Strands of Starlight
Encyclopedia
Strands of Starlight is a novel written by Gael Baudino
in 1989. It is the first in the Strands of Starlight
tetralogy
. The other novels are Maze of Moonlight
, Shroud of Shadow
, and Strands of Sunlight
.
circa 1350. She has a mysterious gift of healing and suffers persecution because of it.
authorities, denounced as a witch. Grievously injured by her tormentors, Miriam escapes, and Mika, a traveling midwife, takes her in and nurses her back to health. After curing one of Mika's patients of eclampsia
, Miriam goes on the run again. As she travels through the forest, she comes upon Baron Roger of Aurverelle, a nobleman out hunting who has been mauled by a bear. After she heals him, he rapes her and leaves her for dead . Inhabitants of Saint Brigid, one of the Free Towns, find her and summon Varden, an elf, to help heal her injuries.
While recovering in Saint Brigid, she realizes that the Elves have the power to change people. Formulating a plan for revenge on Baron Roger, she convinces Varden to perform a metamorphosis
upon her to make her larger and stronger, able to engage in armed combat. Another Elf, Terrill, agrees to train her in the Elven way of armed combat. The change goes as planned, but she comes to realize that it has made her not completely human, and she is gradually becoming an elf.
Aloysius Cranby, the bishop who had imprisoned Miriam, tracks her by imprisoning and interrogating Mika the midwife and comes to Saint Brigid. After days of fruitless searching for Miriam the human, Cranby realizes the transformed Miriam the elf is just one of several elves welcome in the village when she kills one of his companions, though he never realizes the two Miriams are one and the same. Deeming this information more important than completing his original task, he flees the village, and Varden kills him to keep this secret safe.
Miriam persuades Terrill to go with her to free Mika from the Inquisition's
prison. In a final full-contact sparring match with Terrill, Miriam concludes her transformation into an Elf. As a symbol of acceptance of her completed change, she formally takes the Elvish form of her name, Mirya. She and Terrill go on to infiltrate the prison. Using their Elven senses and agility to find humanly-impossible ways of piercing the tight security, they make their way to the dungeon, free Mika, slaughter the inquisitors, and flee.
Leaving the city, Mirya, Mika, and Terrill return to Saint Brigid. Feeling the weight of her quest for vengeance pressing upon her, Mirya uses her Elven powers to search through all of the potential futures, and she forces into reality what had been only a dimly possible future, wherein Baron Roger and she can duel. As a result, Baron Roger conceives the idea of arranging a sham hawking trip in nearby Beldon forest, where Mirya will be waiting for him, so that he can a violate a young woman traveling with him.
When Roger arrives, Mirya initiates a sword battle with him. Finally, Mirya prevails over him, and cuts open Roger's throat. Realizing only then that keeping him alive but changed is better than killing him, she heals him then uses her powers to remake his mind so that he is less aggressive, less ambitious, and committed to keeping the Free Towns safe.
Gael Baudino
Gael Baudino is a contemporary American fantasy author who also writes under the pseudonyms of Gael Kathryns, Gael A. Kathryns, and G.A. Kathryns. She attended college at the University of Southern California...
in 1989. It is the first in the Strands of Starlight
The Strands Series
The Strands Series is a series of books and short stories written by Gael Baudino between 1981 and 1994 and published between 1989 and 1997. The majority of the plot occurs in a fictional land named Adria, which is based on Medieval Western Europe, with parts of later books occurring in 1990s...
tetralogy
Tetralogy
A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works, just as a trilogy is made up of three works....
. The other novels are Maze of Moonlight
Maze of Moonlight
Maze of Moonlight is a novel written by Gael Baudino in 1993. It is the second in the Strands of Starlight tetralogy. The other novels are Strands of Starlight, Shroud of Shadow, and Strands of Sunlight.-Plot introduction:...
, Shroud of Shadow
Shroud of Shadow
Shroud of Shadow is a novel written by Gael Baudino in 1994. It is the third in the Strands of Starlight tetralogy. The other novels are Strands of Starlight, Maze of Moonlight, and Strands of Sunlight.-Plot introduction:...
