Author: Victor E. Smith

Publisher:

Published: 2010-03

Total Pages: 478

ISBN-13: 9781432753726

REINCARNATION...HERETICAL BUT INEVITABLE In 553 AD, Justinian I, the sanctimonious ruler of the decaying Roman Empire, held Pope Vigilius prisoner until the church leader consented to sign the decrees of the imperial Council of Constantinople. So, with the stroke of the papal pen, anyone who believed in the ancient doctrine that souls existed before the present body's birth or reincarnated after its death were declared anathema; that is, excommunicated and subject to persecution. This little-know historical fact has prejudiced the western world against reincarnation right up to the present. In 1879, Richard Strawn, a Philadelphia businessman disowned by his Quaker brethren for serving in the Civil War as a medic, has to come to terms with his teenage daughter Jennifers conviction that she was once a fabulous queen and he, her partner, the king, or concur with his wife, Lucinda, that the girl is dangerously insane.Burying his head by day in work and at night at the pubs, he defers the decision, betting that time will either cure Jennifer's fantasies or soften Lucinda's intransigence. Then, just when a truce appears to be holding between mother and daughter, nightmarish events erupt around Richard. A fire destroys the business he manages, and he is blamed. He escapes town, drunk and despondent, only to be pursued by a dream in which he is indeed a king, but a cowardly one about to capitulate to a revolting faction.Lucinda takes advantage of his absence to have Jennifer committed to an asylum. With luck, which materializes as randomly as misfortune, Richard rescues the girl. In the quiet place he takes her to recover, she too dreams of the revolt against them as royal rulers long ago. Compelled by such coincidence, the two sometimes in tandem, sometimes in oppositionset out to discover what binds them to the ill-fated 6th-century emperor, Justinian, and his empress, Theodora. Her recent efforts to undermine her husband and daughter foiled, Lucinda ferrets out their mission. After identifying herself with a powerful and destructive sorceress in the imperial story, she plots to use similar magic to destroy the reincarnated pair, thus proving to them and to all who would meddle with the dead that history indeed repeats itself, and there is nothing that can be done to stop it.THE ANATHEMAS weaves the religious controversy about reincarnation into a multi-lifetime saga of conspiracy, redemption and ultimately love. A novel, yet it is firmly based on history, notably Procopius's Secret History and Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. With the pace of a thriller, it portrays the essentially spiritual adventure of man and woman coming face-to-face with the life-and-death experience.FROM READERS TO THE AUTHORI am convinced THE ANATHEMAS should be on the shelves next to Dan Brown. The characters morphed into family members in my dreams at night and invaded my thoughts during the day. Now thats a good book! L.B., OregonI got engrossed in the book...and lost my weekend! I am assuming you imbedded the facts you found researching the story accurately. I mean to say, I can use it as a sort of history lesson? In that case, I learned quite a bit. Interesting and thought-provoking. N.B. FloridaYour text is not only erudite but exceedingly engaging. I usually only have time to pleasure read in the evening before lights out and I must say you have made me resist sleep with your text. S.B., Quebec, Canada