Review of Lady of the Seven Suns by Tinney Sue Heath

Through Tinney Heath’s latest novel, Lady of the Seven Suns, readers will travel into a vividly portrayed medieval Italy and into the life of Francesco (St. Francis of Assisi) through the eyes of his most intriguing follower, Lady Giacoma dei Settesoli, a woman he called Brother Giacoma as a sign of his affection and respect.

Brilliant High Wire

Heath has accomplished something of a brilliant high wire act with this book. With deep and reverent believability, she captures both Giacoma’s and Francesco’s passionate devotion to God without any saccharin religiosity or necessary co-belief on the reader’s part. I experienced these complicated, fascinating lives as they historically were, and I accepted their beliefs, far from my own, while I tarried with them, without ever being tossed out of their medieval world. As easily as I slipped into Giacoma’s religious beliefs, Heath also enmeshed my mind seamlessly with Giacoma’s social mores as an influential woman from one of the most powerful families in Rome. To read Lady of the Seven Suns is to savor that rarest of reading pleasures: you will live another person’s life to the full, vicarious time travel at its empathetic best.

To read Lady of the Seven Suns is to savor that rarest of reading pleasures: you will live another person’s life to the full, vicarious time travel at its empathetic best.

Historical Accuracy and Balance

The depth and breadth of Heath’s historical knowledge and research is abundantly clear in the richness and precision of detail in her portrayal of everyday life, from Giacoma’s clothes and palazzo to the kitchen pots to the realities of relationships between the servants and this unconventional noblewoman. But Heath never overburdens her story with this knowledge. She has achieved that magical balance of just enough to put us in her world without our realizing we’ve traveled so far.

Humor

Heath also uses humor at delightful intervals. At one point the future saint, several assorted brothers of diverse size and running capacity, and a highly indignant noble brother-in-law are portrayed in the midst of pursuing a sheep through Giacoma’s palazzo. The frightened creature and Giacoma’s annoying brother-in-law make all the right moves for sustained hilarity. You will join Brother Elias in uncontrollable laughter. Heath has a dry wit that pops up to lighten tense situations. At one point, Lucia, a key servant in the household, is described as “wielding a formidable soprano with an impressive range of pitch and intensity, quivering with outrage.” The fact that we are genuinely worried about Lucia’s feelings at this moment doesn’t lessen the smile this brings.

Pragmatism & Mysticism

And therein lies a key part of Giacoma’s character, her ability to find humor to conquer the grimness. With help from Francesco—there is one key moment she really needs him to return her to this innate positive outlook—she keeps striving for inner happiness through the worst of tragedies and limitations. For all her devotional dedication, she is fundamentally pragmatic, even in her praying: “I loved the way praying made me feel. I loved the respite it gave me from living, breathing human beings and their demands, and I loved how it always cleared my thinking but I never really saw it as a conversation with God. I spoke the words, and he either did or did not listen, as he chose.” In contrast to Giacoma’s grounded approach, Francesco’s otherworldliness is delicately portrayed with a mystical image that reappears in various forms over the course of the novel. The first time we see the power of Francesco’s prayer, he is described like this: “a fine mist surrounded him. The whole interior of the tower was growing lighter, the light centering on the praying man, the mist taking on a pale apricot color as it eddied gently around him.”

Lady of the Seven Suns will take you on a transcendent journey full of laughter, tears, humane joy, and subtle historical understanding.

Buy Lady of the Seven Suns on Amazon (affiliate link)

Tinney Sue Heath’s Website and Newsletter Sign up

Find Tinney Sue Heath on Facebook