Unrest in Eden

Unrest in Eden, by Florence Byham Weinberg.  Kingsport, Tennessee: Twilight Times Books, 2011.  251 pages, e-book, $6.50.

 

I have a very deep and abiding fondness for the historical mystery, a genre that when approached by capable hands, brings the past to life with the added benefit of a murder investigation. Unrest in Eden centers around the experiences of the real-life eighteenth-century character Father Wilhelm Ignaz von Pfefferkorn, a priest who originally belonged to the Jesuit order and served as a missionary amongst Native Americans in the Southwest, but who was jailed for a decade in Spain after the expulsion of the Jesuits. Unrest in Eden is the fourth book in the Father Pfefferkorn saga (some of the books have been revised and retitled since their initial publication), the first three focusing on his experiences in the New World, and later in Spain. I have not read any of the earlier entries in the series as of this writing, but there is no need to read the series in order. Readers who start the series with Unrest in Eden will not be spoiled at all, although some crucial scenes from earlier novels are referenced here.

 

In Unrest in Eden, Florence Byham Weinberg picks up Fr. Pfefferkorn’s story soon after his release from prison. After reuniting with his sister, wrestling with a myriad of health problems, and readjusting to life as a free man, the good father escapes from one dangerous situation, only to find himself embroiled in a murder mystery that is causing a steadily growing scandal in the Church, and escaping from the anti-Catholic persecutions of the increasingly violent French Revolution.

 

I do not know where the historical Fr. Pfefferkorn ends and where Weinberg’s literary creation begins, nor am I clear on whether or not Fr. Pfefferkorn was really a sleuth.  Unrest in Eden is filled with all kinds of little details and factoids in order to bring a bygone age to life. At times, a few lines spoken by some of the characters seemed a little too contemporary to me, but then I remembered a famous remark by Umberto Eco in his lengthy historical postscript to his novel The Name of the Rose, where he observed that many people claimed that certain portions of his book’s dialogue sounded “too modern” to be set during medieval times, and in every single case where a passage was cited as sounding incongruous, that portion was actually quoted near-verbatim from an actual historical source from that time period. For all I know, the lines that seemed out of place to me may actually have come from Fr. Pfefferkorn’s writings.

 

Although the middle portion of the book focuses on a murder investigation, the mystery is wrapped up with approximately a third of the novel remaining. Though clearing an innocent priest’s name propels the plot for several chapters, the soul of the novel comes from Fr. Pfefferkorn attempting to be the best priest he possibly can, wrestling with his personal failings while never succumbing to his flaws, ministering to those around him, and attempting to escape the injustices and persecutions of an increasingly frightening world.

 

The book benefits from the historical notes and selected bibliography at the end, which underscores the immense amount of research that went into this book. The glossary was a handy tool, since there were many German language words that left me puzzled. Additionally, the character list at the end of the book is helpful, especially considering the considerable size of the book’s cast.

 

Unrest in Eden succeeded spectacularly in one of the primary goals of historical fiction– it made me want to learn a lot more about the time period in question. In Fr. Pfefferkorn, Weinberg has discovered a man who has lived a fascinating life. I would just like to know a little more about what the inspiration for her books was really like.

–Chris Chan

This review first appeared in Gilbert!