The Historical Novels Review says The Mandrake Broom "belongs on everyone's reading list."
In this fast-paced dramatization of one woman's courage fight to save medical knowledge during the witch-burning times, you'll meet:
Luccia Alimenti, daughter of a medical professor at the University of Salerno, Italy, destined to carry ancient texts and herbal lore into the dangerous and ground-breaking future.
Fiona, her Irish godmother who tries to protect her and forge a family while struggling with epilepsy and grief.
Marcelle, a hunter and co-conspirator as they are pushed to the brink and take up arms for revenge.
Theo Paracelsus, father of modern chemistry, a brilliant eunuch and addict who works with Luccia to forge a bridge between the new and old medicines.
The Mandrake Broom involves the tension between visibility and invisibility, between internal strength and external powerlessness, and the continually fluid interplay of those factors, while it takes the reader through persecution and Plague, love and joy, and the struggle for unity.
Excerpt
The Mandrake Broom
by Jess Wells
Chapter One
Salerno, Italy, 1465
The priests encircled the little girl, pressing her against the wall with the end of a cane. Like a chip of flint, a shard of a girl, she seemed as much of the stone wall as in front of it and she willed herself to seep through the mortar. To escape the priests screaming questions and predictions of the Devil’s presence in her, to run from their flapping black robes, their twisted faces with spittle on their beards and their eyes promising tortures that she had heard about. They couldn’t burn her as a witch, Luccia thought, she was too young. But only too young by six months. She was nine. They could. They would. They would say that the Devil had sent her here with this big box in her arms, its lid flapping open and a vial broken on the cobblestones. Obstetric tools had clanged to the ground and lay across her tattered shoes. Soul snatcher, she heard them hiss. Stealer of body parts. The rack, the blades, they would strip a yard of her flesh for every soul she had taken.
Bells began tolling in the high tower and the great doors of the church creaked open. The priests turned in unison and Luccia ducked, ran along the wall, turned the corner and dove under the cape of a pie man, trotted sideways in the lane hearing the priests calling behind her. She folded herself into the twig bundles of an old man, darted out to be the swineherd, rolled under the wheels of a wagon, curled in the gutter as a bundle of rags. She tore her leg on the cobblestones, but saw that the priests were turning, befuddled. She sprinted up and grabbed a dirty cloth, became a tottering, cloaked old man, then pushed the rag into her pocket and joined a gaggle of children. Within three blocks and down two narrow lanes she had become both genders, three ages, two professions and an inanimate object. Anything but be seen. Stealth, subterfuge: she would make her body as malleable as bread dough...
Professional Reviews
The Historical Novels Review
...Wells’ detailed bibliography confirms her extensive research. Historical events such as the invention of the printing press and contributions of Paracelsus, an innovative 16th century physician, are elegantly woven into the plot. The origin of the witch’s broom stereotype and a description of early book production techniques are also engaging. The well-rounded characters, constant action, and captivating subject matter unite to enlighten as well as infuriate as the atrocities of the time period become real through Wells’ vivid writing. Perspective from the persecutors’ point of view comprises a small part of the novel, and provides insight into their motivations.
Reminiscent of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon series, Jess Wells’ third novel belongs on everyone’s reading list, especially those who enjoy books about strong women willing to fight for their beliefs. – Suzanne J. Sprague, in The Historical Novels Review, 2008
Excellent novel, great fiction
“Excellent novel, great historical fiction. I highly recommend this book. It works as a quest, a thriller, an action adventure set in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, during the time of the Plague, the Inquisition, witch burnings, the Middle Ages. ..This is beautiful writing with great tension and pace. It really kept me plugged in, pulling for the protagonists, aching for them really. Great characters. This is the best historical fiction I’ve read in a very long time. Wells made the urgency of the time come alive.” – Bett Norris, author of Miss McGhee
Exciting novel, suitable for teens as well
Set in Europe in the 14-1500s this is a well-researched, complex, and exciting historical novel about the efforts of a family of women to hold onto, and pass along, medical and herbal knowledge in the face of witch hunts. Luccia Alimenti, daughter of a female medical professor at the University of Salerno is entrusted and ordered by her mother to carry out this task, which she does against all odds. Never dull, there is plenty of danger, adventure, and love in this small package. Published as an adult novel, teens who enjoy historical fiction will find this a worthwhile read. – Rainbow Books
From this first chapter it is obvious that you have done your research well, covering many of the herbs and techniques used in healing at the time. I am not an expert on herbs as medicines, nor do I know the history of Salerno as a center for medicine, and especially, a center for the study of women in medicine. In that sense, you are doing a great service in bringing out that history, often overlooked. The role of women in healing, going back to prehistory, and the ignorance of the church in dealing with science, holding back progress in many fields, including medicine. Continuing today.
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