, and Strands of Sunlight
Strands of Sunlight
Strands of Sunlight is a novel written by Gael Baudino in 1994. It is the fourth in the Strands of Starlight tetralogy. The other novels are Strands of Starlight, Maze of Moonlight, and Shroud of Shadow...
.
Plot introduction
The protagonist of Strands of Starlight is Miriam, a young woman living a fugitive life in the fictional land of Adria, which is set in medieval Western EuropeWestern Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
circa 1350. She has a mysterious gift of healing and suffers persecution because of it.
Plot summary
Miriam's parents expel her at a young age because of her powers of healing, and she wanders aimlessly for years. At the age of eighteen Miriam falls into the hands of CatholicCatholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
authorities, denounced as a witch. Grievously injured by her tormentors, Miriam escapes, and Mika, a traveling midwife, takes her in and nurses her back to health. After curing one of Mika's patients of eclampsia
Eclampsia
Eclampsia , an acute and life-threatening complication of pregnancy, is characterized by the appearance of tonic-clonic seizures, usually in a patient who had developed pre-eclampsia...
, Miriam goes on the run again. As she travels through the forest, she comes upon Baron Roger of Aurverelle, a nobleman out hunting who has been mauled by a bear. After she heals him, he rapes her and leaves her for dead . Inhabitants of Saint Brigid, one of the Free Towns, find her and summon Varden, an elf, to help heal her injuries.
While recovering in Saint Brigid, she realizes that the Elves have the power to change people. Formulating a plan for revenge on Baron Roger, she convinces Varden to perform a metamorphosis
Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal's body structure through cell growth and differentiation...
upon her to make her larger and stronger, able to engage in armed combat. Another Elf, Terrill, agrees to train her in the Elven way of armed combat. The change goes as planned, but she comes to realize that it has made her not completely human, and she is gradually becoming an elf.
Aloysius Cranby, the bishop who had imprisoned Miriam, tracks her by imprisoning and interrogating Mika the midwife and comes to Saint Brigid. After days of fruitless searching for Miriam the human, Cranby realizes the transformed Miriam the elf is just one of several elves welcome in the village when she kills one of his companions, though he never realizes the two Miriams are one and the same. Deeming this information more important than completing his original task, he flees the village, and Varden kills him to keep this secret safe.
Miriam persuades Terrill to go with her to free Mika from the Inquisition's
Medieval Inquisition
The Medieval Inquisition is a series of Inquisitions from around 1184, including the Episcopal Inquisition and later the Papal Inquisition...
prison. In a final full-contact sparring match with Terrill, Miriam concludes her transformation into an Elf. As a symbol of acceptance of her completed change, she formally takes the Elvish form of her name, Mirya. She and Terrill go on to infiltrate the prison. Using their Elven senses and agility to find humanly-impossible ways of piercing the tight security, they make their way to the dungeon, free Mika, slaughter the inquisitors, and flee.
Leaving the city, Mirya, Mika, and Terrill return to Saint Brigid. Feeling the weight of her quest for vengeance pressing upon her, Mirya uses her Elven powers to search through all of the potential futures, and she forces into reality what had been only a dimly possible future, wherein Baron Roger and she can duel. As a result, Baron Roger conceives the idea of arranging a sham hawking trip in nearby Beldon forest, where Mirya will be waiting for him, so that he can a violate a young woman traveling with him.
When Roger arrives, Mirya initiates a sword battle with him. Finally, Mirya prevails over him, and cuts open Roger's throat. Realizing only then that keeping him alive but changed is better than killing him, she heals him then uses her powers to remake his mind so that he is less aggressive, less ambitious, and committed to keeping the Free Towns safe.
Elves
- Varden - in some senses a leader among elves. A healer of great power.
- Natil - it is implied in the series that she is the first and eldest of the all of the elves. Skilled at playing the wire-strung harp.
- Terrill - one of the few elves to carry a sword.
- Talla - only described as having curly red hair and blue eyes.
- Mirya - the human Miriam after her transformation.
Humans
- Miriam - a human with the gift of healing.
- Charity - a young girl, who used to be the miserable Leather Woman before Varden reshaped her and gave her a second chance at life.
- Mika - a midwife who takes in Miriam after she escapes.
