Rated of 5
by Pamela F. (Grants Pass, OR) Illuminations
I really didn't know much about Hildegard, and being a Catholic, I was really curious about this Saint. I read it more as a novel as I am not sure of the accuracy, but major events check out and I found the novel to be fascinating. Hildegard is going to be made a doctor of the Church and so this was timely. She was very independent for her time and forward thinking. I enjoyed this book and loved learning about the times.
Rated of 5
by Linda S. (Oceanside, NY) Illuminating the life of an anchorite
Imagine being bricked up into a small two room enclosure, with no windows and only a small courtyard that receives sparse light. This enclosure is attached to a church and your only contact with the outside world is through a small screen in the wall into the church. Your sole purpose is to be a handmaiden to Jutta von Sponheim, a noble woman who has agreed to be anchorite to the Disbodian abbey. Now imagine that you are only eight years old. This is the life of Hildegard von Bingen who became one of the most famous women in the Catholic Church, a writer, mystic and eventually a saint.
This was a fascinating book about the life of Hildegarde. She was a truly remarkable woman, a feminist for her time. After 35 years of living with the possibly mentally unbalanced Jutta, Hildegarde broke free of her anchorite, established an abbey and spoke all over Europe against the corruption of the church.
This book was fascinating. I knew very little about the life of an anchorite, I had read a little about Julian of Norwich but I learned so much more from this book. It is not a 'religious' book so much as it is an examination of human fortitude and the courage to fight for your convictions.
Falls short of five stars because I found the ending a little rushed. The opening chapters start with a mystery, but it is just explained away in the afterword. Up until this point I loved the book and wish it had been a little longer, about ten years seemed to be summed up in a few pages.
For those who like historical fiction, especially medieval history this is an excellent choice.
Rated of 5
by Tracy B. (New Castle, DE) Illuminations
What a shocking story. Well written and hard to put down. I wasn't raised as a Catholic so this was all very new to me. I had heard of female mystics but didn't know what their life was like? True women have come a long way in history but being walled into a space of two rooms for your life because you are a mystic as a young girl with a child caregiver doesn't seem like the good life or spiritual. The lack of choices that presented themselves to women in this time especially the ones of wealth. There was no way to protect the daughters, it was off to the church or marriage with the life of bearing children. Men would have control and power of the family Just as the church controlled knowledge of the the written word, healing...
I must say that I felt like a fly on the wall encased in those two rooms. As the courtyard gathered plants it seemed to grow. Jutta seemed to shrink as Hildegard started to flourish. Who would have guessed that Hildegard would have the spirit to survive. Could this have happened without the friendship of Volmar? When Hildergard escapes the confinement of those 2 rooms, a walled in prison within a prison, taking her sisters with her, does she have the courage to attain some freedom? Her belief system and knowledge of the world was limited to the church. Her lack of political understanding & confusion opened and closed doors around her. She was not able to manage the power that came with the Abby. The friendships and visions she cast aside believing that no one understood or supported her in this her final endeavor, to build Rupertsberg. Hildegard was alone again cast out of the church and the real world that got in the way. She fought for women, truth and knowledge.
Rated of 5
by Mary G. (Lawrenceville, NJ) Illuminations
What an interesting story of Hildegard Von Bingen. From a very young age she was taught always to obey and remain silent while other in authority decided her fate. But in living her humble existance she produced many remarkable accomplishments. She learned how to thrive in a myopic cell existance and put her mind to learning what beauty the world held. In her later years she became a powerful abbess and she learned how to exist in a man world. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in Women's studies.
Rated of 5
by Nancy H. (Englewood, CO) Expected More
I really wanted to like Illuminations: a Novel of Hildegard Von Bingen by Mary Sharratt. I have been fond of Hildegard for many years, reading much of her writings and songs. A multitalented woman, who had spiritual visions since childhood, who brought much to the spiritual lives of women by embracing not only prayer but beauty and play to her order. Alas Illuminations was not the treasure I had hoped it would be. An imagined memoir, the author deviates a great deal from recorded history. I enjoy novels of real life people because it helps to bring the person into my concrete world. Good Hard Look: A Novel of Flannery O'Connor by Ann Napoliatano is one such book. Sharratt's imagination is too wild, making Hildegard appear too pious and yet too foolish. She makes Hildegard what she wants her to be, not what she was. She makes the relationship with Volmar a little too dear. I would love to know what went on in Hildegard's mind, but all we find here is what Sharratt hopes she thought.
Rated of 5
by Therese X. (Calera, AL) ILLUMINATIONS-- Had to keep turning the pages!
Hildegard von Bingen, known for her music and writing in medieval Germany was the youngest of ten children in a devout Christian family. Although her sisters were primed to marry, her future would be strongly different and vastly strange. A lively, playful child, she claimed to see visions from an early age. Her mother, fearing that her daughter may be influenced by the devil, pledged Hildegard to a monastery at age eight as a handmaiden to an "anchorite", a special nun who spent her life in fasting and prayer in a sealed room attached to a monastery. Jutta von Sponheim, disturbed daughter of a wealthy family and Hildegard entered their tiny cell and were "walled in", with only a grill facing into the church and a revolving hatch on which unseen monks would place their meager meals. With the last brick in place, the two women were sealed together for life, Jutta hopelessly ecstatic and Hildegard trembling in terror. Volmar, a kind young monk and scribe, brought them food and also books which Jutta initially taught Hildegard to read before launching herself into masochistic spirituality. After thirty years of praying, singing and self-mortification, Jutta died and Hildegard began to thrive. Hildegard's visions, however, returned and she began writing them down as illuminations from her "mother church, Ecclesia", angering the strict, patriarchal Church clerics, that a woman would dare write a book or draw attention to herself. Hoping to put Hildegard in her place, her work was sent to the papal authorities to be condemned. As grim as Hildegard's life appears, her story is truly engrossing, inspiring wonder and courage that Hildegard was able to overcome so much adversity and contribute such music, knowledge and a sense of power which inspired the young women of her time. Deftly written, this novel places the reader fully into Hildegard's life and time with fully rounded characters, the historical backdrop of the Crusades and the ongoing struggle of women to overcome the social roles expected of them.
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of 5
by Pamela F. (Grants Pass, OR) 
of 5
by Linda S. (Oceanside, NY) 
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by Nancy H. (Englewood, CO) 
