In the Arms of Immortals

The Black Death—Revisited

In Book Two of the Chronicles of the Scribe series, popular author Ginger Garrett

takes readers back in time to “the greatest natural disaster to ever strike humanity”

In another heart-stopping historical fiction thriller from the author of In the Shadow of the Lions, critically acclaimed author Ginger Garrett paints a captivating portrait of a time when terror ruled and faith was hard to come by. In the Arms of Immortals (David C Cook, September 2009) travels a richly imagined journey into a key moment of history…the arrival of the Black Death in Europe.

This story of unseen battle, loving presence, and eventual redemption begins when a strange ship docks in a medieval Sicilian harbor. That night an old man falls ill… then the baker’s wife… then a street urchin. By morning half the townspeople are dead and more are dying—horribly. And no one has a clue what is happening or how to stop it. Not the local priest. Not the rich baron or his powerful knight. And not the three women at the heart of this book: the baron’s proud daughter, Panthea, the outcast healer, Gio, and Mariskka, an unwilling visitor from another time.

Though the Church fights to stand between the plague and the people, the sickness is too powerful for a Church that will not allow medicine to be studied outside its walls. The Church holds a monopoly on healing and on God, but when neither rescues the people, the people lose hope in both, and the conflict between Science and Faith begins its long burn. In a time when the faithful have no answers and the faithless terrorize the countryside, only the bravest will dare hold on to a silent God.

The Chronicles of the Scribe Series are thrilling tales of an angelic presence called “the Scribe, the first writer”—dictated to a series of twentieth-century strugglers, but lived out in the pages of history. Each of Garrett’s novels in the series targets a different significant moment of the past—both its mundane reality and supernatural significance—with a special emphasis on women’s experience. Tautly suspenseful and deeply moving, In the Arms of Immortals will deftly lift readers into its fascinating narrative of angels and demons, mortality and immortality.

Chaos here: This book is absolutely captivating from page one. It also borders on the very freaky. Think Peretti where you see both the mortal and the "powers" and add in some Garrett flair. It is beyond disturbing and yet the disturbing nature really sounded like a wake up call.

I didn't read book one, but it's now on my TBR list. (I did, however, read Dark Hour which was also disturbing and excellent.) I confess I got sucked in by the Black Plague (the ole Microbiology fascination kicking in) and was disappointed that the book opened up in present day, had to go through a mental check-your-concept-of-reality-at-the-door and spent several chapters mixing characters up in my mind, but eventually the story won me over. (And just because it opened and closed in present day, you mostly get Black Plague, in case that is what draws you in also.)

Very Good Read.

This book was provided for review by The B&B Media Group.

In the Arms of Immortals (Chronicles of the Scribe, Book Two) by Ginger Garrett

David C Cook/September 2009

ISBN: 978-0-7814-4888-8/softcover/304 pages/$14.99

www.davidccook.com www.gingergarrett.com