The Passion of Dolssa

Julie Berry

2016 • 498 pages

Ratings8

Average rating4

The year is 1241; the place, Provensa, what we now call Provence, France. A land still reeling from the bloody Crusades waged there by the Catholic Church, now in power. Dolssa, a young gentlewoman from the city, is on the run from a rogue monk who wants to burn her as a heretic for her beliefs. Botille, a scrappy and charismatic peasant, is a matchmaker running a tavern with her two sisters in a tiny seaside village. When the matchmaker finds the mystic, half-dead beside a country road, she takes Dolssa in and discovers the girl s extraordinary power to heal people. But the monk who pursues Dolssa will stop at nothing to find his heretic and see her burn, and the more Dolssa becomes a part of Botille s family, the graver the danger becomes for the entire village. From the author of the award-winning All the Truth That s in Me comes a spellbinding tale that will keep you on the edge of your seat and make you wonder if miracles really are possible.

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Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

bianca

What they don't understand, they destroy.

— I'm not really into historical fiction, more so if it involves religious elements, but this was a really engrossing, powerful and terrifyingly real book about 13th century inquisition.

September 7, 2018

Anna Tschetter

Another book that I knew would destroy me and totally did. Very well written and thought-provoking. A bittersweet ending. May be a hard sell for many teens; needs a special reader.

January 9, 2017

Sionna

What an absolutely AMAZING book.

To start, I must also say I listened to this as an audiobook and the narrators were absolutely wonderful. Along with them and the text itself I just fell into this book– I was quite taken with it. I really just wanted to lay down and listen for hours, being sucked into this dense and rich world.

Really, the writing was so well done. From the first minute I was intrigued. Ten minutes in, I was in shock over how invested I was in this book dealing with religion! I honestly thought I wouldn't care about this book because of the subject, but no– far from it.

This book is an absolute treasure, one you want to savor yet devour at the same time.

This book also shows the strength of women accurately for the time period they are in, yet still shows that women are powerful. This is definitely a historical fiction, but does have traces of – I would say fantasy, but what others might say is a show of religion. So, take the fantasy aspect with a grain of salt!!

Honestly, this is how And I darken by Kiersten White should have been written. I only compare because I read these two books so close together.

Recommend? YES!! I really think many people will like this or find it enjoyable. If you like realistic novels, historical fiction, and/or strong women leads I think you will enjoy this.