Waldo’s daughter, Felice, the darling of all who meet her, is accidentally poisoned and the race is on! This surprising page-turner is a sort of 19th-century four-legged “The Great Race” with a surprising spiritual aspect and a history lesson neatly tucked into its beautifully illustrated pages.
It’s like this: Jean Waldo shares a last name with Pierre Waldo, who (who knew? I certainly didn’t!!) was one of the first to translate the Bible into French so the common folk could read the Scriptures on their own. This spiritual movement, called the Waldensians, didn’t go down too well with the reigning French bishops (even though Pope Innocent gave this endeavor the okay), so they excommunicated Pierre Waldo and his disciples. Since Jean Waldo’s theme is “I take care of myself. My business is not his and his is not mine”, he’s kind of up a creek when he realizes he desperately DOES need someone’s help.
And can you
guess whose help he needs?? You’re close. No, not Pierre, but his equally infamous
and banned for life from Lyons translator-priest,
Father John of Luigo. It’s Father John who possesses the antidote/cure that’s
kept in a Crusade-rescued Saracen vial that resides in Father John’s secret
laboratory. Right??? But can the Arabian-steed mounted couriers (who meet with
all sorts of maddening delays and challenges) make the impossible trek to the
Alpine foothills in Italy to fetch back Father John in time to save Felice?
Simple? Maybe. Juvenile?
By modern criteria, probably. But I learned more about the covert and suppressed
translation of the Scriptures from this lively pre-Google saga than I’ve ever learned
before. I’d never even HEARD of Pierre Waldo! As in many Victorian-era novels,
Hale doesn’t hesitate to throw in some pretty grim details (Felice’s poison
reaction is pretty graphic) and the specter of death looms near. This book
reminds me of Robert Louis Stevenson’s boy-centric adventure novels with the
wonderful etching illustrations, the relentless, exciting action, the page-turning
suspense and the vividly sketched characters. The songs and poetry interruptions
were probably skipped or ignored by the original audience (I certainly tried
not to, but verse 10 of a medieval ditty gets a bit wearing).
But, this is
much more than a history lesson or a rip-roaring chase—at its core, it’s a
celebration of the long, rich history of Christian charity, forgotten heroes of
the faith, and true Christ-like living. The couriers and other helpers are
recruited out of their initial reluctance when the one pleading for help makes
the mystic sign of the Maltese cross in the air or draws it on a door and once the
compelling words “In His Name” are evoked, covert Christians immediately spring
into action. Like the man without a country, Jean Waldo, a man without a god,
is forced to realize his self-created world has a poverty he never suspected
until his narrow, selfish world collided with Truth.
“…that at the
Name of Jesus every knee shall bow..” Philippians 2:10
