Plot line in Eifelheim was that the aliens needed finely drawn copper wire to fix their ship. Won’t spoil it, but aliens crash land in the Black Forest, 1349. (Don’t read the Wiki, jump in, trust me.)
There’s a smaller plot of a modern couple, a scholar and a physicist, trying to figure out why that piece of land was never resettled.
Amazing book, stumbled on it by dumb luck. The author shows off his medieval knowledge a great deal, little heavy handed, but that’s part of the fun. “See! That’s where that word/practice/belief comes from!”
The protagonist is a Jesuit priest who serves the tiny village. Weird to have one so educated in such a place, but that’s part of the plot. Amazing to read what they knew then, what they didn’t, but almost nothing is left to blind superstition.
I have just ordered it based on your recommendation. Thanks!
Plot sounds stupid, but the author really makes it work. There is so much more I can’t spoil!
Don’t expect the finest literature you’ve ever read, but it’s well worth the trip. Read it 3 or 4 times over the years.
I look forward to finding out. Thank you.
If it occurs to you, I’d value your opinion on it.
A very diplomatic request! It might take me a while to get to the book, but I promise to do my best to remember it was your recommendation and provide my thoughts on the story.
This sounds like a super interesting read. Thanks for the recommendation!
Won’t spoil anything, but I think the Jesuit really makes the book. He’s often merely a vehicle for the author to show us some neat history and facts, but as a character he’s a perfect POV to wrap the story around.
He approaches situations with the logic his Church education instilled in him. He gets some things wrong, but he doesn’t conclude anything that an educated man couldn’t have figured out 676 years ago, nothing “unnaturally” smart, just smart. The other village priest is more what people imagine how Christians of the time acted and believed.
Probably harder to find something to isolate those wires
tar? wrap a copper wire with a tar covered string/cloth,
