The Trial of Sören Qvist

this is a book of very beautiful and clear descriptions of scene and character. The plot is rife with question of good and evil and justice,.

Although it's been a while since I read The Wife of Martin Guerre, I think I liked this second of Janet Lewis's fictional development of historical cases of circumstantial evidence. Set in 17th century Denmark, the story is rich with detail about place and character. Here he describes an alehouse wife come upon by a traveler, Niels Bruus, who figures largely in the unfolding of the plot. "A young woman with a good tall figure, a firm bosom and straight shoulders, came out of the inn and closed the door behind her, holding one hand still upon the latch.
With her came the aroma of the inn. It clung to the heavy serge of her garments, and she stood before the stranger in a sensuous aureole of warm air. The smell of beer, of wood smoke, of show more roasting meat and fish, of wool and leather impregnated with grease and sweat, all the fine compounded flavor of conviviality and food assailed the nostrils of the stranger with such a promise of good things behind the closed door that the walls of his stomach drew together painfully." (p. 13)

Later Lewis describes a spring evening:

"Anna Sorensdaughter took the long way home. There had been but a delicate warmth in this last day of April, barely enough to last over into the evening as the wind from the west rose gently and intermittently. In the grainfields there were but fine sharp spears of green, and in the beechwoods only the first unfurling of leaves. The great old oaks which stood one in each field throughout the plowed manor land were ever so faintly brushed with watery green. From amid the green transparent crowns of lindens the steep thatched roofs of farm buildings threw down their bluish shadow, lengthening toward the east, and every little granite pebble on the sandy roadway cast also its long shadow on the bright earth. THe air flowed about the girl's ankles almost as cold as the water in the small streams and touched her bare arms and her forehead pleasantly, and the contrast between the touch of the wind and the brightness of the evening sunlight delighted her." (p.65)

The interesting plot and its case of circumstantial evidence unfurl as the seasons pass and eventually lead to conclusion without resolution. Also, because a parson is involved, there is much thought given to faith and its role in human justice. show less

Although it's been a while since I read The Wife of Martin Guerre, I think I liked this second of Janet Lewis's fictional development of historical cases of circumstantial evidence. Set in 17th century Denmark, the story is rich with detail about place and character. Here he describes an alehouse wife come upon by a traveler, Niels Bruus, who figures largely in the unfolding of the plot. "A young woman with a good tall figure, a firm bosom and straight shoulders, came out of the inn and closed the door behind her, holding one hand still upon the latch.
With her came the aroma of the inn. It clung to the heavy serge of her garments, and she stood before the stranger in a sensuous aureole of warm air. The smell of beer, of wood smoke, of show more roasting meat and fish, of wool and leather impregnated with grease and sweat, all the fine compounded flavor of conviviality and food assailed the nostrils of the stranger with such a promise of good things behind the closed door that the walls of his stomach drew together painfully." (p. 13)

Later Lewis describes a spring evening:

"Anna Sorensdaughter took the long way home. There had been but a delicate warmth in this last day of April, barely enough to last over into the evening as the wind from the west rose gently and intermittently. In the grainfields there were but fine sharp spears of green, and in the beechwoods only the first unfurling of leaves. The great old oaks which stood one in each field throughout the plowed manor land were ever so faintly brushed with watery green. From amid the green transparent crowns of lindens the steep thatched roofs of farm buildings threw down their bluish shadow, lengthening toward the east, and every little granite pebble on the sandy roadway cast also its long shadow on the bright earth. THe air flowed about the girl's ankles almost as cold as the water in the small streams and touched her bare arms and her forehead pleasantly, and the contrast between the touch of the wind and the brightness of the evening sunlight delighted her." (p.65)

The interesting plot and its case of circumstantial evidence unfurl as the seasons pass and eventually lead to conclusion without resolution. Also, because a parson is involved, there is much thought given to faith and its role in human justice. show less

De herberg lag in een kuil in het landschap, aan de voet van een lage, licht hellende heuvel die begroeid was met kale beuken en net hoog genoeg kwam om de rechte rookpluimen uit de schoorstenen te doen breken en neerdalen.