Jerusalem by Cecelia Holland

The best history books, I firmly believe, are those that treat the past as a narrative, rather than a date-by-date memorization exam. Historians such as David McCullough and Edmund Morris are renowned for their ability to breathe new life into stale old facts, by showing the intensely personal consequences of world-shaping events. Drama is always most effective when it resonates with real life, so what could be more dramatic than a well-written history or biography?

Or, in this case, a historical novel. Cecelia Holland's Jerusalem is set in the Holy Land circa. 1184, 90 years after the first Crusaders captured Jerusalem from the Saracens (Muslims) who had held it for four centuries. It was a time in which Christianity and Islam fought not for souls, but for territory and castles. It covers many of the same events as the disappointing movie Kingdom of Heaven, but unlike that politically-correct piffle, Ms. Holland portrays the characters how they really must have been: Deeply flawed human beings who were nonetheless tremendously and sincerely dedicated to furthering the cause of Christ (or Allah) through conquest and bloodshed. This was the tale that Kingdom of Heaven should have been.

Rannulf Fitzwilliam, a Norman from the coast of France, is a Knight of the Temple of Solomon--commonly known throughout history as a Templar. His sect is alternately respected and feared throughout Europe and the lands of Islam as the most ruthless and skilled of all the Christian warriors. Rannulf's rigid devotion to the monastic lifestyle of the Order is penance for the sins of his past--sins that still haunt him. As he defends Jerusalem against the Saracen armies, he must also be wary of the political intrigues that threaten to undermine the Crusader stronghold from within.

As Ms. Holland shows, the Christian leaders during the Crusades were more likely to bicker among each other than to fight the Muslims. The Crusades attracted some of Christendom's most ambitious and able leaders, and it was this combination of ambition, religious fervor, and jealousy that made the Crusades such a tragic period of history.

Ms. Holland writes with subtlety and beauty, and her characters are well-developed and endlessly interesting. Her tale is a melancholy one, full of longing and regret, but amid the gloom of pandemic warfare and shifting alliances, there is a glimmer of hope. Where others found only death and suffering, Rannulf found forgiveness and salvation. The longing for a peace that transcends this world is truly timeless, and it is refreshing to find a historical novel that understands that theme of hope.