“Most people don't realize how important librarians are. I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained. Possibly a slight overstatement. But a culture that doesn't value its librarians doesn't value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?”
Neil Gaiman

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Canadian Historical Fiction with a Gory Side



The Hangman in the Mirror
By Kate Cayley

Kate Cayley based her tale on the true story of Francoise Laurent, a young woman who was imprisoned for stealing from her employer.  She was sentenced to hanging, but the hangman died before her sentencing.  While imprisoned, she was able to convince a young soldier imprisoned for dueling, Jean Corolere, to marry her and become the hangman, thus freeing her from her death sentence.  Cayley took this story and created a fictional play originally and then turned that into this delightful short novel.  Lovers of historical fiction will enjoy this unusual story and relish learning about a time period that is not well documented nor taught in our history classes.  Kudos to Cayley for a nicely written story.

Melissa Singleton Josef, MLIS

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