Everyone has heard the phrase "making history come alive." Katharina, Katharina is a fruitfully accurate demonstration of that experience. Throughout the fictional narrative, the past is softened and enhanced by authentic atmosphere and culture. Farenhorst brings us into a world that not only was, but a world that is--warm, loving, true, and tragic--"the fabric of life," she reminds us.
Farenhorst's scrupulous historical research presents not so much her deep knowledge of the times but her rich perception of the humanity and the profundity of the Reformation--interactions not simply of characters but of sinful people who seek to know the Lord. Katharina, Katharina presents a commendable understanding of the Reformation itself, its impetus, its exigency, its biblical scholarship and the confusing heresies so long ingrained in the minds of sincere believers.
The familiar phrase "the heart of the Reformation" commonly refers to certain key scriptural truths. Katharina, Katharina effectively displays that heart, but beyond that, it personally brings twenty-first-century readers into the heart of the Reformation.
--NORM BOMER, God's World News, senior editor (retired) and author of Sons of the River: A Nebraska Memoir
While the story takes place in the distant past, it is really very relevant for our times. Katharina was a real person who experienced a spiritual struggle about her relationship with God. We all have the same questions to face, and that same message of being hidden in the righteousness of Christ is the only sufficient answer.
The book is well written, it flows smoothly and engages the mind and heart. It is suitable reading for teenagers and adults.
--Benjamin Short, lecturer at Gillespie Academy, Woodstock, ON
This is the very best way to learn--Christine Farenhorst uses historical fiction to pair an engaging storyline with an instructive setting. So yes, the day-to-day details of life among the Schütz family in sixteenth-century Strasbourg are made up (though based on good research) but all the big events in the story are entirely factual...and highly relevant for our day. So even as Luther never makes an appearance, he looms large, and in a very real way this is a Luther biography. I absolutely loved it.
--Jon Dykstra, editor of Reformed Perspective
