Hot Flashes
Menopause is an early onset for the protagonist of the novel. And things were quite different back then anyway in this regard to physical change. Toss in the fact that Marie is a nun and the whole experience just naturally opens itself up to the possibilities of imagery:
“Her body is inhabited, electric with heat, her skin has a roiling fire stuffed into it, the heat is unbearable, she is now running toward the low light off the water. Night in its heaps of darkness spins by. Off with the clogs and the stockings wet from night dew, and the mud cools her toes, the water is at her ankles, dragging hard at the hems, at knees at shame at belly so cool at chest and the arms, the wet wool pulling her body down. The frogs hush in the disturbance. Only her head is aflame, water lapping through the cloth at the chin.”
The Dangerous Visions
The writings of Marie are controversial. To set them down on paper with ink is dangerous enough. To consider publishing them in book form is sheer madness To do so while she is still alive is a ticket to the take:
“In Marie’s visions, Eve and the Virgin Mary share a kiss; god is a colossal dove hen laying the eggs of the world; Marie herself is protector well above the power of any woman born to woman. Singly, each vision does not seem so very heretical, but together it is imagery so far from the common that it takes Tilde’s breath away. She has the urge to cover her own eyes.”
Eleanor of Aquitaine
The one true love of Marie’s life is Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen of two different kingdoms. Alas, the love is unrequited. Such circumstances have the power to result in triumph or tragedy. Occasionally, however, to love and be rejected results in both consequences. What Marie sees in Eleanor arrives in imagery form very early in the narrative alongside hints of what stimulates the tragedy:
“Queen Eleanor had appeared in the doorway of Marie’s chamber, all bosom and golden hair and sable fur lining the blue robe and jewels dripping from ears and wrists and shining chapelet and perfume strong enough to knock a soul to the ground. Her intention was always to disarm by stunning. Her ladies stood behind her, hiding their smiles. Among these traitors was Marie’s own half sister, a bastardess sibling of the crown just like Marie, the sum of errant paternal lusts; but this simpering creature, having understood the uses of popularity in the court, had blanched and run from Marie’s attempts to befriend her."
The Negotiator
Marie is an impressive sight. Taller than average, voice like a man, hands like a boxer. Imagine all that wrapped in the oppressive cloister of menacing appearance of a nun. Toss in a quick wit, a fierce desire not to be taken advantage of and a plain simple burning desire to eat better and what you wind up with a dangerous person with which to negotiate financial matters:
“Straight to the shop, where she wears her majesty so hugely it presses all other bodies in the room to the wall. She uses silence; she is bestowing a tremendous favor by choosing this place to sell her precious goods. She negotiates like swordplay and leaves the shop having bled everyone in it with fine stinging swipes that show how precisely she can cut, how lucky they are that she restrained her hand. She does not show on her face how pleased she is, for she is very pleased, there will be some coin left over for future emergencies or perhaps the projects to fortify the abbey that have begun to brew in her.”
