Readers familiar with European history will recognize the date that appears at the beginning of the first chapter of Eleanore of Avignon, by Elizabeth DeLozier: 1347, the year the bubonic plague began to spread rapidly throughout Europe after appearing in Italy. It’s only a matter of time before our healer protagonist, Eleanore Blanchet, will find herself battling with every scrap of knowledge she has to relieve suffering and hold off death.
In spite of her talent and intuitive knowledge of diagnosis, Eleanore is (of course) held back because of her sex. Like other young women of her age, she is expected to marry and raise children—not do dissections or conduct medical research or even read the foundational medical texts of her time. There are even a few people who look askance at her for her interest in medicine. They whisper that she might be a witch, like her deceased mother. If Eleanore hadn’t met Guy de Chauliac, Pope Clement VI‘s physician, she might’ve had to give up her dream of learning how to be a doctor. (Guy is an important secondary character and Pope Clement and Joanna of Naples have extensive cameos.) Guy invites Eleanore to the Papal Palace after she impresses him with one of her mother’s remedies.
Luck plays an important role in Eleanore’s rising career as a doctor’s apprentice. Her remedies reliably work. Her intuition guides her toward the correct diagnosis every time (in spite of Guy’s notions about humors and astrology). The pope allows Eleanore to examine and treat him, a surprising act considering how misogynistic the era was. To be honest, I had to skim over a lot of details that I saw as anachronisms to get through the book. Pickier readers might want to give this book a pass. I was invested enough in Eleanore that I wanted to see what would happen to her when the Plague really hits her city and things get really bleak, what with all the flagellants and rising antisemitism. I had a surprisingly good time with Eleanore of Avignon given how much I had to suspend my disbelief.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.
