Friday, October 27, 2006

A very sinful Friday

Susan recently made note of a surprisingly large number of bastards appearing in historical novels. Here's something along this "similar title" theme. While typing the details for Frederick Turner's Redemption into my HNR review book spreadsheet (it won't be on the distribution list; one of the editors is stealing it), Excel remembered I'd typed in this title before. And so I had. Three other examples, all from 2006:

Redemption, Carolyn Davidson
The Redemption, M.E. Tyndall
Song of Redemption, Lynn Austin

Why this big need for redemption? Maybe these novels help explain it:

Lady of Sin, Madeline Hunter
Gracie's Sin, Freda Lightfoot
The Seeds of Sin, Anne Herries
An Invitation to Sin, Suzanne Enoch
The Sinner's Tale, Will Davenport
Mortal Sins and Wages of Sin, Penelope Williamson

This phenomenon may or may not be related to the "bastard" theme.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:12 PM

    Time to 'fess up, I think:

    The Queen's Confession (Victoria Holt)

    (Strangely, I couldn't find much on this theme. Hhm.)

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  2. I confess, I found a couple more.

    Confessions of a Pagan Nun (Kate Horsley)
    Midnight Confessions (Candice Proctor)

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  3. Anonymous5:20 PM

    Too funny....

    Dear ladies, I think Holt's "The Queen's Confession" was supposed to be more along the lines of Augustine's "Confessions" rather than the sacrament of penance, which, no, is not in Holt's novel. But it is in "Abundance."

    "Confessions of a Pagan Nun," I think I read that....

    You forgot "Cardinal Sins" by Andrew Greeley. The first racy novel by a priest after "Manon Lescaut."

    Wasn't there a "Sins of the Fathers" by Susan Howatch?

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  4. It's interesting how for so long people had a stigma against bastards. I was reading about Pericles and how he had a bastard son and how they are recognized but can never shake that "bastard" label. Does Pearl from The Scarlet Letter count btw?

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  5. Scarlet Letter doesn't have "bastard" in the title like the others, but Pearl definitely counts in that group - and Hawthorne's novel is historical fiction, too.

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