Exquisitely penned by author Natasha Siegel, set against two major disasters, The Bubonic Plague and The Great Fire of London, The Phoenix Bride recounts an interfaith romance between gentile women “bewitched” by her Jewish doctor.
Blissfully happy, consumed with love for her beloved new husband Will, Cecilia Thorowgood was “sick with contentment.” Deliriously anticipating a happily–ever-after, the new bride could not imagine the heartbreak that would render her a widow losing her husband to the Black Plague in 1666 London. Nor did she envision her destiny with a “foreigner”, David Mendes.
Dr. Mendes was admitted to England from Portugal where the Inquisition rendered it illegal to practice Judaism. Now, three hundred years since Jews had been expelled from England, David Mendes was permitted to return, and to live cautiously as a Jew — a mezuzah openly “affixed to his doorframe” — practicing his family profession as a physician. And he was good at it.
After burying her beloved husband, Cecilia leaves her idyllic country home. A heartbroken widow, “burdened by survival,” she moves into her sister’s London townhouse, located in a wealthy London neighborhood, close to St. James’s Park.
Cecilia detests London. She “hates hates hates” the city’s crowds, its “muck” its stifling stale air feeling trapped inside her sister Lady Eden’s pretentious house. She barely exists in the city that killed her husband. Nothing brings Cecilia solace from her unbearable grief, nor release from memories of her husband whom she continues to mourn. Sinking deep into depression London’s best doctors offer bloodletting remedies and leeches for her undiagnosed affliction. None succeed.
Distressed by Cecilia’s compromised health, Lady Eden doubts whether she can find a suitor for her melancholy sister, certainly no-one wealthy nor “aligned with the court” would want her in such a depressed state. Having exhausted the advice of the best of London’s doctors, Lady Eden reluctantly invites a “foreigner” to relieve Cecilia’s persistent despair. He is a Jew who offers an elixir for Cecilia’s “wounded heart”. But the prescription brings complicated side effects, completely out of the doctor’s control.
A poignant (though a bit tangled) love story, The Phoenix Bride bristles with hope and restoration. Based on 17th century poem by John Donne, the historical novel offers a glimpse into the times with fascinating characters during the reign of “the merry king” Charles ll of England. Loved it in spite of its several obvious anachronisms.
