Book Review: Hope of Ages Past by Bruce Gardner
In 1618, accountant’s son Peter Erhart and military advisor’s son Hans Mannheim witness an outrage in Prague, Bohemia. The two Catholic governors of this Holy Roman Empire province are tossed from a tower by their Lutheran colleagues. Hans has a moment of panic, and temporarily flees. Peter finds Hans and his kindness manages to bring the younger boy back from his fear.
By 1629 Peter has become an assistant pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Magdeburg, Germany. He’s happily married to Ursula, and they have two children. Peter is up for a big promotion to the Cathedral Council, the religious part of the city government. Provided of course, he can avoid being blackballed by Christian Wilhelm, the city administrator, who doesn’t like Pastor Erhart’s politics. For the Thirty Years War is raging across Germany, Catholics pitted against Lutherans, both sides determined that only their faith is the true faith.
Hans Mannheim shows up and claims to be married himself (true) and working as a salt merchant (false.) He’s actually a major in the Catholic League Army, working undercover for Count von Wallenstein. Wallenstein has orders from the Holy Roman Emperor to capture Magdeburg, a stronghold of the Lutheran faith, but would prefer to be bribed to go away. Hans is there to plant the idea of offering a bribe.
Outside Magdeburg, a peasant girl, Anna Ritter, lives with her father Adam, mother Frieda and little sister Liesa. Adam was a soldier in his youth, and still keeps some of his old weapons around just in case. But an old arm injury and a struggle with drink have weakened him somewhat, and the family is behind on its rent. The landlord’s new debt collector is…unpleasant. This worries Anna, but she is also tormented by her attraction to Pastor Erhart, a man she knows to be married.
The bribe works, and the city is saved…for now. But the Emperor is not pleased, and soon sends a more fearsome foe, Count Tilly with orders that leave no room for compromise. Christian Wilhelm is certain Gustavus Adolphus, the mighty Lutheran king of Sweden, will ride to Magdeburg’s aid, but will he arrive in time?
The fate of three people and those they love intertwines, and their faith will be sorely tested in the days to come. But let us not forget that God is a mighty fortress, and His kingdom is forever.
This novel is Christian historical romance, so there’s a lot of God-talk and people who aren’t interested in that sort of thing will probably find little of interest in the story. While the author’s sympathies are clearly with the Lutherans, he doesn’t shy away from depicting (misguided) Lutherans doing horrible things, and the occasional good Catholic. All atheists in the story, however, are evil.
Pastor Erhart is handsome, an excellent preacher, and generally good-hearted; he spends a lot of time doing the church’s charity work. But he’s also plagued by what might be the voice of Satan, or just intrusive thoughts, pointing out his failures and temptations. He’s dedicated his life to God, but as the novel continues, does not always see why God allows terrible things to happen to good people, especially him. Brace for a fair amount of theodicy in this story.
Hans is haunted by his cowardice in Prague, and his father constantly rides him about this and Hans’ habit of being too merciful with defeated enemies. The Lutheran infidels won’t learn to fear Hans if he isn’t ruthless! This leads him to a tragic error in judgement.
Anna also suffers great hardship and loss, and is often in peril. Interestingly, murder (it was self-defense) weighs far less heavily on her conscience than unrequited lust.
Good stuff: Reasonably even-handed treatment of religious people (though comparative theology experts might have fits at some of the explanations of belief offered); a relatively rare setting makes the story fresher; frequent scenes of danger for those of us who like action more than talking.
Not so good: Especially towards the beginning, the author uses more “tell” than “show” for characterization, probably to keep the page count more reasonable. There’s also some “character shilling,” which is when one character that we’re supposed to trust talks up the virtues of another character so those virtues don’t actually have to be displayed on page. Gustavus Adolphus is basically a patron saint for our protagonists, once he finally shows up–it feels like the author has hero worship.
I’ll leave it to other reviewers to discuss how well the romance aspects were done.
Content issues: In addition to the standard wartime violence, the story includes non-explicit rape, and slightly more explicit torture, as well as suicide. There’s also a fair amount of slut-shaming. Senior high readers on up should be able to handle it, barring triggers.
Recommended for Christian historical romance readers with an interest in the Thirty Years War; non-Christians may find it a rougher read.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Martin Luther’s classic hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” shows up frequently in the story, so let’s have a listen to it in the original German.
