The Everlasting
Summary (from the publisher): From a supremely talented author comes this brilliant and inventive literary work of historical fiction, set in Rome in four different centuries, that explores love in all its various incarnations and ponders elemental questions of good and evil, obedience and free will that connect four unforgettable lives .
Spanning two thousand years, The Everlasting follows four characters whose struggles resonate across the centuries: an early Christian child martyr; a medieval monk on crypt duty in a church; a Medici princess of Moorish descent; and a contemporary field biologist conducting an illicit affair.
Outsiders to a city layered and dense with history, this quartet separated by time grapple with the physicality of bodies, the necessity for sacrifice, and the power of love to sustain and challenge faith. Their small rebellions are witnessed and provoked by an omniscient, time-traveling Satan who, though incorporeal, nonetheless suffers from a heart in search of repair.
As their dramas unfold amid the brick, marble, and ghosts of Rome, they each must decide what it means to be good. Twelve-year old Prisca defiles the scrolls of her father’s library. Felix, a holy man, watches his friend’s body decay and is reminded of the first boy he loved passionately. Giulia de’ Medici, a beauty with dark skin and limitless wealth, wants to deliver herself from her unborn child. Tom, an American biologist studying the lives of the smallest creatures, cannot pinpoint when his own marriage began to die. As each of these conflicted people struggles with forces they cannot control, their circumstances raise a profound and timeless question at the heart of faith: What is our duty to each other, and what will God forgive?
Moving back through time from today (The Wilderness) to the Renaissance (The City) to the Middle Ages (The Grave) and finally to Rome under Marcus Aurelius (The Paradise), Tom, Guilia, Felix, and Prisca search and suffer for love in the eternal city, made vivid and familiar as they reappear in each century.
Spanning two thousand years, The Everlasting follows four characters whose struggles resonate across the centuries: an early Christian child martyr; a medieval monk on crypt duty in a church; a Medici princess of Moorish descent; and a contemporary field biologist conducting an illicit affair.
Outsiders to a city layered and dense with history, this quartet separated by time grapple with the physicality of bodies, the necessity for sacrifice, and the power of love to sustain and challenge faith. Their small rebellions are witnessed and provoked by an omniscient, time-traveling Satan who, though incorporeal, nonetheless suffers from a heart in search of repair.
As their dramas unfold amid the brick, marble, and ghosts of Rome, they each must decide what it means to be good. Twelve-year old Prisca defiles the scrolls of her father’s library. Felix, a holy man, watches his friend’s body decay and is reminded of the first boy he loved passionately. Giulia de’ Medici, a beauty with dark skin and limitless wealth, wants to deliver herself from her unborn child. Tom, an American biologist studying the lives of the smallest creatures, cannot pinpoint when his own marriage began to die. As each of these conflicted people struggles with forces they cannot control, their circumstances raise a profound and timeless question at the heart of faith: What is our duty to each other, and what will God forgive?
Moving back through time from today (The Wilderness) to the Renaissance (The City) to the Middle Ages (The Grave) and finally to Rome under Marcus Aurelius (The Paradise), Tom, Guilia, Felix, and Prisca search and suffer for love in the eternal city, made vivid and familiar as they reappear in each century.
Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this book from HarperCollins.
This work of historical fiction follows four individuals across four centuries, all centered in Rome, all exploring love in all its forms. In 2015, Tom, an American biologist conducting research in Rome, is conflicted by the slow death of his marriage. In 1559, Giuilia de'Medici is a beauty saddled with an unwanted pregnancy. In 896, Felix is a monk tasked with managing the decaying bodies of his fellow holy men and years of contemplation on the forbidden youthful love that landed him in the church. And finally, in 165, twelve year old Prisca cannot help but rebel on behalf of her Christian beliefs.
Interestingly, Smith chooses to work backwards in time, so the novel reads as if slowly peeling the layers of history back on the city of Rome. This also means the novel ends at its chronological beginning; the final story is the one that impacts and reverberates through the centuries to affect all the other storylines. While each very different, each of the characters is isolated in their own personal struggles, which invariably focus on the physical pull and weakness of their flesh, the power of love both within and outside of socially acceptable boundaries, and the strength of their faith. In addition to location, all four individuals are linked by fate landing the same small relic in their hands.
In addition to the perspectives of the four main characters, there are bracketed asides from an unnamed character. I found these additions intrusive and detracted from the main storyline with little effect. However, these interruptions were limited so they were unable to distract from the main narrative sections unduly.
I was dubious of how the sections from each time period would relate to one another when I began reading this book but Smith did an excellent job tying them together through the same setting but also linked them thematically and through one distinct item.
This work of historical fiction follows four individuals across four centuries, all centered in Rome, all exploring love in all its forms. In 2015, Tom, an American biologist conducting research in Rome, is conflicted by the slow death of his marriage. In 1559, Giuilia de'Medici is a beauty saddled with an unwanted pregnancy. In 896, Felix is a monk tasked with managing the decaying bodies of his fellow holy men and years of contemplation on the forbidden youthful love that landed him in the church. And finally, in 165, twelve year old Prisca cannot help but rebel on behalf of her Christian beliefs.
Interestingly, Smith chooses to work backwards in time, so the novel reads as if slowly peeling the layers of history back on the city of Rome. This also means the novel ends at its chronological beginning; the final story is the one that impacts and reverberates through the centuries to affect all the other storylines. While each very different, each of the characters is isolated in their own personal struggles, which invariably focus on the physical pull and weakness of their flesh, the power of love both within and outside of socially acceptable boundaries, and the strength of their faith. In addition to location, all four individuals are linked by fate landing the same small relic in their hands.
In addition to the perspectives of the four main characters, there are bracketed asides from an unnamed character. I found these additions intrusive and detracted from the main storyline with little effect. However, these interruptions were limited so they were unable to distract from the main narrative sections unduly.
I was dubious of how the sections from each time period would relate to one another when I began reading this book but Smith did an excellent job tying them together through the same setting but also linked them thematically and through one distinct item.
Stars: 3
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