Book Club Questions ...
a selection to choose from...
Q. Alice Kytler was a powerful, mature woman. Are older women still likely to be demonized for being independent?
Q. The Sorcery Trial of Alice Kytler was notorious at the time - many of the annals contain a reference to the case. Did you know about it before you read the book? Did you know that the first woman to be accused of leading a sect and having a demon lover, lived in Ireland?
Q. If there was a point of no return in the book, a point where things were never going to be the same again – where do you think that was?
Q. The word witch – how does its use differ today? Can you still destroy someone’s reputation by calling them a name? What names have the same affect now as ‘witch’ did, in medieval times?
Sorcery, religion, politics, greed, privilege, power – all
pale in comparison to what one finds at the heart of this story: that natural
connection, the love of a mother for her child. (Historical Novels Review)
Q. What did you think about the
relationship between mothers and daughters in the book? Between Petronelle and
Basilia, or Lithgen and Petronelle? Are they different to relationships nowadays?
Q. How are names
significant in the telling of Her Kind, and the power relationships between the
characters?
Boyce’s depiction of life in 14th century Kilkenny is so evocative and atmospheric
the reader can almost taste the honeycombs in Petronelle’s carefully tended
hives and feel the heavy animal pelts that line Alice’s secret chamber. (Irish
Times)
Q. Medieval Ireland was a melting pot – full of different
languages and customs. Were you surprised to learn how diverse Ireland was,
that it was a fractured place, full of tribes and walled towns – not one united
entity?
Q. What do you think Ledrede’s real motivation for accusing Alice Kytler of witchcraft was?
Q. Was Alice undone by
her love for her husband?
The
characters are part of a world that at times is utterly alien to us, and one of
the most haunting aspects of the novel is the depiction of anchoress, the holy
woman who has been bricked alive into the walls of St Canice’s Cathedral. ( Irish
Times)
Q. Did you know about
the anchorites before reading Her Kind? That there were women and men who
lived such lives by choice?
Q. Who do you think
Agnes, the anchoress, really was? Why was she locked between the walls?
‘The cathedral was also
where I came across the anchoress’s grave. An anchorite or anchoress is a hermit
who gives up ordinary life for a solitary life of prayer – they are often
sealed in between the walls of a church, with only small ‘squints’ or windows
to receive food through. The figure of a nun is carved onto the anchoress’s
grave stone. Her hands are held in old style prayer position, palm facing
outwards rather than palms together. When I placed my palms over her stone
ones, I felt a strange sensation, close to the one that Petronelle describes in Her Kind, that of an old truth pushing back – that day the character
of Agnes the anchoress came to life.’ (Niamh Boyce)
Q. How did you feel
towards Alice? Towards Petronelle? Towards Basillia? Towards Ledrede? Did you
prefer one character over another?
Q. What was the real
cause of Sir Johns illness? Who was behind it?
Q. In 14th century,
the Pope was based in Avignon, France and he had a lively fear of sorcery and
witchcraft. He accused members of his own court of sticking pins in his waxen
likeness. Richard Ledrede, was one of his more favoured clerics. He
gave him the Bishopric of Ossory in Ireland. Richard, an Englishman, had never
set foot in the country yet within a few weeks of his arrival, he was making
accusations against his parishioners…
Was it inevitable
that someone like Richard Ledrede would make accusations of sorcery against one of
the residents of Kilkenny?
The
novel is beautifully written and transports us to the 14th century, though many
of its themes loudly resonate today. I can’t wait to see where Niamh Boyce
takes us next. (RTE Guide)
Q. Was the world
of Her Kind familiar or strange to you? What had you expected medieval
Ireland to be like? How was it different? What resonated?
Q. The case is well
documented by historians and academics. There are several interesting
explorations. Why do you think the case remains outside of the standard history
book?
Q. There is no
reference to this trial in the ancient Liber Primus Kilkennius as it stands today. Yet
it records many less significant cases from the time. Do you think that it was
undocumented, or that references were removed from this record of the goings on in 14th Kilkenny?
Q. Would you have
preferred to live outside or inside the walls of Kilkenny City?
Q. Medieval women (who
aren’t royal) are often viewed as passive, as chattel - Dame Alice was an
incredibly powerful moneylender. If Ledrede had not accused her of witchcraft,
we may never have even known that a woman of her kind existed. Do you think she
was unique for a woman of her time?
Q. On arriving in Hightown, Petronelle
and her daughter are given new names and clothes, and are forbidden to speak
their native language. They are seen as ‘other’ in their own country. What
affect do you think this has on their relationship, their sense of identity?
Q. Ledrede’s
words and phrases are woven throughout the novel, as fact and fiction weave
– why do you think has not been given first person narration, the way
Petronelle and Basillia have been?
Q. Her Kind is based on a real trial - a landmark case in the history of witchcraft -
did that affect how you felt about the characters and their fate?
Had you heard of the case before this? Why do you think this is?
Q. This was a hugely significant case yet there’s been no
memorial or monument to Petronella de Midia, as yet. Ledredes effigy can be
seen in St Canice’s Cathedreal to this day. Who decides who we, as people,
remember? What happens to those who are not commemorated, listed, archived,
named? Whose names are on the streets of your town, who is your local bridge
named after? If you open a map, what do the names tell you? What do they mean?
Is that meaning still alive? Do these
things matter? Who is mapping our history for us?
Q. If you were to retrieve someone's voice from history, whose would it be?
