Learner’s The Witch of Cologne is an erotically-charged novel of people swept inexorably along by events they could not control. In Soul, Learner relates the story of Lavinia and Julia Huntington, passionate women trapped in emotional whirlpools that threaten to drown them and everyone they love.
In 19th century Britain, Lavinia is married to an older man who seems to appreciate her lively curiosity. Lavinia proves to be an apt pupil in both the study and the bedroom, glorying in the pleasures of the physical.
In 21st century Los Angeles, geneticist Julia is trying to identify people who can kill without remorse. Stunned to discover that she seems to possess the trait she is looking for, Julia is reassured of her emotions by her intense passion for her husband and her delight in her pregnancy.
In the past, Lavinia’s desire for her husband grows, but his cools as he becomes fascinated with another. In the present, Julia’s love overwhelms her husband, who leaves her.
Lavinia and Julia feel the tortures of passion unspent. Cold logic tells them that the deaths of their tormentors will bring them peace. Separated by a hundred years, two Huntington women face the same decision. Their choices will echo far into the future.
Starred Review Playwright and fiction author Learner, who combined heresy and persecution with illicit love and torture in The Witch of Cologne (2005), again turns her talent to portraying human passion in crisis, this time posing the question: Are we physiologically predisposed to behave a certain way? Geneticist Julia Huntington works on a government project to identify the gene that links to posttraumatic stress syndrome. The goal is to help the military identify soldiers best fit for battle—those who can kill without remorse. Three generations earlier, Julia’s great-grandmother, Lavinia, was executed for the murder of her estranged husband. But was she guilty? When Julia’s husband leaves her for another woman, she learns firsthand how a possibly inherited killing rage overcomes reason. The parallel stories work well together to graphically illustrate the nature-versus-nurture debate, and the government involvement in the gene project is a sinister reminder of a potential misuse of science. Steamy sex scenes, accoutrements of horror (shrunken heads, native masks, and drugs), and fascinating glimpses of genetics and phrenology make this a page-turner for readers of Joanne Harris’ Sleep Pale Sister (2005) and Camille DeAngelis’ Mary Modern (2007). --Jen Baker
Description:
Learner’s The Witch of Cologne is an erotically-charged novel of people swept inexorably along by events they could not control. In Soul, Learner relates the story of Lavinia and Julia Huntington, passionate women trapped in emotional whirlpools that threaten to drown them and everyone they love.
In 19th century Britain, Lavinia is married to an older man who seems to appreciate her lively curiosity. Lavinia proves to be an apt pupil in both the study and the bedroom, glorying in the pleasures of the physical.
In 21st century Los Angeles, geneticist Julia is trying to identify people who can kill without remorse. Stunned to discover that she seems to possess the trait she is looking for, Julia is reassured of her emotions by her intense passion for her husband and her delight in her pregnancy.
In the past, Lavinia’s desire for her husband grows, but his cools as he becomes fascinated with another. In the present, Julia’s love overwhelms her husband, who leaves her.
Lavinia and Julia feel the tortures of passion unspent. Cold logic tells them that the deaths of their tormentors will bring them peace. Separated by a hundred years, two Huntington women face the same decision. Their choices will echo far into the future.
From Publishers Weekly
This combination period bodice-ripper and contemporary medical thriller asks if it is possible for a killer trait to be passed down generations. In 2002, Julia Huntington is a genetic researcher working to isolate the gene that turns a person into a killer. She and her husband, Klaus, are expecting their first child when Julia finds out that Klaus has fallen in love with her best friend, and her life goes into a tailspin. Julia's story alternates with that of her great-grandmother, Lavinia, a young Irishwoman married to an older amateur anthropologist, Col. James Huntington, who has his own secret. When revealed, it makes a shambles of Lavinia's life. Will nature dictate how vengefully these two women treat their erring husbands, or will nurture allow them to rise above their baser instincts? Learner (The Witch of Cologne) details the science behind the question nicely, but underpowers the story's emotion and drama. (May)
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From Booklist
Starred Review Playwright and fiction author Learner, who combined heresy and persecution with illicit love and torture in The Witch of Cologne (2005), again turns her talent to portraying human passion in crisis, this time posing the question: Are we physiologically predisposed to behave a certain way? Geneticist Julia Huntington works on a government project to identify the gene that links to posttraumatic stress syndrome. The goal is to help the military identify soldiers best fit for battle—those who can kill without remorse. Three generations earlier, Julia’s great-grandmother, Lavinia, was executed for the murder of her estranged husband. But was she guilty? When Julia’s husband leaves her for another woman, she learns firsthand how a possibly inherited killing rage overcomes reason. The parallel stories work well together to graphically illustrate the nature-versus-nurture debate, and the government involvement in the gene project is a sinister reminder of a potential misuse of science. Steamy sex scenes, accoutrements of horror (shrunken heads, native masks, and drugs), and fascinating glimpses of genetics and phrenology make this a page-turner for readers of Joanne Harris’ Sleep Pale Sister (2005) and Camille DeAngelis’ Mary Modern (2007). --Jen Baker