- Roxanne - a wise woman in the village of Saint Brigid. Varden's lover. Daughter of Francis and sister to Michael, Charlotte, and Kay.
- Aloysius Cranby
- Roger of Aurverelle - Baron of Aurverelle. A huge man, terrifically strong, prone to murder and rape with no conscience.
- Francis - the blacksmith of Saint Brigid. Kay and Roxanne's father.
- Kay - priest of Saint Brigid.
- George Darci
- Janet Darci - George's daughter.
Historical figures and events mentioned in Strands of Starlight
- The BeghardsBeghardsBeghards and Beguines were Roman Catholic lay religious communities active in the 13th and 14th centuries, living in a loose semi-monastic community but without formal vows...
- The Brethren of the Free SpiritBrethren of the Free SpiritThe Brothers, or Brethren of the Free Spirit, was a lay Christian movement which flourished in northern Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. Antinomian and individualist in outlook, it came into conflict with the Catholic Church and was declared heretical by Pope Clement V at the Council of...
- The Cathars
- The Cluniac order
- The FraticelliFraticelliThe Fraticelli, sometimes confusingly called Fratricelli, were medieval Roman Catholic groups that could trace their origins to the Franciscans, but which came into being as a separate entity. The Fraticelli were declared heretical by the Church in 1296 by Boniface VIII...
- John HawkwoodJohn HawkwoodSir John Hawkwood was an English mercenary or condottiero who was active in 14th century Italy. The French chronicler Jean Froissart knew him as Jean Haccoude and Italians as Giovanni Acuto...
- Hildegard of BingenHildegard of BingenBlessed Hildegard of Bingen , also known as Saint Hildegard, and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, visionary, and polymath. Elected a magistra by her fellow nuns in 1136, she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and...
- The Knights TemplarKnights TemplarThe Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
- The Minorites
- Pope Clement VIPope Clement VIPope Clement VI , bornPierre Roger, the fourth of the Avignon Popes, was pope from May 1342 until his death in December of 1352...
- Pope Benedict XIIPope Benedict XIIPope Benedict XII , born Jacques Fournier, the third of the Avignon Popes, was Pope from 1334 to 1342.-Early life:...
Editions
- ISBN 0451453166 (US mass market paperback, 1989, New American Library, cover art by Thomas CantyThomas CantyThomas Canty is an illustrator and book designer in the field of fantasy literature.-Career:Canty is credited with pioneering a "New Romantic" style of painting, influenced by such 19th century artists as Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, and the Pre-Raphaelites...
) - ISBN 0451163710 (US mass market paperback, 1989, Penguin Books, cover art by Thomas CantyThomas CantyThomas Canty is an illustrator and book designer in the field of fantasy literature.-Career:Canty is credited with pioneering a "New Romantic" style of painting, influenced by such 19th century artists as Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, and the Pre-Raphaelites...
) - ASINAsínAsín is a municipality located in the Cinco Villas comarca of the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, located a few kilometers west of Orés. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 106 inhabitants....
B000N4ZE2M (US mass market paperback, 1994, New American Library, cover art by Thomas CantyThomas CantyThomas Canty is an illustrator and book designer in the field of fantasy literature.-Career:Canty is credited with pioneering a "New Romantic" style of painting, influenced by such 19th century artists as Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, and the Pre-Raphaelites...
) - ASINAsínAsín is a municipality located in the Cinco Villas comarca of the province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, located a few kilometers west of Orés. According to the 2004 census , the municipality has a population of 106 inhabitants....
B000LV9P9U (US mass market paperback, 1989, New American Library, cover art by Thomas CantyThomas CantyThomas Canty is an illustrator and book designer in the field of fantasy literature.-Career:Canty is credited with pioneering a "New Romantic" style of painting, influenced by such 19th century artists as Alphonse Mucha, Gustav Klimt, and the Pre-Raphaelites...
) - ISBN 185723264X (UK mass market paperback, 1991, Futura Orbit)
- ISBN 0708848788 (UK mass market paperback, 1991, Futura Orbit)
- OCLCOCLCOCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
58725476 (Audio book - Volunteer Services for the Visually Handicapped, 2005)