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The Witch of Cologne Tobsha Learner Books

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The Witch of Cologne Tobsha Learner Books

Fascinating book about the German Inquistion led by Rome. It was a time of terror for both Jewish and Germanic people. I blame good ole' Monty Python for bring the Spanish Inquistion to the fore front of world comprehension while leaving behind other areas who also were affected by these horrors. Germany is one. Our lead is a midwife of Jewish background who works in many fine homes because of her fine skills. The reader should be aware of both some sex and violence required to tell these tales. I enjoy a good historical drama and Tobsha Learner knows how to spin a very good tale.


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The Witch of Cologne Tobsha Learner Books Reviews

Good read.
I purchased this on the recommendation of a friend. I found it hard to get into, uninteresting and a book I should have left alone. If you are interested in a good and compelling read try Dianna Gabaldons Cross Stitch series. Terrific.
I wanted to like this book, it was on my reading list for a long time, but it just seemed to drag on too long. There were 4 different (somewhat) climax moments, and then it kept going. I always think it's a bad sign when you put a book aside thinking there's more to the story only to discover you are a few pages from the end.

I generally enjoy historical fiction, and this was an era/region I wasn't familiar with do I thought there was a lot of interesting new detail there. I just didn't enjoy reading about a woman who was strong and independent and became more fearful and timid. Probably realistic, but this is fiction not reality.
This book was so disappointing, I felt cheated. The book is supposed to be about a young Jewess at the time of the Inquisition. A woman who is a midwife and who practices the kabbala. A beautiful concept! A young woman living in dangerous times, who can get herself in trouble in so many ways! But, the book is not really about Ruth. It is about the men who swirled around her, controlling her life The Archbishop, the canon for the Archbishop,and the Spanish Inquisitor, whose eye has been on this Jewish woman for a while. It is THEIR politics we get involved with,not Ruth's challenges.When the book focused on Ruth it was interesting, but that was far too infrequently.
Tobsha Learned intertwines history as we know it with passages of wild eroticism and fictional episodes. It is well written and easily followed throughout the timeline she creates. Even when she uses flashbacks, they are to the point and understood as such. We read this as our monthly book club selection for the month of May, and I would recommend it to anyone who is even slightly interested in history and/or romance material.
I ordered this book after reading "Soul", which was absolutely terrific. I was disappointed in The Witch of Cologne. It starts very slowly and I had to often reference the list of characters (provided at the beginning of the book) to try to keep the plot straight. The author did do a lot of research, which I appreciate. However, the first third of the book was actually boring to me, even though I am a devotee of history and detail. Had I not loved "Soul" so much, I would not have bothered to drag myself through "The Witch...". Things did pick up further into the story and the last half of the book was more interesting and readable. Overall, however, I was disappointed.
All that I knew about this book when I bought it was that it was written in present tense, the main character was a Jewish midwife who has dressed as a boy to gain a medical education, the Kabbalah was somehow involved and so was the inquisition. Also the cover of the book has a half naked woman on it (which made it rather awkward to read in public.) Being of Jewish heritage, having always found the inquisition perversely fascinating and wanting to know more about the mystical system of Jewish magic, this was enough information for me to buy the book.

Turns out I made a good choice. "The Witch of Cologne" is a fascinating book that has a huge philosophical element, as well as a great deal about romance, obsession, faith and simple love

The book is set at the very beginning of the age of enlightenment and new religious ideas and thoughts are pouring out of everyone-as are new religions. So the setting is just perfectly timed for Detlef von Tennen, a Cannon of the Catholic Church in Cologne, who has always been a bit of a private rebel in his thoughts and has a mistress, to find a massive and immediate spiritual and intellectual connection with Ruth bas Elazar Saul, an unmarried Jewish midwife who trained as a medic in Amsterdam and still uses Kabbalah ritual amulets and charms in birthing, who has been arrested by the inquisition on charges of witchcraft. Ruth is primarily being charged because the man in charge of the inquisition was her mother's music teacher in Spain when her mother's family was Converso Jews. His name is Carlos Vincente Solitario and when as a young priest he taught Ruth's mother Sara music, he was in love with her. She did not reciprocate; he decided she was a witch. But she escaped him and as now as she is dead, he is going to take out the last of his terrible obsession on her daughter.

The philosophical ideas expressed in this book are all quite deep and when you remember that these people are literally on the forefront of major religious change it creates an inspiring atmosphere. All of the characters, even those who are very firm in their beliefs (such as the inquisitor) are being affected and it is that, and their fear of the major change coming in the world, more than anything, and this influences their actions. Thus this is a book of social change. (On a side note there is very little about Kabbalah in this book.)

Some things in this book though were rather cliché. I knew upon reading the character list and seeing that there was a young Catholic priest and a young Jewish midwife as main characters that something would happen between them. It's just too good of a tortured romance for any author to pass over (I even saw a lifetime movie once called "A Catholic and a Jew.") Another thing which is just way overdone is Ruth and Father Carlos' fear of the demon Lillith, and the descriptions of her, which are so sexually disturbing it's almost upsetting, really should have been cut down on. Maybe they're meant to illustrate the left over medieval fear of demons in the coming age of rational enlightenment. Who knows? I didn't like it.

Overall this book is a mix. Some parts were great; some were a little boring, some of the political movements between Germany and the Holy Roman Empire really needed more background explanation, and then the ending just really didn't seem to fit with the rest of the book at all. The first 300 pages or so are by far the best (and they are quite good) and after that the book just kind of seems to unwind, like the ending of it belonged to another book altogether (especially the very end.) Still I did like it, and I would consider reading another book by this author.

3.5 stars.
Fascinating book about the German Inquistion led by Rome. It was a time of terror for both Jewish and Germanic people. I blame good ole' Monty Python for bring the Spanish Inquistion to the fore front of world comprehension while leaving behind other areas who also were affected by these horrors. Germany is one. Our lead is a midwife of Jewish background who works in many fine homes because of her fine skills. The reader should be aware of both some sex and violence required to tell these tales. I enjoy a good historical drama and Tobsha Learner knows how to spin a very good tale.