Pillars of Light by Jane Johnson is an epic story of love, war and redemption. Set mainly in and around the city of Acre during it’s siege by Christian armies during the third crusade there are two main story-lines. We follow the love story of Zohra, a Muslin girl and a young Jewish doctor, Nathanael as they live through the two year siege. We also follow an Englishman, John Savage and his group in a story that revolves around the influence of Islamic architecture on the European Gothic cathedrals that were being built in the Middle Ages.

These central characters are fictional. Both the small group of English wanderers who join the Crusade unwillingly and the Muslim family that is caught in the city of Acre. But the author has done extensive research and all the major players of the day are here from the Muslim leader, Saladin, to Richard the Lionheart along with the various Cardinals, Churchmen and Knights that were part of the Crusade.

Pillars of Light is well written and certainly held my interest but at almost 500 pages did feel a little lengthy. The author obviously felt that Saladin was the moral center of the story, he is portrayed as gracious, caring and wise while the Christian leaders came off as greedy, cruel and venal. ( )

When I asked my dad for his copy of [b:War and Peace|656|War and Peace|Leo Tolstoy|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1413215930s/656.jpg|4912783] to read, he wanted to give me this book as well. (I insisted it wait since I doubted how quickly I'd read W&P.) Now what I find kind of cute about my dad recommending me this one is that yes, he recommended it because he enjoyed it and thought if I were reading historical fiction right now I might follow-up with this one, but I also think that he recommended it because of the gay relationship in it. In high school I was very loud about gay rights and about wanting more queer stories in fiction and actively sought out LGBT books and films and authors. And I mean, I wrote my whole thesis on Oscar Wilde and homosexual subculture in 19th-century England & France. So my dad Gets that queer stories are important to me, and it makes me pretty sure that it was part of why he recommended me this particular book, especially in tandem with the fact that when he read [b:The Song of Achilles|11250317|The Song of Achilles|Madeline Miller|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1331154660s/11250317.jpg|16176791] he said his chief regret was that he got an e-book version of it and couldn't lend it to me because he was so sure I'd want to read it. ("You know, it's a love story. They're two men," is, I'm pretty sure, how he summed it up for me once.)

Then again, it could also be that I made him watch The Lion in Winter with me and that he thought I'd like a story dealing with King Richard and the Crusades. But I don't think so. I think it's just that he listened to me when I was young and this is the connection he makes with me.

Which says nothing at all about this book! It was a pretty good read, though depressing in that we're dealing with a city under siege and everything is getting worse and worse when you just want it to get better and want to bring everyone a bowl of soup. I would've loved to see more conman antics from the English group--I was generally less interested in what was going on with Malek or Kalal, though I understand the role they play in this as a family story. I totally called the Moor is maybeJesus, and that the nail of Treves would fit into the wood of the cross, I just knew that was coming.

Overall there's something about this that is very much modern historical fiction. Romance-y, but not as romance-y as the cover illustration would make you believe. I would've liked more architectural details about building ceilings and domes and arches, but I have a feeling it would lose a lot of people who came here for Interpersonal Relationships during Times of War and Crisis, which is basically what modern historical fiction as a genre really is. ( )