This Young Adult novel placed in
Medieval Times was written by Ruth Apollonia, a practicing Catholic, and RCIA
Director of her local parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.
The novel is the Winner of the 2013 Catholic Arts and Letters Award awarded by
the Catholic Writers Guild and is published by The Marian Press. The Catholic Writers Guild is a group of writers, artists, editors,
illustrators, and associates dedicated to building a vibrant Catholic literary
and artistic culture. The group encourages its members to create, publish,
perform, and share their work which reflects core Catholic values.
The award winning novel tells the
story of a very young Princess Annabelle who was taken captive by a warring
faction in the fictional Kingdom of Anchony.
She finds herself rescued on The Forbidden Island by a loving hermit
named Peter who raises her like his own daughter teaching her about faith, and
morals. When she reaches the age of 18,
she escapes the island and lands back in the Kingdom of Anchony. In the meantime, the royal family believes
she had died. While on the island
Annabelle is helped by St. Celestria, Anchony’s patron saint, a fictional one,
based on a real saint, St. Clare of Assisi.
While working her way back home through
the Kingdom of Anchony, she runs into a squire, Nicholaus, who helps her. Nicholas wants to become a knight. She also is helped by Sy, a Duke in hiding
who is in love with Princess Annabelle’s sister, Isabella.
The Catholic Faith is weaved into
the story, as natural as your faith is weaved into your daily life, with
prayers to the Father, and His answer back.
The Sacraments are also weaved naturally into the story, and is not
heavy handed preaching. Annabelle deprived of the Blessed Sacrament on the
island weeps with job when she finally finds herself in His presence. During this time with our churches shut down
due to the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020, we can relate to this hunger for The
Holy Eucharist. So it’s an appropriate book to read during your downtime in
this isolation. So this Winner of the 2013 Catholic Arts and Letter Awards does
indeed build a vibrant Catholic literary culture in her book.
Unfortunately, the story has a
few flaws. The outcome of the war was
left hanging, as well as the exact whereabouts of a certain neighboring Prince.
Maybe this will be covered in the sequel?
It was fast paced, and although I
don’t belong to the age group that the novel was trying to reach, I do believe
that Young Adults would enjoy the book, and I recommend it.
