The Far-Farers

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 15 DEC 2003

In the late 10th century, a Viking convert to Christianity was banished by his fellow Icelanders and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Though perhaps not the best known of Viking sagas, the story of Thorvald the Far-Farer has survived to the present day and inspired British journalist Clark to retrace Thorvald's transcontinental journey. But Clark is interested in Thorvald's tale not for its own sake but for its place in the broader context of Christianity circa A.D. 1000, a time which, she assures readers, "set the western world's course" for the millennium that followed. Thorvald soon falls by the wayside, replaced by an assortment of emperors, kings and popes and Clark's own, much more banal, modern misadventures. Unwavering assumptions about the "tragic shortcomings of organized religion" color her perspectives, and her journey does little more than confirm her antagonistic attitudes; the survival of the ancient practice of plenary indulgence (in which Catholics essentially barter to obtain a state of grace) particularly riles her, and she relishes confronting priests about it. Although Clark is familiar with the schisms between the Western and Eastern Christian churches (her previous book, Why Angels Fall, was about Eastern Orthodoxy), this book is undermined by her insistence on explaining the story's modern relevance rather than letting these engaging events speak for themselves. At one point, Clark remarks, "the main action in my eleventh-century drama was filling me with more anticipation than the prospect of twenty-first century." Readers will undoubtedly have the same reaction. 16 pages of illus. not seen by PW.